After 30 years, Italy arrests mafia boss Messina Denaro at Sicilian hospital
Matteo Messina Denaro, the most wanted mafia boss in Italy, was being treated for cancer on Monday when armed police detained him. He had been on the run since 1993.
Messina Denaro, known by the monikers “Diabolik” and “‘U Siccu” (The Skinny One), had been given a life sentence in absentia for his part in the murders of anti-mafia prosecutors Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone in 1992, crimes that shocked the country and sparked a crackdown on the Cosa Nostra.
Two carabinieri police officers in uniform led Messina Denaro, 60, out of Palermo’s “La Maddalena” hospital and into a waiting black minivan. He was sporting a brown wool hat, glasses, and a fur-lined jacket.
According to judicial authorities, he was receiving cancer treatment, underwent surgery last year, and then attended a number of appointments using a fictitious name.
Prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia of Palermo said, “We had a clue to the inquiry and pursued it through to today’s arrest.”
Dismantling Messina Denaro’s network of guardians, according to magistrate Paolo Guido, who oversaw the inquiry into Messina Denaro, was essential in getting the desired outcome after years of effort.
On suspicion of helping a fugitive, a second man who had driven Messina Denaro to the hospital was detained there.
Social media images from the time the minivan carrying Messina Denaro was being transported out from the suburban hospital to a secret location showed locals cheering and shaking hands with cops in balaclavas.
