Marco Raduano, a leading figure in the Sacra Corona Unita mafia, made the cartoonish escape from the Badu ‘e Carros prison in Sardinia.

He is the first person to ever successfully escape from the maximum-security institution, according to reports.

Raduano’s escape was caught on CCTV footage which has since gone viral online, but the cameras were not monitored at the time and his absence went unnoticed for two hours.

Giovanni Villa, a spokesperson for Sardinia’s police and prison guards’ union, said: “We have denounced lack of personnel for months and this is the main factor that compromised security.”

Police in Sardinia are now on the hunt for Raduano.