Matteo Messina Denaro: Captured Mafia boss dies

Sicilian Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro — dubbed the "last godfather"— has died, a local mayor confirmed on Monday.

The 61-year-old, who had colon cancer, had been in a coma since Friday and his doctors had deemed it irreversible, according to media reports.

Denaro was considered to be Italy's most wanted fugitive before he was captured in January this year, after having been on the run for 30 years.

His death "puts the end to a story of violence and blood," said Pierluigi Biondi, the mayor of L'Aquila where Denaro was detained.

The mayor called the Mafia boss' death "the epilogue of an existence lived without remorse or repentance, a painful chapter of the recent history of our nation."

Grisly murders and 30 years in hiding

Denaro waged terror on the state on behalf of the Cosa Nostra before going on the run in 1993.

After a decadelong crackdown that diminished Cosa Nostra's power, he was finally captured in January during a visit to a health clinic in Palermo for cancer treatment. 

He was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of numerous crimes. 

He was convicted for his role in the 1992 car bombings that killed anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino and triggered a clampdown on the Sicilian mob.

Among several other crimes, Denaro was also accused of being involved in mafia attacks in Rome, Milan and Florence in 1993, which had left 10 people dead. 

"With the people I have killed myself, I could fill a cemetery," he was reportedly known to have said, in a claim impossible to confirm. 

Arrested amid declining health

In early 2023, Denaro sought medical treatment for colon cancer.

This brought him to the attention of authorities who arrested him at a private clinic in Palermo, Sicily.

At the time of the arrest, anti-Mafia journalist Roberto Saviano told the AFP news agency that Denaro was "the king... the last of the mass murderers, the man who carried out the violent massacres of the Cosa Nostra."

As his condition worsened, he was transferred from a maximum security prison in central Italy to a nearby hospital.

Italian media reported that Denaro had requested no aggressive treatment. Medics stopped feeding him after he was declared to be in an irreversible coma.

The Mafia boss refused to talk to police immediately after his capture. State radio said that when he died, "he took with him his secrets."

zc, dvv/kb, fb (AFP, dpa, Reuters)