Mafia don Gennaro Panzuto (pictured) used a small house in Catterall, Lancashire to run his drug and extortion racket

The hardest thing about running an Italian criminal empire from a small semi-detached house in Lancashire was turning down a drink at the pub, says mafia don Gennaro Panzuto.

The leader of the Neapolitan Piccirillo gang ran his murder, extortion and drug trafficking outfit from his small in home in Catterall, near Preston.

He spent a year and half in the UK before police blew his cover and he was extradited back to Italy.

But Panzuto has revealed he never drank until he arrived in the UK, where 'people got offended' if he turned down their offer of a beer.

He told The Sunday Times: 'I never drank beer.

'But I started in England because, when you are invited to drink, if you hesitate people get offended.'

In 2009, MailOnline reported how popular the mobster had become with his neighbours, handing out free turkeys at Christmas and shoes from his shop.

While he was directing his 1,500 criminal lieutenants in Naples 1,500 miles away, his neighbours would often offer to babysit his two young sons.

Several mafia dons who hid out in the UK to evade Italian police have spoken out recently, revealing how they ran rackets from Woking, Surrey and Aberdeen, according to The Sunday Times.

Pictured is the semi-detached house in Catterall near Preston, Lancashire where the Naples godfather lived for a number of years. It has emerged the toughest part of running his criminal empire there was saying no to a pint at the pub

They claim British police did not pay enough attention to the millions of pounds they smuggled into the country from their drug and extortion businesses back home.

The crime lords who were involved with the Naples-based Camorra gang told the newspaper money laundering was easier in the UK as officers were a soft touch.

The money earned from their operations would appear on the accounts of their shoe shops, fish import businesses and Italian restaurants in Britain.

Felia Allum, an academic at Bath University, spoke to several members of organised crime gangs who gave evidence against former colleagues and live under witness protection.

She told The Sunday Times: 'The United Kingdom is still perceived as a soft touch.

'The lack of understanding by the police and the legal system of how mafias function, together with a lack of money laundering regulations, make it vulnerable to mafias and other criminal groups.'

Gennaro Panzuto of the Neapolitan Piccirillo gang led his criminal operation in Naples (pictured) 1,500 miles away in Lancashire

Her book, The Invisible Camorra, also features an interview with Michele Siciliano, a cousin of the notorious La Torre brothers who laundered money to their Aberdeen home for 16 years.

He told the academic his family created companies to hide their illegal operations - 'to make 'clean' transactions'.

The mobster told Ms Allum Panzuto came to England to 'verify' the rumours he had heard about the 'economic possibilities' of settling there.

He said: 'My ambition was to open several big shops selling shoes, household goods, furnishing for bathrooms, paintings.'

Allum said he chose Preston because he knew some 'dubious local professionals' who helped him launder money.

When Italian police got wind of him being in the Preston area in 2007 they were very surprised.

Vittorio Pisano, of Naples's flying squad said: 'Preston seems a rather unusual place to hide. When I heard that he had been located in Preston I had to look it up in an atlas.'