Italy said Thursday it was seizing more than 200 million euros ($232 million) in assets belonging to a late Mafia boss. Matteo Messina Denaro obtained from drug trafficking and replanted in Europe and beyond.
The “great fortune” of the ruthless boss of Cosa Nostra – a famous person they are finally captured in 2023 in Palermo after three decades on the run – it had been collected since the 1980s, Italy’s financial police said in a statement.
Messina Denaro, the head of the Castelvetrano family in Sicily, who received six life sentences in his name, died in prison a few months after his arrest at the age of 61.
An investigation by the Guardia di Finanza found “substantial proceeds of drug trafficking that were reinvested in many European and non-European countries,” police said.
The goods were taken from Andorra, the Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Monaco, Spain and Switzerland, as well as Italy, police said.
Drug money was “repatriated into the legal economy” through various assets, including luxury resorts on Spain’s Costa del Sol, bank accounts, hedge funds and holding companies, they said.
Three were arrested in the investigation.
Italy’s top anti-Mafia prosecutor, Giovanni Melillo, hailed the operation as “highly strategic.”
“It is not just a matter of identifying and capturing a large part of the illegal wealth accumulated over decades of trafficking related to the exploitation of the territory – especially Sicily – from a powerful organization like Cosa Nostra,” said Melillo on Thursday during a press conference in Palermo.
But the program also managed to “delay and hinder” Cosa Nostra’s attempt to rebuild its structure after the death of the powerful Messina Denaro, he said.
Police used aircraft, drones and thermal imaging cameras in the investigation. The scanners were used to “see hidden places and hidden holes,” they said.
The eight foreign companies identified during the investigation were mainly used in real estate investment and asset management.
Most of the 22 properties found to be linked to Messina Denaro “were real resorts located between Marbella, Benahavis and Puerto Banus, in some of the most exclusive areas of the Costa del Sol,” police said.
30 years running
Messina Denaro was considered a “noble of the Mafia” – the last of the top three bosses of the Mafia, some notorious. Salvatore “Toto” Riina again Bernardo Provenzanoboth could not be captured for decades, continuing a secret life in Sicily. Riina, the so-called “boss of bosses,” had been on the run for 23 years before his arrest in 1993. Provenzano spent 38 years on the run and was finally captured in 2006.
One of the most notorious bosses of Cosa Nostra, the real-life Sicilian crime syndicate featured in “The Godfather” films, Messina Denaro had a long string of crimes to his name.
He was convicted of involvement in the 1992 high-profile murders of anti-Mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino and the deadly bombings in Rome, Florence and Milan in 1993.
One of his life sentences was for ordering the kidnapping and strangulation of the 12-year-old son of a witness in the Falcone case, whose body was then dissolved in acid.
After disappearing in 1993, Messina Denaro was able to evade authorities for the next 30 years as the Italian state cracked down on the Sicilian mob.
But he remained a top name on Italy’s most wanted list and increasingly a legend.
It was his decision to seek cancer treatment under a false name that led to his arrest. He was arrested on Jan. 16, 2023, during a visit to a clinic in Palermo.
Italian media reported that Messina Denaro was being treated for lung cancer at the private hospital “La Maddalena” under the false name “Andrea Buonafede.” Reports say that he did not resist arrest and was taken to an unknown location by the police.
Italian Gendarmerie (Carabinieri) Press Service/Handout/Anadolu Agency/Getty
According to eyewitnesses, when people passing by saw that the security forces had arrested this crime star, people were happy and applauded the police.
It was discovered that he lived near his hometown of Castelvetrano in western Sicily, his escape life encouraged by his sister and close friends.
With their help, Messina Denaro was also able to continue communicating with, and directing, his Mafia operatives.
Messina Denaro continued to receive cancer treatment while imprisoned in L’Aquila, but was later taken to hospital in August of that year, under heavy security.
He died on September 25, 2023.
“You shouldn’t deny prayers to anyone, but I can’t say I’m sorry,” Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini wrote on Instagram at the time.
