The “ghost”, this is his pseudonym, has reached the end of the race. Or rather, at the end of the escape. The fugitive Antonio Barbaro, 42 years old, born in Locri but originally from Platì although stationed for many years in the metropolitan area of Milan, was, in fact, identified and arrested in Calabria by agents of the State Police of the Reggio Calabria Police Headquarters.
The now former fugitive from Platies, in hiding for almost a year, was, at the end of a detailed and thorough investigation by State Police investigators, arrested in Reggio Calabria. Barbaro was hiding in a structure located in an area of the center of the city of the Strait. The 42-year-old originally from Platì, already transferred to the Reggio Calabria prison after his arrest, is defended by criminal lawyers Alessandro Bavaro of the Reggio Calabria bar and Jacopo Cappetta of the Milan bar.
On his shoulders, following a vast anti-crime and anti-drug operation carried out in Lombardy and called “SkyFall” and coordinated by the anti-mafia prosecutor Gianluca Prisco, was a precautionary custody order in prison issued about a year ago by the Milanese district investigating judge because he was accused of having been part of an alleged criminal association aimed at international drug trafficking with the role of “promoter and organizer”.
According to the accusations made at the time, but at present all still to be proven in a possible indictment and subsequent trial, Barbaro would be involved in an enormous drug trafficking with South America in collaboration with other members of the Aspromonte gangs of Locride, all, according to the accusation brought forward by the Milanese and Reggio anti-mafia magistrates, attributable to the Barbaro “family” of Platies, some of the “Rosi” branch and some of the “Nigri” branch, but all, in any case, linked to the “mother house” of the Barbaro “Castani” clan.
In the “SkyFall” investigation carried out in November 2025 by the Guardia di Finanza of Milan and coordinated by the anti-mafia prosecutor, Gianluca Prisco, the “ghost” would, according to the accusation, collaborated with another leading exponent of the Barbaro “family” by participating in decisions relating to the fixing of the price of the narcotic substance, shared the association’s coffers, and with one of the Barbaros personally made payments of the narcotic to the emissaries of foreign exchange traders in contact with a foreign supplier.
Furthermore, Antonio Barbaro, again according to what is claimed by the prosecution, would have participated “in the group’s narcotic imports as an investor, purchasing narcotics at a favorable price guaranteed by participation in the association, had decision-making powers and autonomy in reference to the quantities to be sold and the relative price, maintaining for this purpose contacts with exponents of purchasing criminal groups as well as, with regard to the instructions given to other people from Reggio Calabria originating from Locride who would have played, respectively, the roles of warehouseman and point of reference for collecting the money of customers”.
According to the reconstruction of the Milan Prosecutor’s Office, Antonio Barbaro together with his business partners, almost all linked to the Aspromonte gangs, in less than a year trafficked over 3.5 tons of cocaine for a turnover, once stored and sold in the Milan square, by bank takeover. The name, however, of Antonio Barbaro, had already emerged several years ago, again in Lombardy, in an investigation into drug crimes coordinated by the Flying Squad. And with him at least one other “investigative subject of interest” originally from Platì. At the time, Barbaro, it was noted in some information from the State Police, would also have been the owner of a commercial fruit business located in the municipality of Gaggiano, south of Milan.
The investigators of the Reggio Calabria Flying Squad started the search by hypothesizing that after the escape, the man could have returned to the Reggio Calabria area. In recent days, some movements considered anomalous in an area of the capital have directed the agents towards the northern part of the city and after an observation and stalking activity, with the coordination of the DDA of Reggio Calabria, the attention was focused on a drug addiction recovery community, in the northern area. The Flying Squad agents surrounded the building and broke in, surprising the fugitive. Barbaro did not resist. Subsequent investigations made it possible to reconstruct that he had recently settled in the community, with the intention of detoxing. During the search, the smartphone in his possession was also seized.