How Google Maps successfully located prison escapee who had been living on the run for 20 years
Let’s face it, we’ve all searched our own homes on Google Maps, hoping to catch a glimpse of ourselves walking down the road on ‘street view’.
This curiosity has led to some interesting discoveries over the years, with one man accidentally solving a 22 year old cold case when he spotted a car in a pond by his old residence on Google Earth.
Another eerie sighting thanks to Google Maps took place in Antarctica in 2020 where a body appears to be visible in the snow.
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It’s believed that a scientist may have got lost, but the area is so remote that no one has been able to go there and find out what or who is there.
Despite these strange spots, no one would have suspected that Google Maps could lead to people finally finding a prison escapee who had been on the run for two decades.
Gioacchino Gammino was an Italian mafia boss and the convicted murderer was on Italy’s most wanted list when he was seen on ‘street view’ running a fruit and vegetable shop near Madrid, Spain.
The gangster, who was also working as a chef, had changed his name to Manuel and had evaded the law for 20 years before the image of him chatting to a man outside his business was discovered by police.
Further investigation found a Facebook photo of ‘Manuel’ dressed in his chef’s uniform where he was recognized as Gammino by a scar on the left side of his chin.
When he was arrested, it’s reported that the mafia boss said to police: “How did you find me? I haven’t even called my family for 10 years!”
Gammino had been serving a life prison sentence in Rome when he escaped in 2002 whilst a film was being made at the prison.
Taking to Reddit to share their thoughts on the bizarre case, one user wrote: “Damn, just take the L and let the man sell his pancake mix.”
A second said: “Homeboy ratted on himself.”
A third joked: “Google is a rat, stop using it, it can’t be trusted lol.”
And another added: “Bing ain’t no snitch.”
Meanwhile one person said: “I would sue Google from prison.”
This isn’t the first time a member of the mafia has been caught thanks to the internet.
In 2021, fugitive Mark Feren Claude Biart was arrested in the Dominican Republic after making an appearance in some cooking videos on YouTube.
He was on the run for trafficking cocaine and had been living a quiet life in the Caribbean when he was captured by police.
The cooking videos never revealed his face but Biart’s distinctive tattoos gave him away.