Franco Arditi, thought to be a member of the Banda della Magliana crime ring, tried to avoid being caught by stealing a moped and speeding through the city’s outskirts, the website unionesarda.it reported.

The chase began at dawn in the Tor Bella Monaca district, with police at one point encircling the moped and blocking the road.

Arditi and a 34-year-old accomplice managed to weave their way through the cars before jumping off the bike, which then swerved into a police car, and carrying on by foot, the website reported.

They were eventually cornered and arrested, the website said.

Banda della Magliana was particularly influential in Rome in the 1970s and 1980s.

The gang’s first criminal act was the kidnapping of duke Massimiliano Grazioli Lante della Rovere in 1977 for a ransom. The duke was murdered, despite the ransom being paid. The group then used the earnings to expand their criminal hold over the capital.