A MAFIA suspect who hid out in Darwen for more than a decade faces being sent back to Italy in the New Year.

Guiseppe Cavallo, 52, whose family still live in Higher Perry Street, lost his fight against extradition at Bow Street Magistrates' Court, London, and now has 15 days in which to appeal against being flown home.

The Italian's arrest stunned neighbours on St James's council estate where Cavallo, dubbed the godfather of Darwen, lived with his common law wife Susanne Veronese and their children.

Friends of Cavallo have revealed that he fled Italy with a bullet in his side after he was shot while on the run from Cosenza prison.

Cavallo left Italy a wanted man and hid away in a house in Darwen for more than a decade before Scotland Yard arrested him in October. He worked in an office acquired by his brother's wife and then as a chef in his brother's pizza restaurant. Detectives tracked him down by looking him up in the phone book.

Local police were aware of Guiseppe Cavallo, the local Italian with a criminal record. But they had no idea he was also a wanted Mafia man in Italy.

Cavallo was arrested several times by local police for minor offences.

In 1989 at Preston Crown Court he was also acquitted of assaulting a woman police officer, following an incident at Funnies nightclub in Accrington during 1987. But 16 years earlier in 1971 he broke out of prison, locking two warders in a cell and shooting two more in the leg as he escaped.

In February 1974, along with his brother Antonio, Cavallo was chased by police after a burglary at a gift shop. Officers later found 28 items of silverware at their house and he was convicted of receiving stolen goods.

In 1976 Cavallo was convicted of fraud after using a stolen cheque to buy a Fiat truck. Five years later, the work site he managed was raided and arms, ammunition and nine kilogrammes of dynamite were found.

Magistrates said Cavallo should return to Italy to face charges of grievous bodily harm, possessing firearms and explosives as well as conspiracy to defraud. Cavallo told the court: "I thought I had finished everything and I owed nobody anything."

But magistrate Mr Ronald Bartle said: "I accede to the government of Italy's submission that the exercise of enquiring into the question of whether the sentence is correct or not is not one for this court."

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