Antonino Quinci, the drug trafficker who became known for being responsible for washing ashore more than 700 kg of cocaine on the island of São Miguel, Azores, in 2001, has escaped justice once again.
This time, the Italian criminal is evading Brazilian justice, as confirmed by Rúben Pacheco Correia, the author of the book ‘Rabo de Peixe – Toda a Verdade’, to Notícias ao Minuto.
Antonino Quinci, 69, has already served prison sentences in various facilities. Currently, he was under house arrest in Brazil, after serving an effective prison sentence for drug trafficking in that country.
About ten days ago, Brazilian prison authorities received an alert that the Italian had broken his electronic bracelet. Since then, Antonino has been on the run.
According to a judicial document accessed by Notícias ao Minuto, it all happened on the morning of August 6. Despite numerous attempts to contact him, Brazilian authorities have been unable to locate the trafficker.
“Antonino Giuseppe Quinci is evading the monitoring system, theoretically constituting a serious offense under Art.50, II of the Penal Execution Law”, states the judicial note in question.
It should be noted that this is neither the first nor the second time Antonino has escaped.
The first occurrence was in the Azores, as remembered by Rúben Pacheco Correia to Notícias ao Minuto. After the sailboat he was on experienced a technical problem off the archipelago, the trafficker attempted to hide part of the 750 kg of cocaine he was transporting in various locations along the coast of São Miguel Island before entering the port of Rabo de Peixe to repair the boat.
However, the strategy failed. The drugs hidden in caves were found by fishermen, and the ones hidden underwater were carried by the tides to Rabo de Peixe.
The authorities eventually tracked down the criminal, who became known in the region as ‘the Italian’.
However, he managed to escape from the Ponta Delgada Prison with the help of some locals.
This story is recounted by Rúben Pacheco Correia in his book ‘Rabo de Peixe – Toda a Verdade’, which will also be featured in a documentary to be broadcast by CMTV next October.
Notícias ao Minuto held a conversation with Rúben Pacheco Correia, who launches this Thursday, May 8, the book ‘Rabo de Peixe – Toda a Verdade’, about the drug trafficker responsible for the cocaine that washed ashore on São Miguel Island, in the Azores, in 2001.
Natacha Nunes Costa | 08:35 – 08/05/2025
To Notícias ao Minuto, the Azorean author, who is also a businessman and law student, recalled that besides escaping the Ponta Delgada prison, Antonino had also managed to escape from a prison in Brazil, and from an Italian prison, before now fleeing the house arrest he was serving in Brazil.
While writing his book, Rúben communicated with Antonino, as well as with the trafficker’s family and other protagonists of the true story that inspired the successful fiction series ‘Rabo de Peixe’ by director Augusto Fraga, broadcast on the Netflix streaming platform.
Netflix announced a documentary about Rabo de Peixe, but the well-known chef and businessman, who is native to the area, had the same idea over a year ago.
Notícias ao Minuto | 18:42 – 27/10/2024
