Rome
CNN
—
Matteo Messina Denaro, one of Sicily’s Cosa Nostra mafia bosses and Italy’s most wanted man, was arrested by police while being treated at a private clinic in Palermo, the prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia.
He had been on the run since 1993 and was considered by Europol to be one of Europe’s most wanted men, de Lucia told CNN.
Denaro was sentenced to life in absentia in 1992 for his role in the murders of anti-Mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, and is believed to be responsible for dozens of Mafia-related murders.
Known as Diabolik, he is considered one of the successors of Bernardo Provenzano, arrested near Corleone, Sicily, in April 2006.
He was taken into custody during a roundup carried out by specialized agents with the anti-mafia carabinieri in the early hours of the morning.
An alleged sighting of him in September 2021 led to a manhunt and hundreds of tips, the prosecutor said.
This is a breaking story, more to follow…
