Fugitive Mafia Boss, Italy's Most Wanted, Lands In Police Custody After Evading Arrest For 3 Decades

Though the mafia boss had been on the run for 30 years, he was still believed to have been running the operations by issuing orders from secret locations.

Police in Italy have finally succeeded in arresting the country’s most wanted mafia boss, Matteo Messina Denaro, who had been on the run for three decades. The Carabinieri military police detained Denaro at a clinic in the Sicilian capital Palermo, The Guardian reported.

The fugitive had been handed out a life term, in absentia, for his role in the murders of anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992. He faces another life sentence for his role in the 1993 bomb attacks in Florence, Rome and Milan that left 10 people dead.

Italian media reported that Denaro had gone for therapeutic treatment at a clinic in Palermo when he was captured on January 16, the Guardian report said.

Over 100 members of the armed forces were reportedly involved in the arrest after which Denaro was taken to a secret location by the Carabinieri, according to a BBC report, which added that a video circulated by Italian media appeared to show people standing along the street and applauding the police as they led Denaro away.

Who Is Matteo Messina Denaro?

Nicknamed ‘‘Diabolik’’, Denaro is alleged to be a boss of Cosa Nostra mafia in Sicily, who oversaw racketeering, drug trafficking and money laundering for the powerful organised crime syndicate. 

The now 60-year-old was once set to be the "boss of bosses" of the Sicilian mafia after dons Bernardo Provenzano and Salvatore Riina died in 2016 and 2017, respectively, the Guardian report said. 

“I filled a cemetery, all by myself,” he had reportedly once claimed, according to the report, which also said Denaro had been called to testify during a trial in 1993, and he fled a few weeks after that never to be found again.

In August 2021, a recording dating back to the March 1993 trial was released by Italian public TV broadcaster Rai, and that was the first time Denaro's voice was identified.

In 2002, the mafia boss was convicted in absentia and sentenced to life in jail for killing or ordering the murder of dozens of people.

He was also an accused in the killing of the 11-year-old son of a former mafioso who turned a state witness.

According to media reports, Denaro was the protege of Totò Riina, who headed the Corleone clan and was arrested in 1993 after remaining a fugitive for 23 years.

Though Denaro had been on the run for 30 years, he was still believed to have been running the operations by issuing orders from secret locations, the BBC report said.