The Italian military police, the Carabinieri, said on Monday that they had arrested one of the country's most dangerous criminals, the leader of the notorious Cosa Nostra mafia group, after almost 30 years of attempts
ROME (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th January, 2023) The Italian military police, the Carabinieri, said on Monday that they had arrested one of the country's most dangerous criminals, the leader of the notorious Cosa Nostra mafia group, after almost 30 years of attempts.
Matteo Messina Denaro, one of the most wanted mafia bosses in Italy, had been hiding since 1993. He was arrested at a private hospital in Palermo, Sicily, where he was receiving treatment, according to footage acquired by Sputnik.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni congratulated the Carabinieri, calling the operation a great victory for the state. She added that her government will keep fighting organized crime without letup. Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, whose ministry is in charge of the Carabinieri, in turn, thanked law enforcement officers for their service.
The detention of the mafia boss occurred one day after the 30-year anniversary of the arrest of the head of the Sicilian mafia, Salvatore Riina, nicknamed "Beast." After the arrest of Riina and his successor, Bernardo Provenzano, Messina Denaro became Cosa Nostra's most influential boss. Investigators assumed that he continued to be in charge of the crime syndicate, even in hiding.
Law enforcement had been searching for Messina Denaro since 1993, when he disappeared without a trace while on holiday in the resort town of Forte dei Marmi in Toscana. Since then, the authorities have arrested some of his associates, but Messina Denaro himself managed to escape justice until recently. He even, reportedly, resorted to plastic surgery to completely change his appearance.
In October 2020, Messina Denaro was handed a second life sentence for complicity in organizing the murders of legendary Italian investigators Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, as well as eight police officers accompanying them in Sicily in 1992.
