Simply 9 months after his seize, infamous Sicilian Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro has died in a hospital in central Italy, the native authorities confirmed Monday.
The 61-year-old had been handled for colon most cancers whereas detained in a high-security jail in L’Aquila, however was moved final month to a hospital after his situation deteriorated.
L’Aquila Mayor Pierluigi Biondi confirmed the mobster’s dying in hospital “following a worsening of his sickness” in an announcement to the ANSA information company, which had earlier damaged the information.
His dying “places the top to a narrative of violence and blood,” Biondi stated, thanking jail and hospital workers for his or her “professionalism and humanity.”
It was “the epilogue of an existence lived with out regret or repentance, a painful chapter of the latest historical past of our nation.”
Messina Denaro was one of the vital ruthless bosses in Cosa Nostra, the real-life Sicilian crime syndicate depicted within the Godfather films.
He was convicted by the courts of involvement within the homicide of anti-Mafia choose Giovanni Falcone in 1992 and in lethal bombings in Rome, Florence and Milan in 1993.
One in all his six life sentences was additionally handed down for the kidnapping and subsequent homicide of the 12-year-old son of a witness within the Falcone case.
Messina Denaro disappeared in the summertime of 1993 and spent the subsequent 30 years on the run because the Italian state cracked down on the Sicilian mob.
However he remained the highest identify on Italy’s most-wanted listing and, more and more turned a determine of legend.
It was his choice to hunt remedy for his most cancers that led to his seize. He was arrested on Jan. 16, 2023, as he visited a well being clinic in Palermo.
He was jailed in L’Aquila, the place he continued remedy in his cell, however was moved to hospital in August, below heavy safety.
Since Friday evening, he had been reported to have been in an “irreversible coma.” Medics had stopped feeding him and he had requested to not be resuscitated, Italian media reviews stated.
His arrest might have introduced some reduction for his victims, however the mob boss all the time maintained his silence.
In interviews in custody after being arrested, Messina Denaro even denied he was a member of the Cosa Nostra.
Wiretaps
After Messina Denaro went on the run, there was intense hypothesis that he had gone overseas – and he doubtless did.
However in the long run, he was discovered to have been staying close to his hometown of Castelvetrano in western Sicily.
Preparations are already underway for his burial within the household tomb within the city, alongside his father, Don Ciccio, based on the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
Don Ciccio was additionally head of the native clan. He was stated to have died of a coronary heart assault whereas on the run, his physique left within the countryside, dressed for the funeral.
Investigators had been combing the Sicilian countryside for Messina Denaro for years, looking for hideouts and wiretapping members of his household and his buddies.
They have been heard discussing the medical issues of an unnamed one that suffered from most cancers, in addition to eye issues – an individual who detectives turned positive was Messina Denaro.
They used a nationwide well being system database to seek for male sufferers of the fitting age and medical historical past and finally closed in.