Magistrate Paolo Guido, who was likewise in charge of examinations into Messina Denaro, stated dismantling his network of protectors was type in reaching the outcome following years of work.
A 2nd guy who had actually driven Messina Denaro to the healthcare facility was apprehended at the scene on suspicion of helping a fugitive.
Images on social networks revealed residents praising and shaking hands with authorities in balaclavas as the minivan bring Messina Denaro was repelled from the rural healthcare facility to a secret place.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni took a trip to Sicily to praise authorities chiefs after the arrest. “We have actually not won the war, we have actually not beat the mafia, however this fight was a crucial fight to win, and it is a heavy blow to organised criminal activity,” she stated.
Maria Falcone, sis of the killed judge, echoed that belief.
“It shows that mafiosi, in spite of their misconceptions of omnipotence, are eventually destined beat in the dispute with the democratic state,” she stated.
Messina Denaro originates from the town of Castelvetrano near Trapani in western Sicily, and is the boy of a mafia employer.
Bombs and kidnappings
Cops stated last September that he was still able to release commands connecting to the method the mafia was run in the location around Trapani, his local fortress.
Prior to he went into hiding, he was understood for driving pricey cars and trucks and his taste for using carefully customized matches and Rolex watches.
He deals with a life sentence for his function in bomb attacks in Florence, Rome and Milan that eliminated 10 individuals in 1993 and is implicated by district attorneys of being exclusively or collectively accountable for various other murders in the 1990s.
In 1993 he assisted arrange the kidnapping of a 12-year-old kid, Giuseppe Di Matteo, in an effort to deter his dad from offering proof versus the mafia, district attorneys state. The young boy was kept in captivity for 2 years prior to he was strangled and his body liquified in acid.
The arrest comes nearly 30 years to the day given that cops detained Salvatore “Toto” Riina, the Sicilian Mafia’s most effective manager of the 20th century. He ultimately passed away in prison in 2017, having actually never ever broken his code of silence.
“It is a remarkable occasion, of historical significance,” stated Gian Carlo Caselli, who was a district attorney in Palermo at the time of Riina’s arrest.
Regardless of the ecstasy, Italy still deals with a battle to check organised criminal offense groups whose arms extend everywhere.
Professionals state that Cosa Nostra has actually been taken over by the ‘Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia, as the most effective organised criminal activity group in Italy.
“There is a sense that the Sicilian Mafia is not as strong as it utilized to be, specifically because the 90s, they have actually truly been not able to get in the drug market therefore they are actually second-fiddle to the ‘Ndrangheta on that,” stated Federico Varese, Professor of Criminology at Oxford University.
Reuters