The defeat of Cosa Nostra: Italy's most wanted mafia boss arrested

A Sicilian mafia boss of the Cosa Nostra, who had been on the run for some 30 years, has been detained in Italy. He was the last of three Mafia bosses who have managed to escape justice for decades.

Matteo Messina Denaro, believed to be the head of the Sicilian mafia Cosa Nostra, has been detained in Italy, Reuters reported, citing police. The mafia boss was detained at a private hospital in the Sicilian capital Palermo. Denaro had arrived there for treatment, Reuters wrote. Denaro did not resist arrest, police commander Pasquale Angelosanto told Bloomberg.

Denaro had been on the run since 1993. He remained the last of three mafia bosses who have managed to escape justice for decades, Sky News added. He was sentenced to life in absentia in Italy for his involvement in the 1992 killings of struggling Mafia investigators Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, Reuters reported. Denaro also faces a similar sentence for his role in the 1993 bombings in Florence, Milan and Rome that killed ten people.

Denaro's arrest is a "great victory for the state" and shows that the authorities are not giving up on the mafia, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote on Twitter (the social network is blocked in Russia).

"Cosa Nostra" is one of the most notorious mafia groups that emerged in Sicily in the 19th century. In September 2022, 35 people were detained in Sicily who, according to investigators, were involved in protecting Denaro, Bloomberg noted.