Rome, Sep 27 (EFE).- The ‘last godfather’ of the Sicilian mafia, Matteo Messina Denaro, was buried on Wednesday in his hometown Castelvetrano in the presence of only his closest relatives.
A handout mugshot made available by Italy’s Carabinieri shows Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, Italy’s most wanted man, following his arrest in Palermo, Sicily, by the Carabinieri police’s ROS unit after 30 years on the run, 16 January 2023. EFE/EPA/CARABINIERI HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES
Messina Denaro was arrested in January after three decades on the run, and died with colon cancer in the inmate ward of San Salvatore hospital in L’Aquila on Monday at the age of 61.
The Costa Nostra boss’ niece Lorenza Guttadauro and his daughter Lorenza Alagna, whom he only met following his capture, arrived for the burial at the Castelvetrano cemetery, as did two sisters, Bice and Giovanna, his brother Salvatore, and other relatives.
The cemetery was guarded by the police throughout the morning and only relatives were allowed to enter.
The coffin containing the body of Matteo Messina Denaro arrives at the cemetery in Castelvetrano, Sicily island, southern Italy, 27 September 2023. EFE/EPA/Igor Petyx
Known as ‘the last godfather’ of Costa Nostra, Messina Denaro took with him to the grave the secrets of the big mafia attacks, such as the murders of judges Giovani Falcone and Paolo Borsellino and bombings in Rome, Florence and Milan. There was no Catholic funeral since the Sicilian episcopate denies these to the mafiosi.
He was buried in the family tomb alongside his father Francesco “Don Ciccio” Messina Denaro, who was a mafia boss in the late 1980s and died of a heart attack while on the run.
Messina Denaro disappeared in 1993 and was searched all over the world, but he resided, at least in recent years, in Campobello di Mazara, in the province of Trapani, just 8 kilometers from Castelvetrano.
On Jan. 16, after 30 years on the run, he was arrested outside a private health clinic in the Sicilian capital, Palermo, where he had been receiving cancer treatment. EFE
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