CARABINIERI
ROME—Italy’s top fugitive, 60-year-old Matteo Messina Denaro, has been arrested in Palermo after 30 years on the lam. Widely thought to be the boss of bosses of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra mafia, Denaro has been tried in absentia for multiple murders and other mafia crimes. He has been sentenced to several life prison terms.
Messina Denaro was on Europol’s most wanted list and had spent time on the FBI most wanted list shortly after he went into hiding in 1993. He was Italy’s No. 1 most wanted person.
“We have captured the last mass murderer responsible for the 1992-93 massacres,” Palermo prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia said at a press conference after his arrest. “We are particularly proud of the work completed this morning which concludes a long and very delicate job. It is a debt that the Republic owed to the victims of the mafia which we have partially paid.”