SHARE
COPY LINK

CRIME

Italy arrests ‘most wanted’ mafia boss after 30 years on the run

Italian anti-mafia police caught Sicilian godfather Matteo Messina Denaro on Monday, ending a 30-year manhunt for Italy's most-wanted fugitive.

Italy arrests 'most wanted' mafia boss after 30 years on the run
Officers from Italy’s ROS (Special Operations Group) Carabinieri outside the Maddalena clinic in Palermo, where mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro was captured. (Photo by Alessandro FUCARINI / AFP)

A trigger man who once reportedly boasted he could “fill a cemetery” with his victims, 60-year-old Messina Denaro was a leading figure in Sicily’s Cosa Nostra, and is believed to have become the “boss of bosses” following the death of Salvatore “The Beast” Riina in 2017.

The mobster was arrested “inside a health facility in Palermo, where he had gone for therapeutic treatment”, special operations commander Pasquale Angelosanto said in a statement released by the police.

READ ALSO: Ruthless Sicilian mafia boss Messina Denaro’s reign of terror

Italian newspaper Corriere reported Messina Denaro had been in line for a Covid test at a clinic when he was picked up by police.

He had reportedly been in the clinic for a year, undergoing periodic treatment for colon cancer under a false name – ‘Bonafede’ – and did not resist arrest.

Criminology expert Anna Sergi at the University of Essex said Messina Denaro was “the last one, the most resilient one, the ‘purest’ Sicilian mafioso remaining”.

READ MORE: How the brutal murder of an anti-mafia hero altered Sicily

“The secrets he is said to keep fuel conspiracies around mafia-state agreements in the 1990s,” she told AFP.

“He is the essence of the great historical power of Cosa Nostra. The myths around his period on the run are part of the reason why the Mafia myth endures.”

‘Extremely dangerous’

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Messina Denaro was the “most significant” mafia boss and his arrest in his native Sicily was a “great victory” for the state in its war against organised crime.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani tweeted triumphantly that “The State wins over the Mafia”.

A photograph released by police showed Messina Denaro in the back seat of a vehicle, wearing a cream hat, sunglasses and a brown leather jacket with a cream sheepskin lining.

Before that, the only known photo of him dated back to the early 1990s. He had been on the run since 1993.

Messina Denaro was arrested a day after the 30th anniversary of the arrest of Salvatore “The Beast” Riina, the Cosa Nostra boss who died in 2017.

READ ALSO: How the mafia uses violence to influence Italian politics

He had been number one on Italy’s most-wanted list, accused of mafia association, multiple murders and use of explosives.

Messina Denaro is suspected to have been behind the 1993 bombings in Rome, Milan and Florence that killed 10 people, just months after Cosa Nostra murdered anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in similar attacks.

The arrest of “an extremely dangerous fugitive” was “an extraordinary day for the state”, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said.

In 2015, police discovered Messina Denaro was communicating with his closest collaborators via the pizzini system, where tiny, folded paper notes were left under a rock at a farm in Sicily.

Investigators spent decades searching the homes and businesses of the boss’s known allies on the island.

They looked in particular for hiding places in grottoes, caverns or even bunkers inside buildings where the man nicknamed “Diabolik” could be concealed.

Federico Varese, a criminology professor at Oxford University, said the fact that Sicilian mob families are weaker these days than their counterparts in Calabria or Campania may have helped in Messina Denaro’s capture.

He said it was “amazing that he was still in Palermo”.

“But it makes sense. If you want to continue to exercise a degree of power, you must be in the territory,” he said.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

TERRORISM

Terror alerts: Should I be worried about travelling to Italy?

Italy is on its highest-level terror alert and ministers have warned the public to be vigilant over the Easter holidays - so is there cause for concern if you're planning to travel in the country?

Terror alerts: Should I be worried about travelling to Italy?

Italian authorities agreed on Monday to increase anti-terrorism monitoring ahead of the Easter holidays, with more surveillance to be carried out at popular tourist spots and at “sensitive sites”.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani had stressed to the public on Sunday that Italy faced “no concrete risk” at the moment, and said the country’s security and law enforcement services were “always on the alert to prevent any attack.”

READ ALSO: Italy on maximum terror alert over Easter after Moscow attack

Nevertheless, he warned that “during the Easter holidays you will need to be very careful.”

Italy has been on its highest-level terror alert since October 2023 following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, meaning the official alert level could not be raised any further on Monday.

The plan for increased surveillance and the warnings to the public in Italy came following the terrorist attack at a concert hall in Moscow on Friday where armed men opened fire and set the building ablaze, killing at least 133 people.

Ministers said that terror plots on this scale, organised by groups, “would be intercepted sooner in Italy” and said the main terror threat Italy faced at the moment was mainly from “lone wolves”.

He was referring to the fact that recent deadly attacks in Europe have often been carried out by a single perpetrator, not affiliated to a terrorist organisation. The profile of attackers is often isolated young men who have become radicalised.

Unlike most other major European countries, Italy has not so far suffered any deadly attacks at the hands of jihadist militants.

Experts have suggested that Italy has been able to prevent attacks partly due to lessons learned from anti-mafia policing, and that it also has a lower number of citizens at risk of radicalisation than countries like the UK or France – and therefore fewer suspects to watch.

The country arrests dozens of suspects every year on terrorism charges following surveillance operations. Earlier in March, three men of Palestinian origin were arrested in the Abruzzo town of l’Aquila, alleged to be involved in an organised terror plot.

In 2023, at least 56 foreign nationals were deported from Italy after facing terror-related charges.

Italy is generally seen as being at a lower risk of being hit by a major terror attack than some neighbouring countries. So what exactly does the raised alert level mean for people in the country?

Heightened security

While much of Italy’s counter-terrorism work goes on behind the scenes, there will be increased police and military patrols over Easter in busy public places deemed “sensitive”, including shopping centres and places of worship.

The most visible manifestation of the heightened security alert in Italy is the armed soldiers on patrol outside government buildings, tourist attractions, airports, train stations, central squares and in other busy public areas.

Unlike in some other European countries, Italy’s airports do not regularly experience bomb hoaxes and other threats. While no additional security checks for passengers are being introduced, security is likely to remain tight at Italian airports this Easter, as at all European transport hubs.

If you’re visiting a major tourist attraction over Easter or attending any type of large public event, expect a high level of security at the door.

Travel advice

So far, no country has warned its nationals against visiting Italy – the US State Department still lists the alert level for Italy as Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution, which has seen no change since July 2023. 

SHOW COMMENTS