Matteo Messina Denaro was wanted since 1993 and was the last living great Sicilian “capo”.
The Sicilian Mafia’s powerful godfather Matteo Messina Denaro, who was captured in January after 30 years on the run, died in hospital in central Italy, the ANSA news agency reported on Monday.
Matteo Messina Denaro, nicknamed Diabolik, named after a criminal protagonist from a famous Italian comic of which he himself is a fan, was the undisputed leader of the Cosa Nostra in the province of Trapani in western Sicily, although his power reached as far as Palermo. He was a ruthless assassin, the last representative of the Cosa Nostra old guard.
He disappeared in 1993
In 1992, he was part of a group of thugs sent to Rome by Salvatore Riina (1930-2017), the “capo dei capi” (the leader of leaders), to assassinate anti-Mafia judge Giovanni Falcone. They were eventually recalled by “the beast” who killed the judge in a bombing near Palermo on May 23. This important decision was made in agreement with other sponsors, including Messina Denaro, who will be sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment in 2020 for his involvement.
Matteo Messina Denaro disappeared in the summer of 1993 and became Italy’s most wanted person. The following years were marked by intense speculation about where he had gone. Eventually it turned out that he had been near his hometown of Castelvetrano in western Sicily.
For years, investigators scoured the Sicilian countryside for possible hiding places, wiretapped family members and friends, and ultimately led to the arrest of the man, who suffered from colon cancer and sought treatment while on the run.
“Irversible coma”
The last living Sicilian “capo”, wanted since 1993, was arrested on the way to a clinic in Palermo. He was then transferred to a maximum security prison in L’Aquila in Abruzzo, a region east of Rome, where he continued to receive medical treatment. In August, Messina Denaro was transferred to the local hospital’s prison ward, where his condition had deteriorated in recent days.
This weekend, media reports announced that he had fallen into an “irreversible coma.” According to the press, doctors stopped feeding him and he asked not to be resuscitated.
His arrest may have brought relief to his victims, but the mafia boss has always remained silent. In interviews given since his arrest, Messina Denaro has even denied being a member of Cosa Nostra.