An F1 fan from Liverpool was arrested at gunpoint by police who mistook him for a Mafia boss known as “Diabolik”.
Identified only as 54-year-old Mark L, he was in Holland for the Dutch Grand Prix when police burst into the restaurant where he was dining with his son.
Despite his Scouse accent, the police thought he was Sicilian Matteo Messina Denaro, 59, a Cosa Nostra leader wanted for bombings in 1993 which killed 10 people and injured 93.
After his arrest last Wednesday in response to an Italian warrant, the Brit was blindfolded and taken to a maximum-security prison.
He was finally released on Saturday, when police admitted they had got the wrong man.
Van Kleef, Mark’s lawyer, told Dutch news site Nos: “I would fall off my chair if this was Italy’s most wanted mobster. The moment he opened his mouth I could hear his English accent.
“Imagine one moment you are having a bite to eat and the next you are sat in a maximum-security Dutch prison.”
Diabolik has been a fugitive since the 1993 bombings. He was convicted of murder in 2002 in absentia and sentenced to life.
