Just 9 months after his seize, infamous Sicilian Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro has died in a hospital in central Italy, the native authorities confirmed Monday.
The 61-year-old had been handled for colon most cancers whereas detained in a high-security jail in L’Aquila, however was moved final month to a hospital after his situation deteriorated.
L’Aquila Mayor Pierluigi Biondi confirmed the mobster’s demise in hospital “following a worsening of his illness” in an announcement to the ANSA news company, which had earlier damaged the news.
His demise “puts the end to a story of violence and blood,” Biondi mentioned, thanking jail and hospital employees for his or her “professionalism and humanity.”
It was “the epilogue of an existence lived without remorse or repentance, a painful chapter of the recent history of our nation.”
Messina Denaro was one of the ruthless bosses in Cosa Nostra, the real-life Sicilian crime syndicate depicted within the Godfather motion pictures.
He was convicted by the courts of involvement within the homicide of anti-Mafia choose Giovanni Falcone in 1992 and in lethal bombings in Rome, Florence and Milan in 1993.
One of his six life sentences was additionally handed down for the kidnapping and subsequent homicide of the 12-year-old son of a witness within the Falcone case.
Messina Denaro disappeared in the summertime of 1993 and spent the following 30 years on the run because the Italian state cracked down on the Sicilian mob.
But he remained the highest identify on Italy’s most-wanted listing and, more and more grew to become a determine of legend.
It was his resolution to hunt therapy for his most cancers that led to his seize. He was arrested on Jan. 16, 2023, as he visited a well being clinic in Palermo.
He was jailed in L’Aquila, the place he continued therapy in his cell, however was moved to hospital in August, underneath heavy safety.
Since Friday night time, he had been reported to have been in an “irreversible coma.” Medics had stopped feeding him and he had requested to not be resuscitated, Italian media studies mentioned.
His arrest could have introduced some aid for his victims, however the mob boss at all times maintained his silence.
In interviews in custody after being arrested, Messina Denaro even denied he was a member of the Cosa Nostra.
Wiretaps
After Messina Denaro went on the run, there was intense hypothesis that he had gone overseas – and he doubtless did.
But ultimately, he was discovered to have been staying close to his hometown of Castelvetrano in western Sicily.
Preparations are already underway for his burial within the household tomb within the city, alongside his father, Don Ciccio, in keeping with the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
Don Ciccio was additionally head of the native clan. He was mentioned to have died of a coronary heart assault whereas on the run, his physique left within the countryside, dressed for the funeral.
Investigators had been combing the Sicilian countryside for Messina Denaro for years, trying to find hideouts and wiretapping members of his household and his mates.
They had been heard discussing the medical issues of an unnamed one who suffered from most cancers, in addition to eye issues – an individual who detectives grew to become certain was Messina Denaro.
They used a nationwide well being system database to seek for male sufferers of the precise age and medical historical past and finally closed in.
Source: www.dailysabah.com