Diabolik earned money from blood, olives, and cocaine
Italian authorities have arrested the boss of the Cosa Nostra mafia Matteo Messino Denaro, a fugitive from justice since 1993 and included in the top 10 most wanted criminals in the world. For 60 years, he has gone from a mafia boss apprentice to the very top of the Italian criminal chain, becoming the last “keeper of secrets” of Cosa Nostra. The story of the almost elusive Diabolik, who committed bloodthirsty crimes, and at the same time invested in green energy and retail, is in the material of the Company.
The news of Denaro's arrest became the main story for the Italian media on January 16th. He was taken into custody in the morning at the Maddalena private clinic in Palermo, the capital of Sicily. According to ANSA, the 60-year-old mobster suffers from chronic kidney disease and was due for dialysis. Meanwhile, Vergilio claims that Denaro had taken a swab and was waiting for the results of other tests before his scheduled chemotherapy session. According to the publication, the mafioso was operated on in 2021 due to liver metastases resulting from colon cancer. Doctors provided documents in the name of Andrea Bonafede. He was treated in this clinic for more than a year.
The carabinieri arrested and took Denaro in a black van with tinted windows to the police station “to the applause of the people of Palermo”, as reported by La Repubblica. The Virgilio portal published a video showing Denaro being taken out by two carabinieri. About 100 military personnel were involved during the arrest. Together with the mafia boss, Giovanni Luppino, his driver, was also arrested and accused of aiding and abetting. He accompanied the boss to the clinic, as reported by the newspaper Il Messaggero.
“The people I killed can fill an entire cemetery”
Matteo Messino Dinaro chose a criminal path, following his father, the Sicilian mafia Francesco Messina Denaro, better known as Don Ciccio. Matteo Sr. began his career as a campiere (armed guard) and “rose” to the leadership of the Mafia-controlled Castelvetrano region of Sicily (became the so-called capo mandamento) and the position of head of the Mafia Commission (the governing body of Cosa Nostra; created in 1931).
Denaro was seen as a symbol for new criminals. He had a lavish lifestyle, known for being a mafia playboy, womanizer, and lover of luxury. He had a preference for expensive Porsche sports cars, Rolex Daytona watches, Ray Ban sunglasses, and designer clothes from Giorgio Armani and Versace. Matteo's main interest was computer games.
In 1998, Matteo's father passed away, leaving him as the head of the Mafia Castelvetrano. Vincenzo Virga ruled the neighboring province, Trapani, but was arrested in 2001, allowing Denaro to expand his influence. Denaro led 900 heavily armed thugs and merged 20 mafia houses into one district. Under his leadership, the Trapani mafia became a powerful force within the “Cosa Nostra”, earning money through extortion, racketeering, theft from government construction contracts, and international drug trafficking.
Francesco taught his son to shoot at 14, and he committed his first murder at 18. Later, his father sent him to study with Salvatore Riina, also known as Toto Riina, the former head of Cosa Nostra. Riina admired him as a reliable soldier who followed orders without question.
In one of the notes discovered by the police during raids, Denaro wrote: “The people I killed can fill a whole cemetery.” His victims include a pregnant girlfriend of a rival fighter, a defector planning to testify against the mafia, a hotel manager who showed interest in Denaro’s mistress, and others.
He was involved in organizing the murders of anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992. The first died when a section of the highway exploded under his car, requiring a massive amount of explosives. A little over a month later, the mafia blew up Borsellino along with five policemen. Following Riina's arrest in 1993, the mafia launched terrorist attacks across Italy, resulting in the deaths of 10 people.
Not all of the Cosa Nostra fighters survived the conflict with the authorities. One of them, Santino di Matteo, decided to break the code of silence and testify in the Falcone case. As a consequence, the mafia kidnapped his 12-year-old son, Giuseppe di Matteo, and tortured him for 800 days. Despite this, the court sentenced Giovanni Brusca to life in absentia for the murder of Falcone. Eventually, Giuseppe was strangled, and his body was dissolved in acid.
Denaro was given two life sentences for committing many murders and terrorist attacks.
Officially, Matteo Denaro has never been married or had legitimate children. However, arrested mafiosi admitted that the boss had illegitimate children. It is known that in 1995 he had an illegitimate daughter with a former mistress from Castelvetrano. Denaro claimed in a seized letter to a friend that he had never known about this child. There are rumors that he personally killed the owner of a Sicilian hotel who accused the mafia of cohabiting with minors.
“I am Matteo Messina Denaro”
People who know Denaro say he enjoys luxury clothes, expensive accessories, and cars. He is also known as a “real playboy” and is the father of two children, according to NYP. There are rumors that Denaro always wears Ray Ban sunglasses, but it’s difficult to confirm because he avoids cameras due to being the head of Cosa Nostra.
The head of the Sicilian mafia likes computer games and comics. He borrowed the nickname “Diabolik” from a famous Italian comic book character. He managed to evade authorities, in part thanks to self-control and “pizzini” – small notes containing orders for subordinates.
The caution of the head of the Sicilian mafia was so intense that the police only had a few pictures of him from his youth. To estimate how Denaro might look decades later, experts used digital projections. Sources from Il Messaggero suggest that Denaro may have had plastic surgery to alter his appearance from that shown in the police photo. There are also rumors that he had surgery on his fingertips to avoid leaving prints.
Denaro took the mafia to a new level, moving away from the traditional views of the mafia. He balanced criminal violence with political practicality, making money from legal businesses like green energy and online casinos and controlled drug importation. He also owned a chain of supermarkets. He made profits not from guns, but from technology, business, corruption, and cybercrime, according to Luigi Ciotti, founder of the anti-mafia association Libera.
According to the Anti-Mafia Administration (DDA) of Palermo, he has interests in Venezuela and connections with Colombian drug cartels and the ‘Ndrangheta. His illegal connections extend to Belgium and Germany. Messina Denaro gained nationwide notoriety on April 12, 2001, when L’Espresso magazine featured him on the cover with the headline: Ecco il nuovo capo della Mafia (“Here is the new boss of the mafia”).
In December 2014, it was reported that the Italian police were close to apprehending Messina Denaro after seizing his assets in the form of valuable olive groves in Trapani, worth about 20 million euros. The wiretap revealed that Messina Denaro received funding from an olive oil company based in the region. In August 2021, the Italian public broadcaster Rai published a recording from March 1993, where Denaro’s voice was identified during a trial. A few weeks later, the boss escaped and has not been found since.
Matteo Messina Denaro is considered “the last boss of the Sicilian mafia of the first magnitude,” according to Italian media. He is also known as the last “keeper of secrets” of “Cosa Nostra”. According to sources and authorities, he has all the information about those involved in the most high-profile mafia crimes in Italy. However, the success of investigating mafia cases relies on Denaro's willingness to cooperate with the investigation.
There is still a chance that the “boss of bosses” will remain silent. The arrest of his siblings, numerous close associates, aging, and serious illness considerably weakened Denaro. This is also evidenced by the absence of tough resistance to arrest. According to ANSA, the head of the Sicilian mafia, when asked by a police officer to give his name, replied honestly: “I am Matteo Messina Denaro.” Although he attempted to avoid the conversation, he eventually gave in.
The history of the Sicilian criminal organization “Cosa Nostra” (in the Sicilian language Cosa Nostra – “Our cause”) is rooted in the middle of the 19th century. One of the foundations of the longevity and elusiveness of the clan is called following the “omerta”. “Omerta” is a set of rules governing the relations of clan members. It contains many clauses, and among them is one that prohibits mafia members who have sworn allegiance to her from testifying to investigators. However, in 1985, the big mafioso Tommaso Buscetta, who lost many allies and loved ones during the clan war, decided to testify against his former rivals. As a result of a grand trial of members of the Cosa Nostra group, about 350 mafiosi ended up behind bars.
The fight against the mafia in Italy continues today. In 2021, a process began in the province of Calabria, in which 355 people from the ‘Ndrangheta group, accused of involvement in crimes committed in the 1990s, immediately became defendants. At the same time, some residents of the country continue to turn to members of the mafia, and not to law enforcement officers, in order to solve their problems: punish thieves, get rid of competitors or knock out a debt.
