Italian Mafia boss arrested after more than 30 years on the run

Home> True Crime

Italian Mafia boss arrested after more than 30 years on the run

Police believe he has been issuing orders despite his disappearance

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers

An Italian Mafia boss has been arrested after 30 years on the run.

Matteo Messina Denaro is the country's most wanted crime boss and has long been investigated in connection with a dozen murders.

It's claimed that Messina Denaro is the head of Sicily's Cosa Nostra mafia.

He has been evading police capture since he went on the run in 1992, and was sentenced to life in prison in absentia for the killings of prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.

The alleged kingpin, who police believe has been able to issue orders despite his disappearance, is also accused of orchestrating bomb attacks in Florence, Rome and Milan, which killed 10 people.

But after three decades on the run, police revealed that he was arrested in Palermo.

Pasquale Angelosanto, the general of the carabinieri national police, said: "Today, January 16, the carabinieri... arrested fugitive Matteo Messina Denaro inside a sanitary structure in Palermo, where he had gone for therapeutic treatment."

More to follow...

Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock

Topics: Crime

Dominic Smithers
Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers is LADbible's Editorial Lead. After graduating from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History, he went on to write for the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express. So as you can imagine, he’s spent many a night wondering just how useful that second language has been. But c'est la vie.

X

@SmithersDom