Sicilian Mafia leader Messina Denaro has passed away.

Matteo Messina Denaro, the leader of the Sicilian Mafia who was apprehended in January after three decades on the run, has passed away in a hospital in central Italy, according to the ANSA news agency.

The 61-year-old was being treated for colon cancer while on the run; this drew him to the notice of the authorities, who apprehended him at a Palermo clinic.

One of the Cosa Nostra’s most vicious leaders, Messina Denaro, was from Sicily and led the organization that inspired the Godfather films.

He was found guilty by the courts of taking part in the 1993 explosions that killed people in Rome, Florence, and Milan as well as the 1992 murder of anti-Mafia judge Giovanni Falcone.

The 12-year-old son of a witness in the Falcone case was abducted and later killed, earning him one of his six life sentences.

As the Italian government tightened down on the Sicilian mob, Messina Denaro vanished in the summer of 1993 and went on the run for the next 30 years. However, he continued to be the most wanted man in Italy and gradually gained notoriety.

On January 16, 2023, he was suddenly taken into custody as he entered a medical facility to receive treatment while posing as someone else.

He was imprisoned at a maximum security facility in L’Aquila, central Italy, where he received in-cell cancer treatment. Messina Denaro was transferred to the offenders’ ward of the nearby hospital in August, where his condition had been worse recently.

He was reportedly in an “irreversible coma” this past weekend, according to the media. They stated that he had requested not to be revived and that the medical staff had ceased feeding him.

Although his capture may have provided some solace for his victims, the mob boss never spoke out. Messina Denaro even denied being a part of the Cosa Nostra in interviews given while in detention following his arrest.

Wiretaps

There was a lot of conjecture that Messina Denaro had left the country after going on the run, and he most certainly did. However, it turned out that he had been residing close to Castelvetrano, which is where he was born, in western Sicily.

According to the Corriere della Sera newspaper, preparations have already begun for his burial alongside his father, Don Ciccio, at the family tomb in the town.

The local clan’s leader was Don Ciccio. His body, which had been left in the countryside dressed for the funeral, was alleged to have passed away from a heart attack while he was fleeing.

For years, investigators had been scouring the countryside of Sicily for Messina Denaro, looking for possible hiding places and wiretapping his acquaintances and relatives.

They were overheard discussing the eye issues and medical issues of a person, who detectives later identified as Messina Denaro, who had cancer.

They gradually closed in after searching a database of the national health system for male patients who were the correct age and had the right medical history.