With the death this Monday of Matteo Messina Denaro, considered the last “boss of bosses” of Cosa Nostra, the mafia of Sicily (southern Italy), Arrested on January 16, 2023 after 30 years on the run from justice, the only person who kept the secrets of the criminal organization that was the protagonist of the attacks in the 90s in Italy disappears.Messia Denaro died this Monday at the age of 61 in the L’Aquila hospital (center) due to the colon cancer he suffered from.
The mayor of L’Aquila, Pierluigi Biondi, confirmed this Monday the death of the gangster in the hospital “after the worsening of his illness.”
His death “puts an end to a history of violence and blood,” said Biondi, who thanked the prison and hospital staff for their “professionalism and humanity.”
It has been “the epilogue of an existence lived without remorse or regret, a painful chapter in the recent history of our nation,” he added.
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It has been the epilogue of an existence lived without remorse or regret
The so-called “last godfather” was arrested in January at the private clinic “la Maddalena” in Palermo, the Sicilian capital, where he had gone for medical treatment while being protected by a network that had allowed him to remain hidden for 30 years in his Sicily. native.
After being arrested, He was taken to the maximum security prison in L’Aquila (central Italy) where he never collaborated with Justice, nor did he appear at the proceedings opened against him, and He thus took the secrets of Cosa Nostra to the grave.
“I will never regret it,” were the words he told the investigators and that was it.
Italy’s most wanted criminal until his arrest He had entered an irreversible coma in the last few hours. and treatment and food had been withdrawn.
Known by the nicknames “U siccu” (the thin one, in Sicilian dialect) or “Diabolik” Because he liked the well-known thief from the famous comic, Messina Denaro was born in the Sicilian town of Castelvetrano and his father, “Don Ciccio”, was already a mafia boss.
For more than 30 years he was searched all over the world, He was located in Barcelona for an eye operation and other trips were documented, but “the godfather” resided, at least in recent years, in Campobello di Mazara, in the province of Trapani, just eight kilometers from his hometown. Castelvetrano, surrounded by people who covered him for years.
After his arrest, several people from the coverage network were arrested, members of his family like his sister or unsuspected citizens who took care of his needs over the years.
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Who was Messina Denaro?
Messina Denaro was one of the most ruthless bosses of Cosa Nostra, depicted in the “Godfather” films.
He rose through the ranks in Cosa Nostra and investigators considered that He became the “boss of bosses” of the Sicilian mafia from hiding after the arrest of Toto Riina, just 30 years ago, and later by Bernardo Provenzano, who fled from justice for 38 years.
Messina Denaro had been on the run since the summer of 1993, when in a letter written to his then girlfriend, Angela, after the mafia massacres in Rome, Milan and Florence, he announced the beginning of his life as a fugitive.
“You will hear about me (implying that he knew that shortly afterward his name would be associated with serious bloodshed) and you will paint me as a demon, but it is all falsehoods,” he wrote.
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The police finally found him when he was visiting a clinic in Palermo to receive cancer treatment.
Investigators had been scouring the Sicilian countryside for years in search of Messina Denaro, searching for hiding places and intercepting members of his family and friends.
They were heard talking about the medical problems of an anonymous person who suffered from cancer and eye problems. The detectives were sure that the identity corresponded to Messina Denaro.
They used a national health system database to find male patients of the appropriate age and medical history, and eventually closed the case.
Although his arrest brought some relief to his victims, the mafia boss always maintained his silence. In interviews in custody, Messina Denaro even denied that he was a member of Cosa Nostra.
The last sentence He considered him the mastermind of the attacks that caused the death of the two anti-mafia magistrates in 1992. Paolo Borsellino and Giovani Falcone, his wife, Francesca Morvillo, and eight escort agents.
Besides, He accumulated several life sentences for dozens of murders, including that of little Giuseppe Di Matteo, the son of a collaborator of justice. The minor was strangled and dissolved in acid after almost two years of captivity.
He accumulated several life sentences for dozens of murders, including that of little Giuseppe Di Matteo.
In recent years, some details of his life have become known, such as that, despite being the most wanted man in Italy, this did not prevent him from traveling to Barcelona to undergo eye surgery, as several investigations demonstrated.
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The power of the considered last boss of Cosa Nostra, the last of the “Corleoneses”, is demonstrated not only in his extensive network of contacts and front men, but also in It can also be quantified in the more than 4,000 million euros that have been confiscated from its surroundings.
According to the researchers, Messina Denaro continued from clandestinity giving orders in Cosa Nostra, as proven by the “pizzini”, the pieces of paper with which its members communicate, intercepted by the Italian Police in recent years.
Although his figure was always surrounded by legends, researchers pointed out that The elusive “capo” of Costa Nostra was a very different personality from that of the rest of the mafia bosses like Riina and Provenzano, of little intelligence and hidden for years in the middle of the countryside in terrible conditions.
About Messina Denaro they spoke of his great intelligence and that he loved luxury, travel, cars and clothes.
A fan of Rolex watches and designer clothing, comics and video games, Messina Denaro had a reputation as a “playboy” and once appeared on the cover of an Italian magazine wearing dark glasses. and rock star looks.
After his arrest, memorabilia from the movie “The Godfather” was found among his belongings, including a magnet featuring a mafia boss in a suit and the words “The Godfather, that’s me.”
In August, Messina Denaro was transferred to the inmate ward of the local hospital, where his condition had worsened in recent days.
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This weekend, The media reported that he was in an “irreversible coma.” The doctors had stopped feeding him and he had asked not to be resuscitated, they added.
According to the Italian media, Messina Denaro will be buried in his hometown, Castelvetrano, in Sicily. There will not be a Catholic funeral since the Sicilian episcopate has always denied it to the gangsters.
Furthermore, for reasons of public order, The police headquarters of Trapani (Sicily) will only allow a discreet burial in the Castelvetrano cemetery, where the family grave is already prepared to receive the body of the boss, who will rest next to his father Francesco, “Don Ciccio” Messina Denaro, who was a mafia boss in the late 80s and died of a heart attack while fleeing.
*With AFP and EFE
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