Italian mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro dies
62-year-old was arrested in mid-January in Palermo after 30 years on the run
Italian mafia leader Matteo Messina Denaro, one of the most wanted mafia bosses (R), is seen after he was arrested by Italian security forces in Palermo, Italy on January 16, 2023. Credit : Gendarmerie of Italy Press Service
LONDON
Detained Italian mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, who was arrested in January in Palermo after three decades on the run, died in a hospital in the city L'Aquila on Monday, ANSA news agency reported. He was 62.
Messina Denaro had been in hospital with colon cancer for over a month and on Friday suffered significant bleeding and went into coma. He is said to have met his family members before losing consciousness.
The former fugitive was convicted for his involvement in dozens of murders, including the 1992 bombings that killed anti-Mafia magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.
He was also held responsible for the killing of Giuseppe Di Matteo, the 12-year-old son of a mobster-turned-state witness who was strangled and dissolved in acid in 1996, and bombings at art and religious sites in Milan, Florence and Rome that killed 10 people and hurt 40 more in 1993.
