Maria Falcone, sister of anti-Mafia
magistrate Giovanni who was killed by a Cosa Nostra bomb 30
years ago Monday, said she would toast with Italian justice and
interior ministers when fugitive superboss Matteo Messina
Denaro, the Sicilian Mob's most wanted man, is captured.
Messina Denaro aka Diabollik, 60, has been on the run since
1993.
"It will be beautiful when we capture Matteo Messina Denaro
too," Falcone said at an event in Palermo marking the 30th
anniversary of her brother's assassination.
"When it happens we will raise a toast together, with the
interior minister and the justice minister".
Messina Denaro, who got his nickname from the Italian comic book
character Diabolik, is seen by some experts as the boss of
bosses within the Mafia after the deaths of Bernardo 'The
Tractor' Provenzano in 2016 and Salvatore 'The Beast' Riina in
2017, although other experts say he is not at the very summit of
Mafia power.
Giovanni Falcon'e assassination was ordered by then boss of
bosses Riina with the agreement of former co-boss Provenzano.
In 2020, Messina Denaro was also convicted of complicity in
greenlighting the 1992 bombings that killed Falcone and his
friend and colleague Paolo Borsellino two months later.
The bombs, which also killed Falcone 's wife and members of both
prosecutors' security details, sparked a strong reaction from
the State.
On Monday President Sergio Mattarella said Falcone had been
"hampered" by other magistrates while the widow of one of his
late bodyguards said "servants of the State" had betrayed
Falcone.
Messina Denaro enjoys a cult status among Mafiosi and was long
considered the top candidate to be Cosa Nostra's boss of bosses
following Provenzano and Riina's deaths.
He is on Europol's list of Europe's most wanted fugitives.
He has not been seen in public in 29 years.
An informant in 2014 helped authorities update their facial
composite of him.
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