Italian police arrested one of the country’s most wanted fugitives after being on the run for almost 15 years. The criminal surrendered peacefully as he was at home with his partner and two cats preparing to eat pasta.

150 police officers came to a modest apartment in the southern city of Naples on Saturday to arrest the 38-year old Marco Di Lauro, one of the country’s most prominent gangsters. The man was captured without a fight, as he had just finished a workout. He was with his partner Cira and two cats, apparently preparing for dinner as a freshly-cooked plate of pasta was standing on the table, according to local media.

The high-profile police intervention was warmly welcomed by the locals as dozens of people gathered outside the building to watch the famous mobster being seized. Footage posted online shows the crowd chanting “Well done” as Di Lauro was brought into the police car.

#Napoli Cattura del latitante Marco Di Lauro, Franco Maccari (FSP): "Complimenti ai mitici colleghi della Squadra Mobile di Napoli, ancora una volta la @poliziadistato dimostra la sua efficienza. Avanti tutta." @matteosalvinimi@Adnkronospic.twitter.com/GkTbRDtPg8 — Maccari Franco (@MaccariFranco1) March 2, 2019

The criminal had been on the run since 2004 and managed to escape from the police twice back in 2016 and 2017. The gangster is considered to be the head of the Di Lauro clan as his father Paulo Di Lauro, the famous boss of Neapolitan mafia the Camorra, which the clan operates under, was jailed in 2005.

Di Lauro Jr. was involved in drug trafficking and at least four murders, according to the officials while local media call the mobster Italy’s ‘second most dangerous’ criminal after the Sicilian mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro. In 2012, a Naples court sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Italy’s deputy prime minister Mateo Salvini praised the authorities for capturing the “super-fugitive” Di Lauro while prime minister Giuseppe Conte said the latest police swoop is “another blow to organized crime.”

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In December 2018 Italy arrested dozens of the Sicilian mafia members including top mobsters as part of the international operation encompassing Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

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