A previously deported Italian mobster has been arrested trying to illegally enter the U.S. by sneaking across the porous border with Mexico. The man had originally been deported after serving time in federal prison in connection with drug trafficking and violent assaults.

The arrest took place near the border city of Nogales, Arizona, where U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested Salvatore Marciante as he tried to sneak into the country. After the arrest, agents were able to search Marciante’s criminal history and confirmed that he had been a permanent legal resident who had been living in New York until his convictions in 1995, when he lost his legal status. After serving several years in U.S. prison he was deported to Italy.

According to federal court records obtained by Breitbart Texas, Marciante is a citizen of Italy who had traveled to Mexico in order to enter the country through Nogales, Arizona. Marciante had been deported on September 1, 2004 from New York. Currently he is facing illegal re-entry charges in the federal courthouse in Tucson, Arizona.

Marciante was originally named in a multi-count indictment filed in 1994 accusing him and 12 other members of the Italian mafia of distributing and trafficking narcotics in New York. Many of the documents listed in the court proceedings remain sealed by the court. Available court documents revealed that federal agents arrested Marciante on September 15, 1994, and on October 6, 1994, and a federal judge set his bond at $1 million.



While in prison, Marciante and several other members of the same group were further charged in a separate indictment in connection with a series of armed robberies targeting various restaurants in New York. The indictment was filed in June 1999, while Marciante was already in prison for the drug charge. For unknown reasons, the criminal indictment and many of the court documents remain sealed by the court. By April 2000, Marciante pleaded guilty to various counts in connection with the charge of interference of commerce by violence in connection with the robberies. For that case, Marciante was sentenced to serve more than five years in prison; however the prison term was set to run concurrent with the previous case.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.