Matteo Messina Denaro, considered the “boss of bosses” of Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian mafia (southern Italy), and the most wanted criminal in the country, a fugitive for 30 years, was arrested this Monday in Palermo while waiting, like any other old man, to undergo a covid test before entering a private clinic to receive the oncological treatment he was undergoing. since a year ago.
The boss appeared as Andrea Bonafede, born in 1963, in the file of the “La Maddalena” clinic in Palermo, where he had been treated for a year and where nobody seemed to have realized that this sick man was the last godfather of Cosa Nostra.
This is what is known about the powerful organization that Messina led.
Origin of Cosa Nostra
The feared Sicilian Mafia Cosa Nostra is a group specialized in millionaire drug trafficking, but with tentacles in the real estate sector, wind energy and online betting.
According to the BBC, it is the “original mafia” that expanded the model to other Italian groups.
There are several versions about its origin. The Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia points out that the Sicilian Cosa Nostra mafia originated, ironically, in lemons and oranges.
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In 1973, doctors discovered that citrus fruits were the best remedy for scurvy, a disease triggered by vitamin C deficiency that caused many deaths at the time. That discovery triggered a wave of crime against lemon growers in Sicily, Italy.
“Given Sicily’s already dominant position in the international citrus market, increased demand brought a great flow to citrus-producing cities during the 19th century. The combination of high profits, a weak rule of law, a low level of interpersonal trust, and a high level of local poverty made lemon growers a suitable target for predation,” notes a study published in the Journal of Economic History.
The lemon producers of the time resorted to hiring gangsters
According to that research, the lemon producers of the time resorted to hiring gangsters who served for their private protection and to mediate between the retailers and the booming citrus exporters.
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But what started as a “security group” quickly became an extortion and crime group that gained notoriety with its expansion in the United States (specifically in New York and Chicago).
Other media such as the BBC point out that The beginning of the Sicilian mafia lies in the groups to administer local justice in the 19th century. Later, these groups dedicated themselves to drugs, money laundering, extortion and even prostitution.
There is no estimated number of how many people currently belong to this criminal organization due, in large part, to its code of silence and the existence of “secret memberships.”
criminal record
Messina Denaro was the leader of the new generation that took over from the old godfathers of Cosa Nostra and was among the heirs of the feared “capo of all capos” Toto Riina, “La Bestia”, captured in 1993 and deceased in 2017.
After the arrest of Toto Riina, Messina Denaro led the strategy of terror, supported the organization of the attacks in Florence, Milan and Rome, outside of Sicily, which left a total of ten dead and a hundred injured.
The criminal group and Messina ordered the killing of anti-mafia judges Falcone and Borsellino. They were also accused of ordering the murder of Nicola Consales, a hotelier who lamented that his employees had connections to the mafia.
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Messina was one of the organizers in 1993 of the kidnapping of little Giuseppe Di Matteo to force his father Santino to retract his testimony about the murder of Judge Falcone. After 779 days in detention, the boy was strangled and his body dissolved in acid, one of the most horrifying crimes of his long career.
In the middle of 1993 he chose to disappear, he became the invisible leader of a millionaire criminal organization and his appearance was unknown for the majority of Italians until he was captured this Monday.
During his years as a fugitive, he communicated under the pseudonym “Alessio” through the famous “pizzini”, messages written on small pieces of paper and easily hidden.
In 2010, Forbes magazine included him in the list of the ten most dangerous fugitives in the world. Now, the future of the organization is uncertain after his capture and the lack of information about other affiliates of this important Italian mafia.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
TIME
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