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PALERMO, Italy - Italian police on Monday caught one of the most notorious bosses of the Sicilian Mafia, Matteo Messina Denaro, a ruthless operator who had been on the run for 30 years. This handout video grab taken and released by the Italian Carabinieri Press Office on January 16, 2023 shows the
ROME: While some mobsters flee to the tropics to escape prison, most of Italy’s mafia fugitives stay close to home, where they can continue to reign from the shadows. “Going to state prison means failure for a mafioso. The mafioso wants to die in his own bed, not behind bars,” Italian journalist Attilio Bolzoni, a specialist on Italy’s criminal underworld, explained to AFP.
Matteo Messina Denaro, a brutal Sicilian Mafia boss who was Italy's most wanted criminal before his capture on Monday, had been on the run for 30 years.
Part of the reason, de Lucia explained, is that under Mafia tradition the so-called "boss of bosses" position is only for mobsters from the area around the Sicilian capital Palermo. Previous supremos were Salvatore "Toto" Riina and Bernardo Provenzano, who spent decades on the run before their arrest.
Organized crime was barely mentioned during Italy's 2022 elections. But the arrest of Cosa Nostra's Matteo Messina Denaro may help its new government clean up its image of corruption and secure post-pandemic EU funds.