- Messina Denaro caught after 30 years on the run
- Found an apartment in a western Sicilian town
- Physician who prescribed a studied cancer treatment
PALERMO, Italy, Jan 17 (Portal) – Perfumes, designer clothes and sex pills were found Tuesday in an apartment that investigators believe was the last hiding place of Sicilian mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, court sources said, a day later after arresting the fugitive.
Messina Denaro, 60, who was arrested in a private hospital in Palermo on Monday after 30 years on the run, is being held in the central Italian city of L’Aquila, Palermo prosecutors said. He was transferred from Sicily on the day of his arrest.
The apartment is located in a modest building near the center of Campobello di Mazara, a town in the western Sicily province of Trapani, a few kilometers from Messina Denaro’s hometown of Castelvetrano.
Investigators found clothing, shoes, a well-stocked refrigerator and restaurant receipts there, court sources said. They also found potency pills.
“He had a normal life, he went to the supermarket,” said Judge Paolo Guido, one of the officers investigating Messina Denaro.
Neighbors described him as a friendly person.
“I live on the first floor of the building, sometimes I saw this person, said hello to him and nothing else. He responded kindly,” Rosario Cognata told Italian media.
[1/5] Carabinieri police stand guard near the hideout of Matteo Messina Denaro, Italy’s most wanted mafia boss, following his arrest in the Sicilian town of Campobello di Mazara, Italy January 17, 2023. Portal/Antonio Parrinello
TASTE FOR LUXURY
Messina Denaro was known for his taste for luxury goods, including designer clothes and expensive sunglasses. He was wearing a watch valued at €35,000 ($38,000) when he was arrested, police said.
Messina Denaro is said to have been living in the apartment for the past year, court sources said, but police are still looking for other places he may have spent time.
Investigators believe Messina Denaro was driven from Campobello di Mazara to Palermo’s La Maddalena hospital on Monday to be treated for cancer. The city was home to his alleged aide Giovanni Luppino, who was arrested with him.
Police are investigating doctor Alfonso Tumbarello on suspicion of being an accessory to a mob boss, court sources said, because he was caring for Messina Denaro, who was undergoing cancer treatment under an assumed name.
The sources said he gave the name of Andrea Bonafede, the owner of the apartment where Messina Denaro lived and who is also under investigation.
Messina Denaro, nicknamed “U Siccu” (The Thin One), received 20 life sentences in absentee trials for his role in a series of mob killings, including the bombings, in which anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino were killed in 1992.
Despite his illness, prosecutors said Messina Denaro is fit enough to serve time in prison, where he will continue his cancer treatment. ($1 = 0.9232 euros)
Additional reporting by Angelo Amante and Alvise Armellini in Rome Writing by Angelo Amante Editing by Keith Weir and Tomasz Janowski
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