Italians broke into spontaneous applause and wept for joy as a feared Mafia ‘godfather’ was arrested after 30 years on the run.
Paramilitary cops swooped on Matteo Messina Denaro while he was undergoing treatment at a private clinic in the Sicilian capital of Palermo, according to The Associated Press. Italian news agencies reported he is believed to be suffering from cancer and had been attending appointments at the clinic under a false name for some time.
The 60-year-old, nicknamed “Diabolik” after an Italian comic book villain of the 60s, was 30 when he went underground, but is said to have continued to pull the strings of the Sicilian mob while on the run.
Messina Denaro, who is from the town of Castelvetrano, is alleged to have boasted he could fill an entire cemetery with his victims, with scores of murders and deadly bomb attacks in his wake. Two separate bombings killed top anti-Mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, as well as numerous bystanders, in 1992. He is also accused of strangling a rival’s pregnant girlfriend to death.
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Source: https://www.newsweek.com/mafia-matteo-messina-denaro-captured-applause-1774155
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