Toma Taulant, one of Europe’s most notorious and persistent criminals, has embarrassed Italian authorities once again after successfully escaping from prison for the fourth time. The 40-year-old Albanian, convicted of drug trafficking, arms smuggling, violent robberies and other serious crimes, broke out of Milan’s high-security Opera Prison in the early hours of Sunday using his signature method: a stolen metal file to cut through the window bars and knotted bedsheets to drop six metres to the ground.

Italian media have long referred to him as “the wizard of escapes,” and his history justifies the nickname. In 2009, he escaped from a prison in Terni and was captured two months later near Milan with three pistols, cocaine and several pages of stolen goods. In 2013, he escaped from Parma’s high-security jail, and later that same year from a prison in Lantin, Belgium, before being recaptured in 2015 and extradited back to Italy. He was supposed to remain behind bars until 2048, but his latest breakout has put him back on the run and back at the top of Europe’s wanted lists.

The escape has also reignited debate over the dire state of Italy’s prison system. Opera Prison is officially designed to hold just over 900 inmates, yet currently houses 1,338 — an overcrowding level of 153%. According to the prison officers’ union, at least 811 guards are needed to manage that population, but only 533 are currently employed. “It’s an unsustainable situation and a threat to both security and the basic rights of inmates,” said UILPA union chief Gennarino De Fazio.

Taulant’s breakout dominated Italy’s front pages. Corriere della Sera noted that “this makes four,” pointing out that despite recycling the same escape method every time, he has managed to flee every prison where he has been held, in Italy or abroad. Italian police have now launched a nationwide manhunt and opened an investigation into how such a high-security facility failed to prevent yet another escape.