After the arrest of the mafia’s number one, Matteo Messina Denaro, Sicily mobilizes against organized crime. An anti-mafia demonstration is planned for tomorrow night in the western Sicily town of Campobello di Mazara, where the boss spent his final months on the run. “Sicily is ours and not Cosa Nostra’s”, is the motto of the protest.
The protesters’ meeting point is the entrance to the house where Messina Denaro’s last hiding place was located. “We want to send a strong and unequivocal signal against crime and express our sincere thanks to the police who, with the arrest of Messina Denaro, finally freed our community from this terrible evil”, said the mayor of Campobello di Mazara, Giuseppe Castiglione. Several mayors of Sicilian municipalities want to participate in the demonstration.
Accomplice Denaros arrested
Investigations into the 60-year-old boss are in full swing. Andrea Bonafede, a school friend of the accused, was arrested yesterday. She is said to have “lent her identity” to Messina Denaro. This allowed the “Capo” to undergo medical examinations at the private clinic in Palermo, where he was arrested last week.
Bonafede’s mother belonged to one of the three hiding places in Messina Denaro that investigators said they had found so far. Inside, documents and invoices were found that proved that the “boss of bosses” had lived a sumptuous life. According to initial police estimates, Messina Denaro had average monthly expenses of 10,000 euros.
Biography of Putin and Hitler Discovered
On the wall of the apartment where the boss spent his last months in hiding, there was a poster of Marlon Brando as the protagonist of the mob movie The Godfather. Messina Denaro also collected decorative magnets with Brando’s face as Vito Corleone in the world famous films. Thus, the true godfather was reflected in the fictional and analyzed Italian media.
Several books were discovered, including biographies of Hitler and Putin. Police also found notebooks, an accounting of small expenses including receipts and a list of names and numbers.
Messina Denaro, 60, is considered the last boss of Cosa Nostra, but also a link to the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta in the cocaine business. Investigators hope he will become a key witness to avoid the harsh prison conditions provided for prominent mobsters.
He is considered seriously ill and is also undergoing chemotherapy at the high-security prison in the Abruzzo town of L’Aquila, where he has been held for over a week.