Matteo Messina Denaro in Palermo after his arrest on January 16, 2023. Photo: AFP
Sicilian mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, captured in January, after three decades on the run, died in a hospital in central Italy.
The 61-year-old had colon cancer, for which he sought treatment while on the run — a decision that led him to to the attention of the authorities, who arrested him in a Palermo clinic.
Messina Denaro was one of the most ruthless bosses of Cosa Nostra, the real-life Sicilian crime syndicate depicted in the films «The Godfather».< /p>
He was found guilty by the court of involvement in the murder of anti-Mafia judge Giovanni Falcone in 1992 and in the deadly bombings in Rome, Florence and Milan in 1993.
One of his six life sentences was also imposed. for the kidnapping and subsequent murder of the 12-year-old son of a witness in the Falcone case.
Messina Denaro disappeared in the summer of 1993 and spent the next 30 years on the run from the Italian state cracking down on the Sicilian mafia.
But he remained at the top of the list of the most wanted people in Italy and increasingly became a legendary figure.
He was unexpectedly arrested on January 16, 2023, when he visited a clinic where he was being treated. he is being treated under a false name.
He was held in a maximum security prison in L'Aquila, central Italy, where he continued treatment for cancer in his cell.
In August, Messina Denaro was transferred to the prison ward of a local hospital, where his condition worsened in recent days.
This weekend, media reported that he was in an «irreversible coma.» Medics stopped feeding him and he asked not to be resuscitated, they added.
His arrest may have brought some relief to his victims, but the mob boss always remained silent.
>In the interview , who were in custody after his arrest, Messina Denaro even denied that he was a member of Cosa Nostra.
Investigators searched for years
After Messina Denaro escaped, there was intense speculation that he had gone abroad — and most likely , so it was.
But in the end it turned out that he lived near his hometown of Castelvetrano in western Sicily. .
According to the newspaper Corriere della Sera, preparations are already underway for his burial in the family tomb in the city, next to his father, Don Ciccio.
Don Ciccio was also buried. head of the local clan. He reportedly died of a heart attack while on the run and his body was left in the countryside, dressed for funeral.
Investigators have been combing the Sicilian countryside for Messina Denaro for years for hiding places. and wiretapping his family and friends.
They were heard discussing the medical problems of an unnamed man who had cancer and eye problems — a man detectives identified as Messina Denaro. < /p>
They used the NHS database to find male patients of suitable age and medical history and eventually settled on it.
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