The Running Is Over: The Capture of Mafia Matteo Messina Denaro

5 min read

Hi everyone, I’m Rick Barron, your host, and welcome to my podcast, That’s Life, I Swear

Matteo Messina Denaro, also known as Diabolik, was a Sicilian Mafia boss from Castelvetrano. He was considered to be one of the new leaders of the Sicilian mob. This guy eluded the law for almost three decades. His luck ran out on Jan 17, 2023.

Capture of Matteo Messina Denaro. Courtesy of: NDTV

Let’s jump into this 

We’ve been intrigued about the mafia from movies such as The Godfather and Goodfellas. It’s art imitating life. In this episode, the life of a true mafia leader comes to light with the recent capture of Matteo Messina Denaro.

So, who was Messina Denaro? Why was he on the run for almost 30 years? What was it about him that the Italian authorities were hell-bent on his capture?  

Denaro was born in the town of Castelvetrano in the province of Trapani, Sicily, in 1962. You can say that Denaro was part of the Mafia at birth. He came from a family with deep ties to the mafia. His father, Francesco Messina Denaro, was a prominent mafia boss and his uncle, Calogero Messina Denaro, was also a high-ranking member of the Cosa Nostra.

The Cosa Nostra, also referenced as the Sicilian Mafia, is one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the world. The group has its origins in the 19th century, and it has played a significant role in the Sicilian economy and politics. 

A young Matteo Messina Denaro. Courtesy of: La Voce di New York

Denaro began his criminal career at a young age, and by the early 1980s, he had become a rising star in the Sicilian mafia. He quickly climbed the ranks and is believed to have played a key role in the organization's drug trafficking and extortion operations. He is also suspected of having ordered numerous murders, including those of rival mobsters and anti-mafia prosecutors and journalists.

In the early 1990s, Denaro was arrested and charged with a number of crimes, including murder and extortion. However, he managed to evade conviction and went into hiding in the province of Trapani, where he had a large network of loyal supporters who helped him evade capture.

Mafia boss, Bernardo Provenzano. Courtesy of: Globalist, Italy

Despite being on the run for more than two decades, Denaro remained a powerful figure within the Cosa Nostra. He took over the organization's boss following the arrest of Bernardo Provenzano in 2006. Under Denaro's leadership, the Cosa Nostra continued to maintain its iron grip on the Sicilian economy through illegal activities such as drug trafficking, extortion, and money laundering. The money was pouring in.

For 30 years the Italian government made capturing Denaro a top priority. In 2009, the Italian police offered a €5 million reward for information leading to his capture, and in 2011, the U.S. government also offered a $2 million reward for information on his whereabouts. Despite these efforts, Denaro managed to avoid being captured. He used his wealth and influence with authorities to stay one step ahead of the law.

At one point the Italian authorities got so frustrated with their inability to find and capture Denaro, they decide to hit him where it might make him come out and surrender. Law enforcement arrested and convicted several of Denaro's associates, including his family members. In 2019, his brother, Giuseppe Messina Denaro, was arrested and sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Cosa Nostra. Still, Denaro didn’t come out from hiding.

Reports of his where abouts ranged from hiding out in Venezuela, the Netherlands, and Mexico. It was really anyone’s guess.

However, as one would see in the movies, Denaro was not far away and almost in plain sight. What the police didn’t realize; he was in their own backyard.

There were many reports of Denaro and his possible locations. Later new reports started indicating that Denaro's health was failing. 

In was in 2020 that the Italian police received a very good tip, that the mafia boss was hiding in a remote area of western Sicily. Could this be the tip that would lead to his capture? 

As in all things about life, there’s a price for everything. Turns out the tip was provided by a member of the Cosa Nostra who had turned informant. They provided information about Denaro's whereabouts in exchange for leniency in his own criminal case. No love lost amongst thieves.

Based on this information, the police began to monitor the area and set up surveillance on several properties that were believed to be connected to Denaro. Over several months, they gathered more intelligence and narrowed the search to a small farmhouse in the village of Mazara del Vallo. 

It turned out that Denaro hiding out in an apartment in Campobello di Mazara, a town just a few miles from his birthplace, where his family still lived. Denaro had been hiding in a place that was so obvious, it allowed him to escape capture for a long time. 

The earlier reports of Denaro’s ill health turned out to be true. Over the past year, he was a frequent visitor to the hospital. The colon cancer he suffered had caused a metastasis in his liver, and he required regular chemotherapy. Having to leave his house more often to deal with his illness may have caused him to let down his guard, and take fewer security precautions than previously. 

On January 17, 2023, Matteo Messina Denaro, one of the most wanted criminals in Italy and the   boss of the Sicilian mafia, was finally captured at a private clinic in Palermo by Carabinieri police. It took more than 25 years, along with an elite team of Italian police and Carabinieri, along with the FBI and Europol members

Carabinieri in front of the entrance to the building where super-fugitive
Matteo Messina Denaro, was arrested. Courtesy of:  Avvenire, Italy

While the Italian Police were happy that they finally had their man, one question was circling in everyone’s head. How was it that, in a small town where everybody knows everyone else, they failed to detect that Matteo Messina Denaro, was living in their village. 

One would think that a fugitive on the run, such as Denaro, would’ve been reported. His face was so well known in Italy and the reward for his capture was very large.

Again, missing the obvious that Denaro was in his own backyard, the answer to why the average citizen never reported his whereabouts was simple. The answer omertà, the code of silence observed in a region that the organized crime syndicate headed by Messina Denaro had ruled for decades. 

The Mafia's power is so great that the town people reported that Messina Denaro was a regular at the San Vito bar, next to his apartment, and the Don Peppe pizzeria. When the police questioned the owner of the pizzeria if he had ever seen Denaro in town, his reply was ‘think I’m stupid!? If he came in, I didn’t see him.’

The capture of Matteo Messina Denaro was a major victory for law enforcement and a significant blow to the Sicilian mafia. Denaro was one of the most wanted criminals in Italy and was believed to be the boss of the Cosa Nostra. 

The Italian authorities said his capture effectively dismantled the organization's leadership and dealt a significant blow to its criminal activities.

The operation was also a testament to the effectiveness of international cooperation in the fight against organized crime. The Italian police and Carabinieri were able to work closely with the FBI and Europol to share intelligence and resources and bring down one of the most dangerous criminals in the world.

It is also a significant victory for the government and law enforcement agencies in Italy, who had been hunting for Denaro for more than three decades and had faced criticism for their inability to capture him. 

It also serves as an example of international cooperation in the fight against organized crime and sends a powerful message that no one is above the law.

What can we learn from this story? What’s the take away

The capture of Matteo Messina Denaro was a significant blow to the Sicilian Mafia and a victory for the Italian government. Despite the long-time evasiveness of a powerful criminal figure, the authorities were determined to bring him to justice. 

As we’ve seen on the news, there are many stories where authorities have spent years to capture someone. There are many cold cases out there, but the persistence in capturing someone like Matteo Messina Denaro, proved what Yogi Berra once say, "It ain't over till it's over."

Well, there you go. That's life, I swear.

For further information regarding the material covered in this episode, I invite you to visit my website, which you can find on either Apple Podcasts/iTunes or Google Podcasts, for show notes calling out key pieces of content mentioned and the episode transcript.

As always, I thank you for listening. 

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