Matteo Messina Denaro, the most wanted Italian mafia leader, was apprehended by military police on Monday while being treated for cancer. The fugitive had been on the loose since 1993.
Messina Denaro, known by the monikers "Diabolik" and "'U Siccu" (The Skinny One), had been handed a life sentence in absentia for his part in the murders of anti-mafia prosecutors Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone in 1992, crimes that shook the country and triggered a clampdown on the Cosa Nostra.
Two carabinieri police officers in uniform took Matteo Messina Denaro, 60, out of Palermo's "La Maddalena" hospital and brought into a waiting black minivan. He was sporting a brown wool hat, spectacles, and a fur-lined jacket, as reported by AP News.
Locals applauded and shook hands with balaclava-clad cops as the minivan left the hospital in the suburban area.
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He was also found guilty of the abduction, torture, and murder of the 11-year-old son of a mafioso, who later testified as a state witness, as well as the fatal bombings that occurred in Milan, Florence, and Rome in 1993.
Messina Denaro reportedly bragged that his victims could "fill a cemetery," per the BBC.
A Great Victory for Italy
The formidable Cosa Nostra organized crime syndicate's mafia leader also handled racketeering, illicit garbage disposal, money laundering, and drug trafficking.
According to rumors, he was Tot Riina's protégé. Tot Riina was the boss of the Italian mafia Corleone family and was apprehended in 1993 after 23 years at large.
Matteo Messina Denaro underwent a cancer procedure last year and a string of appointments behind a fictitious identity, according to judicial authorities.
The arrest was lauded by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, as "a great victory" for the nation, according to Reuters.
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