Italian police have arrested the fugitive boss of a powerful 'Ndrangheta clan who ran illegal operations from the southern Calabria region north to Lombardy.

Police video show an unarmed Marcello Pesce being taken into custody before dawn on Thursday in the bedroom of a home where he had been in hiding in the clan's stronghold of Rosarno.

Police also arrested a father and son staying in the same home.

Pesce escaped capture by police in April 2010, and was later convicted in absentia of Mafia association charges and sentenced to 16 years and eight months.

He is considered one of the most powerful bosses of the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta organised crime syndicate.

Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said the arrest "confirms our daily commitment in the fight against organised crime".

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