Prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia after arrest of Messina Denaro: “the mafia is not defeated”

The prosecutor of the Italian city of Palermo (south) Maurizio de Lucia celebrated on Monday the arrest of the head of the Sicilian mafia Cosa Nostra, Matteo Messina Denaroand advanced that the investigations will continue because the organization “is not defeated.”

“The mafia is not defeated and the most serious mistake would be to think so”he pointed out at a press conference together with the commander of the carabinieri (militarized police) corps, Pasquale Angelosanto, and other authorities who directed the police operation.

The prosecutor claimed that Messina Denaroa fugitive for 30 years, “has enjoyed personal protection” and a “mafia courtesy that facilitated his hiding” in all this time, so the investigations will continue their course.

The mobster, on whom several life sentences are pending for his multiple crimes, was arrested this morning at a medical clinic in the Sicilian capital where he went to treat cancer under the false identity of Andrea Bonafede.

The place was surrounded by agents of the security forces, also to protect the patients who were inside the hospital, and at the time of the arrest Messina Denaro did not put up any kind of resistance, explained the prosecutor Lucy’s.

Immediately afterwards, Messina Denarowearing a brown fur coat and cap on his head, was put into a police van and taken out of the clinic wrapped in a strong security contingent, while some police officers hugged and congratulated each other on his capture.

The driver who accompanied him, Giovanni Luppino, “an unknown subject” for investigators, has also been arrested.

Commander Angelosanto said that the investigations have involved “many years” but in “the last period” attention was focused on the state of health of the “capo e capos”, because it was known that he was sick, according to what had been dropped from his surroundings. .

Investigators have worked “discreetly” and piecemeal in recent times, including around Christmas parties, to try to identify a date, until they learned that it would be today, January 16, when the mobster would go to the clinic.

The leader of the Carabineros, Alberto Arcidiacono, affirmed that the criminal “did not pretend to be someone else” because, on the other hand, “just looking at him there was little to verify”, given his great resemblance to the robot portraits that were made of him.

The criminal wore some luxury clothing such as a “prestigious” brand watch valued at around 35,000 euros.

The Palermo Prosecutor’s Office has found no evidence to suspect a possible involvement of the La Maddalena hospital, before which he appeared with the aforementioned false identity.

Lucy’s He defended the value of the interceptions for an arrest like this, celebrated in the country as “historic”, and assured that the investigations are now focused on “the current protections that he has enjoyed” in his long clandestinity.

Source: Elcomercio

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