ROME—Italy’s top fugitive, 60-year-old Matteo Messina Denaro, has been arrested in Palermo after 30 years on the lam. Widely thought to be the boss of bosses of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra mafia, Denaro has been tried in absentia for multiple murders and other mafia crimes. He has been sentenced to several life prison terms.
Messina Denaro was on Europol’s most wanted list and had spent time on the FBI most wanted list shortly after he went into hiding in 1993. He was Italy’s No. 1 most wanted person.
“We have captured the last mass murderer responsible for the 1992-93 massacres,” Palermo prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia said at a press conference after his arrest. “We are particularly proud of the work completed this morning which concludes a long and very delicate job. It is a debt that the Republic owed to the victims of the mafia which we have partially paid.”
He added that “capturing a dangerous fugitive without resorting to violence and without handcuffs is an important sign for a democratic country.”
Denaro’s most notorious crime was his role in the 1992 twin assassinations of anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, who were targeted in separate bombings. His most heinous was perhaps ordering the kidnapping and murder of a 12-year-old son of a turncoat, whose body was dissolved in acid.
Denaro was captured inside the La Maddalena private health clinic in central Palermo around 10 a.m. local time Monday morning. He was receiving medical treatment under the alias Andrea Bonafede, which translates to “good faith.”
Police say the arrest came after years of investigation which led them to follow his ongoing health problems, and to the clinic where he was arrested. It’s unclear exactly when authorities knew Denaro was there. More than 100 officers took part in the Monday morning raid, and the mafia boss was led out of the clinic without incident as people cheered in the streets.
In recent years, the circle around Denaro started to close with the arrest of his siblings, associates and financial supporters. More than $5 billion worth of assets tied to his activities leading the Cosa Nostra had been seized in the last two decades.
Police say they will now work to unravel the network that protected him, especially at the medical clinic. When he was arrested, police approached him in the reception area of the clinic and asked him his name. “I am Matteo Messina Denaro,” he replied, abandoning his alias one last time.
He is being held in an undisclosed high security prison. He is not expected to appear in court. Olive farmer Giovanni Luppino, who is thought to be his main financial supporter, was also arrested for driving Denaro to the clinic.
