Mario Mele, 62, a successful entertainment entrepreneur from Nuoro on the east coast who in recent years ended up at the center of a serious accusation of massive tax evasion, died late on Monday evening at the Molinette hospital where he was hospitalized due to pulmonary complications.
Before Christmas, in the trial which revolved around two entertainment venues on the east coast, the Court of Nuoro had sentenced Mele to four years in prison for documentary bankruptcy.
The 'king of nightclubs' on the eastern coast of Sardinia, and his partner Gianpietro Porcheddu, had ended up on trial for a huge tax evasion of 17 million euros , profits of the clubs Pata Pata di Agrustos and Buddha del mar of San Teodoro, very popular during the summer season.
Mele was arrested in Kenya in 2017. An international arrest warrant was pending against him, issued by the Nuoro Prosecutor's Office, precisely for that alleged tax evasion of 17 million euros linked to the management of some nightclubs on the Gallura coast.
A fugitive since 2013, he moved to Malindi to escape arrest, in the wake of the "success" achieved in his homeland he had managed the "Pata Pata Beach Club" club in the African country, the same name as the disco he had in Sardinia .
In its trendy clubs on the island such as the "Buddha del Mar" in San Teodoro, the "Boca Chica" in Nuoro and the "Pata Pata" in Budoni were frequented by famous names from the world of entertainment.
Having returned to Sardinia, after a period of imprisonment he had resumed doing what he was a master of: selling entertainment with the opening of a new venue in the small square of San Teodoro .
He was ill, and a few weeks ago he was not present in the courtroom for the reading of the sentence. He was hospitalized in Turin and died on Monday.
