Legendary mafia leader’s “vast fortune” seized by police
Italian police caught the mafia boss who was on the run for 30 years 02:52
Italy said on Thursday it had seized more than 200 million euros ($232 million) in assets belonging to the late mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro proceeds from drug trafficking and are reinvested in Europe and beyond.
The “huge fortune” of the ruthless Cosa Nostra boss, a legendary figure finally caught In Palermo in 2023, after three decades of fugitives, Italy’s financial police have been assembled since the 1980s he said in a statement.
Messina Denaro, leader of the Castelvetrano clan in Sicily, who had six life sentences to his name, died in prison at the age of 61, a few months after his arrest.
Police said an investigation by the Guardia di Finanza uncovered “large amounts of money from drug trafficking that were reinvested in numerous European and non-European countries.”
Police said assets were seized in Andorra, the Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Monaco, Spain and Switzerland, as well as Italy.
They said drug money was “reintroduced into the legal economy” through a wide range of assets, including luxury resorts on Spain’s Costa del Sol, bank accounts, securities portfolios and corporate holding companies.
3 people were detained during the investigation.
Giovanni Melillo, Italy’s chief anti-mafia prosecutor, praised the operation as “of great strategic importance”.
“This is not just a matter of the detection and seizure by an organization as powerful as Cosa Nostra of a significant part of the illicit wealth accumulated over decades of related smuggling and parasitic exploitation of the region (especially Sicily),” Melillo said at a press conference in Palermo on Thursday.
But he said the operation also managed to “delay and thwart” an attempt to rebuild the structure of Cosa Nostra after the death of the powerful Messina Denaro.
Police used aircraft, drones and thermal scanners in the investigation. They said the scanners were used “to detect hidden areas and hidden loopholes.”
It was stated that the eight foreign companies identified during the investigation were used primarily for real estate investments and asset management.
Police said most of the 22 properties identified with links to Messina Denaro were “genuine luxury resorts located in some of the most exclusive areas of the Costa del Sol, between Marbella, Benahavis and Puerto Banus.”
Fugitive for 30 years
Messina Denaro was considered a “Mafia nobleman”; He was the last of the three mafia bosses, the others being the infamous ones. Salvatore “Toto” Riina And Bernardo ProvenzanoBoth evaded capture for decades and continued to live secret lives in Sicily. Dubbed the “boss of bosses,” Riina was on the run for 23 years until his arrest in 1993. Provenzano spent 38 years on the run and was finally captured in 2006.
Messina Denaro, one of the most notorious bosses of Cosa Nostra, the real-life Sicilian crime syndicate depicted in the “Godfather” movies, had a long string of crimes to his name.
He was convicted of involvement in the high-profile murders of anti-Mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992 and the deadly bombings in Rome, Florence and Milan in 1993.
One of the life sentences was ordering the kidnapping and subsequent drowning of the 12-year-old son of a witness in the Falcone case; this son’s body was then dissolved in acid.
After Messina Denaro disappeared in 1993, he managed to evade authorities for the next 30 years due to the Italian state’s crackdown on the Sicilian mafia.
But he remained at the top of Italy’s most wanted list and gradually became a legend.
It was his decision to seek cancer treatment under an assumed name that led to his capture. He was arrested on January 16, 2023, while visiting a clinic in Palermo.
Italian media reported that Messina Denaro was treated for colon cancer at the private hospital “La Maddalena” under the fake name “Andrea Buonafede”. Reports stated that he did not resist arrest and was taken by police to an undisclosed location.
Italian mafia leader Matteo Messina Denaro (right), one of the most wanted mob bosses, is seen after his arrest by Italian security forces in Palermo, Italy, on January 16, 2023. / Credit: Italian Gendarmerie (Carabinieri) Press Service/Handout/Anadolu Agency/Getty
According to eyewitnesses, people cheered and applauded the police when passersby realized that security forces had captured the notorious crime figure.
He was found to be staying near his hometown of Castelvetrano in western Sicily, where his fugitive lifestyle was facilitated by his sister and close confidants.
With their help, Messina Denaro was able to continue communicating with and manipulating Mafia agents.
Messina Denaro continued to receive treatment for cancer while incarcerated in L’Aquila, but was later transferred to the hospital under heavy security in August of the same year.
he died On September 25, 2023.
“You shouldn’t spare anyone’s prayers, but I can’t say I’m sorry,” Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said. he wrote on Instagram In that case.
