Image via REUTERS
After 30 years on the run, convicted Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro has been captured, according to the Associated Press.
The 60-year-old Denaro was detained on Monday in Palermo, the capital of Sicily. Denaro, who had been on the run since 1993, was still regarded as the Cosa Nostra’s top leader.
According to Carabinieri Gen. Pasquale Angelosanto, head of the police force’s special operations team, Denaro was arrested at the Palermo facility where he was receiving treatment for a “undisclosed medical condition.” Numerous slayings are attributed to him, most notably the notorious 1992 murders of anti-mafia prosecutors Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone.
Denaro recently entered the facility using a fake identity, which allowed detectives to track him down before his arrest on Monday.“It all led to today’s date (when) he would have come for some tests and treatment” at the clinic,” Angelosanto told reporters, adding that Denaro “didn’t resist at all” during the arrest.
“A great victory for the state which demonstrates that it does not give up in the face of the mafia,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote on Twitter. “Another head of organized crime, Matteo Messina Denaro, is brought to justice.”
“A beautiful day for all of Italy. The nation is proud of you,” Meloni added.