Matteo Messina Denaro, a Cosa Nostra Mafia boss in Sicily and Italy’s most sought man, was apprehended by police while receiving treatment in a private health clinic in Palermo, prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia said Monday.
He had been on the run since 1993 and was considered one of Europe’s most sought men by Europol, according to de Lucia.
“It is a victory for all the police forces that have worked together over these long years to bring the dangerous fugitive to justice,” Italy’s Chief of Police, Lamberto Giannini, said in a statement congratulating the Carabinieri – Italy’s military police – and the Palermo Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Government officials took to Twitter to celebrate the arrest as a “victory” for Italy.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni tweeted: “A great victory for the state which demonstrates that it does not give up in the face of the Mafia.”
The arrest, according to Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, is “proof of a state that prevails against the Mafia.”
Denaro was convicted to life in prison in absentia in 1992 for his role in the murders of anti-Mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, and he is suspected of being involved in dozens of other Mafia-related killings.
He is recognized as one of Bernardo Provenzano’s successors, having been apprehended outside Corleone, Sicily, in April 2006.
He was apprehended in the early hours of the morning during a raid conducted by anti-Mafia Carabinieri specialized operatives.
According to the prosecutor, a possible sighting of him in September 2021 prompted a manhunt and hundreds of tips.
CNN
