Let’s find out ‘How was Matteo Messina Denaro arrested?’ Italy’s most wanted mafia boss, Matteo Messina Denaro, was arrested by armed police at a private hospital in Sicily on Monday, where the man who has been on the run since 1993 was being treated for cancer.
Messina Denaro, known by the monikers “Diabolik” and “‘U Siccu” (The Skinny One), had been given a life sentence in absentia for his part in the murders of anti-mafia prosecutors Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone in 1992, crimes that shocked the country and sparked a crackdown on the Cosa Nostra.
How was Matteo Messina Denaro arrested?
Two carabinieri police officers in uniform led Messina Denaro, 60, out of Palermo’s “La Maddalena” hospital and into a waiting black minivan. He was sporting a brown wool hat, glasses, and a fur-lined jacket.
As the minivan was being transported from the suburban hospital to a secret destination, images posted on social media showed locals cheering and shaking hands with police wearing balaclavas.
As Italy’s most wanted mafia killer, Matteo Messina Denaro, was bundled into a black police van in the rain outside the clinic, local residents stood and applauded
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— The Times and The Sunday Times (@thetimes) January 16, 2023
According to judicial authorities, he was receiving cancer treatment, underwent surgery last year, and then attended a number of appointments using a fictitious name.
The arrest was lauded by Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister of Italy, as “a wonderful success for the state.”
The judge’s sister, Maria Falcone, expressed that attitude.
Despite their inflated sense of power, she argued, it “proves that Mafiosi are inevitably bound to defeat in the struggle with the democratic state.”
Some FAQs
Where was Matteo Messina Denaro arrested?
After three decades on the run, convicted Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, now 60, was apprehended on Monday at a private clinic in Palermo, Sicily, according to Italian paramilitary police.
What did Matteo Denaro do?
Where is Matteo Messina Denaro now?
Messina Denaro was tried in absentia and convicted of dozens of murders and faces multiple life sentences. He will go to prison for the 1992 bombs in Sicily that murdered anti-Mafia prosecutors Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone. Along with Falcone’s wife and several of their bodyguards.
