After 20 years of evading the police, Italian mob boss Ernesto Fazzalari was finally captured and arrested.

In 1996, Fazzalari was tried in absentia for extortion, membership of a mafia-like organization, attempted murder and a double homicide.

Since then however, he had been able to avoid capture due to the "code of silence" and assistance from local citizens.

As the leader of the powerful 'Ndrangheta organization, local police believe that Fazzalari was a leading factor that lead to a violent six-year turf war between rival 'Ndrangheta clans that left more than 600 people dead between 1985 to 1991.

In 2004, the military police in Italy discovered Fazzalari's previous hideout, an underground bunker beneath a farmhouse in his hometown of Taurianova, which was equipped with air-conditioning system, internet, and television, and stocked with wine, champagne and Cuban cigars, as well as a tunnel that led into the nearby woods. Fazzalari was not found, but two of others were arrested in the raid.

Then, in 2012, the BBC reported on an entire local council having their homes and businesses sacked on suspicion of having ties to 'Ndrangheta, with local Italian prosecutor Federico Cafiero De Raho claiming Fazzalari and his cohorts controlled every aspect of the town.

On Sunday, the Associated Press confirmed that local police had finally arrest Fazzalari, found sleeping next to a woman, both surrounded by multiple weapons, in the southwest Italian town of Calabria.

Pope Francis has previously spoken out about Fazzalari's organisation, calling it "the adoration of evil and contempt of the common good."

He now faces a possible life sentence for his previously tried convictions.