Fugitive mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro was arrested on Monday by Italian military police after thirty years in hiding.
(Bloomberg) — Fugitive mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro was arrested on Monday by Italian military police after thirty years in hiding.
Messina Denaro was one of Italy’s most wanted criminals and is considered the leader of the Sicilian mafia after the arrests of Bernardo Provenzano in 2006 and Salvatore Lo Piccolo in 2007. He was arrested in a private clinic in Palermo.
Police commander Pasquale Angelosanto, who coordinated the operation, said the boss had gone to the clinic to undergo medical treatment, and did not resist arrest.
Messina Denaro has been convicted for dozens of murders, including those of judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992 and the mafia terror attacks in Rome, Milan and Florence the following year. The arrest is the result of an investigation by Palermo prosecutors Maurizio de Lucia and Paolo Guido, according to Ansa.
The arrest is a “victory for the state,” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a statement. “The fight against mafia will continue without respite.”
Last September 35 people have been arrested in the Sicilian province of Trapani, accused of being part of the network protecting Messina Denaro.
(Updates with details about the arrest)
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