[1/2] A screengrab taken from a video shows Matteo Messina Denaro the country's most wanted mafia boss being escorted out of a Carabinieri police station after he was arrested in Palermo, Italy, January 16, 2023.
Carabinieri/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsROME, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Italian Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, who was arrested in January after spending 30 years on the run, has died, ANSA news agency reported on Monday.
Messina Denaro, 61, was suffering from cancer at the time of his arrest.
The son of a mafioso, Messina Denaro was born in the southwestern Sicilian town of Castelvetrano in 1962.
Despite his notoriety, prosecutors have always doubted that Messina Denaro became the Mafia "boss of bosses", saying it was more likely that he was simply the head of Cosa Nostra in western Sicily.
Persons:
Matteo Messina Denaro, Messina Denaro, Denaro, ANSA, Giovanni Falcone, Paolo Borsellino, Giuseppe Di Matteo, Salvatore, Riina, turncoats, Crispian Balmer, Kanjyik Ghosh, Kim Coghill, Gerry Doyle
Organizations:
Carabinieri, REUTERS, Rights, Mafia, La Repubblica, Messina, Police, Cosa Nostra, Thomson
Locations:
Palermo, Italy, Rome, Florence, Milan, Messina, Sicilian, Castelvetrano, Sicily, Campobello