Matteo Messina Denaro, the last "godfather" of the Sicilian mafia and one of the most wanted criminals in the world, has been arrested in Palermo after 30 years on the run.
Denaro, 60 years old, who had been hiding since 1993, was caught in a private clinic in the Sicilian city, where, according to sources, he had been receiving treatment under the false name "Andrea Bonafede" for about a year.
The mobster was once considered a candidate to be the boss of the Sicilian mafia, following the deaths of Bernardo Provenzano in 2016 and Salvatore Riina in 2017.
Known by the nickname Diabolik or U Siccu (the weak one), Denaro was born in Castelvetrano, Sicily, in 1962. His father was a powerful Cosa Nostra boss. According to informants and prosecutors, he is responsible for some of the most heinous crimes committed by the Sicilian mafia.
In 2002, he was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment for killing or ordering the killing of dozens of people.
The investigation to find Denaro was complicated by the almost complete lack of photographs. With only a few old ID photos, Italian authorities reconstructed his image digitally, using the latest computer technology and information provided.
Now that Denaro is no longer a free man, investigators will try to find out where he was hiding and the network of people who protected him.
Source: Rai News, Guardian
