Matteo Messina Denaro, a former leader of Sicily’s Cosa Nostra mafia gang, was arrested on Monday, after having been on the run for the past 30 years. Italian law enforcement officers have been trying to track down Denaro’s whereabouts for his involvement in several mafia-related murders and a 1993 bombing that killed 10 people, according to CNN.
The 60-year-old was reportedly captured while receiving medical treatment at a local private clinic in Palermo, and though he initially attempted to escape, he surrendered shortly after realizing authorities had surrounded the entire building, leaving him with no choice but to capitulate. Local residents cheered and honked their cars upon hearing about Denaro’s arrest, as seen in video clips that have since been posted on Twitter.
The last “GodFather” of the Sicilian mafia Matteo Messina Denaro,has been arrested in Palermo 🇮🇹 after 30 years on the run.
He has been sentenced in absentia to a life term for his role in the 1992 murders of anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. pic.twitter.com/3PY7kL1bIO— ☄️✨ Helenna Rossa ✨☄️ (@HelennaRossa) January 16, 2023
Back in 1993, the mafia boss was accused of setting up the murders of two anti-mafia prosecutors, Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone, followed by multiple bombings which occurred that same year in Rome, Florence, and Milan, killing 10 people. Other crimes are said to include the kidnapping of a 12-year-old boy named Giuseppe Di Matteo, having hoped that it would make his father, Santino – a former associate – stop cooperating with the police about deep-rooted mafia secrets. The boy was tortured for two years before being killed.
Di Matteo’s kidnapping made national headlines in Italy at the time because of how gruesome the attacks were on the child. His dad had agreed to out his former associates to the police after being held in police protection, and in an attempt to keep him quiet, the Cosa Nostra gang kidnapped the 12-year-old and tortured him until his father agreed to keep his mouth closed.
The boy received countless punishments between 1993 to 1996, such as being kept in a cage, as well as countless beatings and being underfed for weeks on end at times. Photos of his injuries were then sent to his dad, who pled with his former associates to stop, the mobsters were given the order to kill the boy after learning that Santino’s testament had not been retracted.
VIDEO. People clapping and cheering Carabinieri police in the streets of Palermo after the arrest of Italy’s top mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro after 30 years on the run – @repubblica pic.twitter.com/W6ptsXu7lL
— Antonello Guerrera (@antoguerrera) January 16, 2023
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Denaro, despite being a fugitive for three decades, was still deemed one of the most dangerous men in Italy, who was one of the last of three Mafia bosses who now faces the rest of his life in prison for his convicted crimes.