Matteo Messina Denaro, the Italian – Sicilian mobster and one among the most wanted criminals in the world was caught by the Italian police after 3 decades of fugitivity. He is 60 years old.
According to the 2010 Forbes list of the ten most wanted and powerful criminals in the world he was listed as one.
Matteo has been on run for the past 30 years. The name of the boss of all bosses is currently being discussed in the news as he was arrested on 16th January 2023.
Even after his allies and contemporaries such as Bernardo Provenzano, a former chief of Corleonesi, a Sicilian mafia clan; Salvatore Lo Piccolo, one of the most powerful Sicilian mobsters; and Salvatore Riina, another Sicilian mafia chief, lost battles to police captures and death respectively, his reign had continued to remain.
Matteo is considered as a merciless and cold-blooded criminal who does not adhere to the conservative family values that are usually followed by the Italian and Sicilian mafia culture.
The right way to pronounce the name Matteo Messina Denaro is /matˈtɛːo mesˈsiːna deˈnaːro/.
Matteo Messina Denaro: Early Life And Background
Matteo Denaro was born on 26th April 1962 in Castelvetrano in the province of Trapani, Sicily. He was the son of a mafia leader Francesco Messina Denaro, who was known as Don Ciccio and Lorenza Messina Denaro.
He was the capo mandamento, the head of the territory of Castelvetrano, and the head of the Trapani region’s Mafia Commission. Matteo has a brother by the name of Salvatore Messina Denaro.
He has a daughter from a relationship that he had with a woman named Francesca Alagna. His daughter is named Lorenza Alagna. He had a love interest in Maria Mesi with whom he had exchanged love letters.
Matteo was introduced to guns and machinery at an early age. He learned how to use a professional gun at the age of 14.
Matteo Messina Denaro As A Mafia Leader
Matteo Denaro made a mafia status for himself by killing Vincenzo Milazzo, a rival boss from Alcamo. He also strangled to death Milazzo’s girlfriend who was 3 months pregnant at the time.
His father Francesco was earlier an armed guard, a campiere, for the family of D’Alì, a wealthy renowned landowner who was one of the founders of the Banco Sicula, a private bank in Italy. Francesco was later promoted as the overseer, fattore, of the D’Alì land holdings.
Matteo was handed over an estate, in the Zangara area of Castelvetrano, the new owner of which was Salvatore Riina, who later became the Chief of the Sicilian mafia. Matteo and Riina were allies in the mobster activities.
After the death of Francesco, Matteo took his father’s position and became the capo mandamento of Castelvetrano and the nearby cities. Vincenzo Virga, the boss of the Trapani mafia family was the ruler of the Trapani and its surroundings. Following his arrest in 2001 Denaro took over his power position and leadership.
Matteo Messina Denaro: Murder Profile
The murders that were convicted by Matteo are the 1992 killing of Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, two anti-Mafia prosecutors; the 1993 bomb attacks in Florence, Milan, and Rome; the kidnap, torture, and murder of an 11-year-old boy, the son of state witness who was once a mafioso. (Mafioso is an Italian term used to refer to a member of the mafia or a similar criminal organization. )
He killed the anti-mafia prosecutors through bomb attacks that are widely known as the Capaci and Via D’Amelio bombings in 1992. In the following year, his ally Salvatore Riina was arrested and article 41-bis, a stringent prison regime was introduced.
In opposition to this, a terrorist campaign was launched as enaro in a key role by Cosa Nostra, the term by which the Sicilian mafia is referred to.
Matteo had previously made a claim that he had filled a cemetery all by himself.
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Matteo Messina Denaro: Police Capture
Matteo Denaro was captured by the Italian police in Sicily on 16 January 2023. He was arrested and reported;y detained at a private clinic in Palermo, a city in Southern Italy which is the capital of Sicily. He was undergoing cancer treatment under a fraud name at the clinic. He was receiving chemotherapy treatment.
As per the reports available from the Italian national media it is known that Matteo Denaro was arrested right before 10:00 CET.
It is assumed that he is contained under the custody of Carabinieri, a national military force, the gendarmerie of Italy. The location has not yet been revealed by the authorities owing to security reasons.
The national authorities of Italy along with the help of international agencies had employed search troops to investigate the whereabouts of Matteo Denaro.
On 30 September 2021 a videotape circulated by TG2, a news-focused Italian television news channel, had shown Matteo being spotted nearby the area of Valle del Belice, a valley in southwestern Sicily. The video dated back to December 2009 and was sourced to a security camera.
The video footage has shown the wanted criminal traveling in a Mitsubishi Pajero, a full-size SUV (sport utility vehicle) car. The car was seen being driven through the valley with two people in it. One of them, the one sitting in the front seat was reportedly identified as Matteo Messina Denaro.
Following the release of the video footage before the public the Italian law enforcers initiated a manhunt across the city of Sicily in the October of 2021.
Matteo Denaro is estimated of having a net worth of 5 million US Dollars.