Matteo Messina Denaro aka ‘Godfather Wiki, Biography
Matteo Messina Denaro, the coveted boss of the Sicilian mafia, was arrested on Monday, January 16, 2023, after being on the run for almost 30 years. The 60-year-old mafia leader, nicknamed “The Godfather of Italy”, was arrested in Palermo, the capital of Sicily.
According to the BBC, Matteo Messina Denaro, who is believed to be the head of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, was arrested at a private clinic in Palermo where he was undergoing cancer treatment. According to the publication, Italian media reported that Denaro was detained shortly before 10:00 a.m. and taken to a secret place by the Carabinieri.
Matteo was reportedly visiting the private clinic after adopting a false name, “Andrea Bonafede”, for a course of chemotherapy. A video taken and released by the Italian news outlet Repubblica shows people standing outside in the street applauding Italian police for arresting Matteo Messina Denaro, who had terrorized the country for years.
Italian mob boss Matteo Messina Denaro had reportedly bragged about filling a “cemetery” with his victims.
Denaro, Italy’s most wanted mob leader, built a legacy of terror and death before going on the run. In 2002, the alleged boss of the notorious Cosa Nostra Mafia was tried and sentenced to life in absentia.
Matteo Messina Denaro once reportedly bragged that he would “fill a graveyard” with his victims. His list of victims is definitely long and includes names like anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, who were assassinated in 1992.
According to the BBC, Denaro was also convicted of the kidnapping, torture and murder of the 11-year-old son of a mobster-turned-state witness. He was involved in the horrific 1993 bombings in the Italian cities of Milan, Florence, and Rome that killed ten people.
In addition to the murders, Matteo Messina Denaro is also reported to have been involved in overseeing organized crime, illegal waste dumping, money laundering and drug trafficking for the Cosa Nostra organized crime syndicate.
Informants and prosecutors believe that Denaro has all the crucial information and the names of the people involved in several of the most high-profile crimes committed or planned by the Italian mafia, including the bombings that killed magistrates Falcone and Borsellino. It is also believed that he continued to order his subordinates from various hidden locations while he was on the run from the law.
According to local media, Denaro is believed to be the last “secret keeper” of the Italian mafia Cosa Nostra. He was the last of three high-ranking fugitive mob bosses who had evaded arrest for decades.