Italy's most wanted mobster, Matteo Messina Denaro, arrested after 30 years on the run
A rifleman in a street in Vibo Valentia, Calabria, November 18, 2021 (illustrative image).
AFP - GIANLUCA CHININEA
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
A figure of the Cosa Nostra, he had been sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment for murders and was the most wanted criminal in Italy.
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"
It's a beautiful day for Italy which serves as a warning to the mafia: the institutions and our heroes in uniform never give up
," said Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini announcing the arrest of Matteo Messina Denaro .
Matteo Messina Denaro, 60 and considered the successor of the great historic leaders of Cosa Nostra, Toto Riina and Bernardo Provenzano, who died in prison in 2016 and 2017, was arrested in Palermo after a three-decade run.
The Sicilian was in first place, on the list of the six most wanted criminals in Italy.
"
After 30 years on the run, the superboss Matteo Messina Denaro has been arrested,
" said Matteo Salvini.
It is with great emotion that I thank the women and men of the State who have never given up, confirming the rule that sooner or later even the greatest criminals on the run are arrested
”.
Hundreds of police mobilized
Carabinieri General Pasquale Angelosanto told the AGI agency that he was arrested "
inside a health facility in Palermo where he had gone to undergo clinical therapy
".
A former Cosa Nostra trigger, he had been sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment for murder.
But the only known photo of him dates back to the early 1990s.
For many years, hundreds of police and carabinieri had been involved in the hunt for Italy's most notorious fugitive.
Since the 2000s,
the Italian police have multiplied the arrests
and seizures of property in his entourage, in a strategy of isolation which took nearly 20 years to bear fruit, so important was his support network.
(
With
AFP)
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