Matteo Messina Denaro has been arrested. He is suspected of being the top boss of the Sicilian mafia Cosa Nostra.
16.01.2023 10:46
Updated 16.01.2023 11:17
The 60-year-old Messina Denaro has been on the run from the Italian police since 1993. Now he has been arrested, https://twitter.com/_Carabinieri_/status/1614912699846066176 Italian police on Monday.
Denaro has been considered a very powerful figure in the Cosa Nostra mafia, which is based in Sicily. He was arrested in Palermo during a visit to a private health clinic.
Paying tribute to the police
Defense Minister Guido Crosetto is among those celebrating on Monday. On Twitter, he pays tribute to the enforcers of the law.
– Congratulations to the police, to the judiciary and to the thousands of others who work quietly every day, https://twitter.com/GuidoCrosetto/status/1614902639476482050 Crosetto.
Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini is no less happy. He says he is deeply moved and refers to Messina Denaro as a “super boss” in the mafia.
– It is a beautiful day for Italy and one that will stand as a warning to the mafia: the institutions and our uniformed heroes never give up, https://twitter.com/matteosalvinimi/status/1614924346316754952 Salvini.
Sentenced to life
Matteo Pessina Denaro is known as “Diabolik” after a cartoon character. He is one of the world’s ten most wanted persons. In the 1980s, he became notorious as a brutal killer.
He is convicted in absentia in absentiaIn absentia means in the absence of. In law, in absentia means without the person concerned being present. (Large Norwegian encyclopedia) to life for having killed more than 50 people. In 1993 he liquidated the mafia boss Vincenzo Milazzo. He then pounced on Milazzo’s pregnant girlfriend and choked her with his hands.
– With all the people I have killed, I could have made a cemetery, he is said to have said.
Lived in luxury
Before he went underground in 1993, he drove a Porsche and was known as a playboy. He wore tailored suits and Rolex watches. He hung out in Sicily’s nightclubs drinking Cristal champagne and picking up girls.
Messina Denaro is the boss of the mafia in Trapani in Sicily. Many also believe that he is “Il Capo dei Capi” – the boss of the bosses – of the Sicilian mafia.
When Cosa Nostra’s top boss, Bernardo Provenzano, was arrested in 2006 – after 43 years on the run – the police found a coded note.
Skilled businessman
There, Provenzano had written that Messina Denaro was the mafia’s new godfather. Some experts still believe that he can never become godfather because he is not from the capital Palermo.
What all the experts agree on, however, is that he is the most powerful and dangerous mafia boss who has been at large in recent years. They also believe that he has the mafia’s most skilled businessman ever. Under the authorities’ radar, he built up companies worth many billions of kroner.
Stewed with “pizzini”
He is said to have used his family and highly trusted mafia members to manage the day-to-day operations.
He must have made big and important decisions himself. Then he used pizzini, small pieces of paper with coded messages. It is the traditional method the mafia uses to communicate.
When the police arrested the godfather Provenzano in 2006, they found correspondence with Messina Denaro. He then used the pseudonym “Alessio”. One such pizzino showed that Messina Denaro owned a large supermarket chain in Sicily.
After several years of investigation, the anti-mafia police were able to confiscate the entire food chain a few years ago. They also took 12 other companies, 220 houses and 133 landed properties worth NOK 6 billion.
On paper, the “supermarket king” Giuseppe Grigoli was the owner. According to the court, he was a straw man for Messina Denaro.
– Loved by the locals
Some time ago, the police also seized several olive oil companies, shops and houses connected to Messina Denaro. Value: NOK 320 million.
– Messina Denaro is a driven and skilled businessman. He is very popular in the Trapani region. The population loves him, Marcello Viola told Aftenposten a few years ago.
He was a public prosecutor in Trapani and had devoted his career to hunting the Messina Denaro.
Traditionally, the mafia pressures businessmen to pay protection money. In the Trapani region, the mafia rather enters as partners in business.
There are far fewer mafia murders here than in other regions of Sicily. Murder hurts business.
– Messina Denaro is good at spreading money and wealth. The locals are rooting for him. That’s why he has been able to be on the run for so long, Viola thought.
