Vita gazette – Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro was arrested by the Carabinieri del Ros after 30 years on the run. He is ill “, but he can stay in prison”.

Denaro played a role in numerous murders as well as the murders of famous judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, who became a symbol in the country with their fight against the mafia, but who failed to not be the target of the mafia in 1992, and also in Milan, Florence and Rome, which the mafia carried out in 1993. Moreover, it was in the press reports that he was responsible for the bomb attacks.

Escaping from prison in the summer of 1993, Denaro was known as the most prominent name behind the leadership of this group after the infamous Cosa Nostra Mafia ringleader, Salvatore (Toto) Riina.

He was arrested inside the La Maddalena private clinic in Palermo, where he had been operated on a year ago and has since been undergoing day hospital therapies. Andrea Bonafede was written on the false document presented to the doctors.

The investigation that led to the arrest of the Castelvetrano (Tp) mafia boss was coordinated by the Palermo prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia and deputy prosecutor Paolo Guido.

The certainty came three days ago. The magistrates, who have been following the trail for some time, have given the green light for the blitz. The GIS carabinieri was already at the Maddalena clinic, where, for a year, Messina Denaro had been undergoing chemotherapy. The boss, who had plans after acceptance made with a false document, withdrawals, visits and treatment, was at the entrance. Meanwhile, the clinic was surrounded by soldiers with their faces covered in front of dozens of patients. A carabiniere approached the godfather and asked him what his name was. “My name is Matteo Messina Denaro,” he replied.

After the blitz in the clinic, the now ex-fugitive was transferred first to the San Lorenzo barracks, then to the Boccadifalco airport to be taken to a maximum security prison facility. With Matteo Messina, Giovanni Luppino, from Campobello di Mazara (Tp), was also arrested and accused of aiding and abetting. He would have accompanied the boss to the clinic for therapy.

The carabinieri seized all the medical records relating to the boss Matteo Messina Denaro alias Andrea Bonafede in the “La Maddalena” clinic in Palermo. In the folders, also in the form of files, is the entire medical history of the patient operated on in Marsala, first for colon cancer and then in the Palermo clinic for liver metastases.

Matteo Messina Denaro was blocked in the street near a secondary entrance to the La Maddalena clinic. This was explained by the carabinieri del Ros during the press conference on the arrest of the Cosa Nostra boss, explaining that the blitz was triggered when “we were certain that he was inside the health facility”. When he was blocked, they added, Messina Denaro “didn’t offer any resistance” and “immediately declared himself, without even pretending to be the person whose identity he had used”. When asked if Messina Denaro attempted to escape, investigators said they “did not see any escape attempts”. However, they added, “he certainly tried to adopt safeguards once he saw the device entering the facility”. “Until yesterday, he was certainly the head of the province of Trapani. We’ll see from tomorrow”. Thus the deputy prosecutor Paolo Guido on the structure of the top management of Cosa nostra after the arrest of Messina Denaro.

“I was in the hospital waiting to enter; it must have been more or less 8.15, then I saw all the masked, hooded carabinieri arrive, and they blocked us all”.

“We have captured the last mass murderer responsible for the 1992-93 massacres”. Thus the Palermo prosecutor Maurizio De Lucia opened the press conference for the arrest of Matteo Messina Denaro. “We are particularly proud of the work completed this morning which concludes a long and delicate job. It is a debt the Republic owed to the mafia victims that we have partially paid off”. “Capturing a dangerous fugitive without resorting to violence and without handcuffs is an important sign for a democratic country”. Thus the prosecutor of Palermo Maurizio de Lucia at the press conference on the arrest of Messina Denaro. Leave now,” added the prosecutor. “He appeared to us in good health and good looks; it does not seem to us that his conditions are incompatible with prison”. Palermo’s adjunct Paolo Guido said so at the press conference. “He was good looking, well dressed, wore luxury clothes which leads us to say that his economic condition was good,” he added. “Obviously it will be treated as every citizen has the right to be treated,” he concluded. During his arrest, he wore an exceptional watch worth 30-35 thousand euros. There has undoubtedly been a slice of the bourgeoisie that has helped Messina Denaro over the years. Our investigations are now focusing on this”. Prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia said this during the press conference on the boss’s arrest.