Matteo Messina Denaro: After the arrest of Italy’s most wanted criminal, what next for the mafia?
The arrest of a murderous mob boss who had been on the run for decades has prompted relief around Italy – while raising a pressing question: what becomes of the Mafia now?
Matteo Messina Denaro was detained on 16 January while he was at a hospital appointment, where he was getting treatment for cancer.
He had been on the run since 1993 and was jailed in absentia for murders he carried out in the early 1990s.
But with Messina Denaro now out of the picture, who is poised to take control of the Mafia?
Why was he important in the Mafia?
While Messina Denaro was Italy’s most wanted fugitive and the top boss in the Mafia, some experts say he did not control all the Mafia clans – in part because he was not from the Sicilian capital of Palermo.
Still, he was billed as the “last godfather” and was the last fugitive member of a generation of mobsters who masterminded a string of bombings and murders that terrorised Italy in the early 1990s.
The man who was once the “boss of all bosses”, Salvatore ‘Toto’ Riina, was arrested in 1993 and died in 2017. His right-hand man, Bernando Provenzano, was arrested in 2006 and died in 2016.
According to some experts, Cosa Nostra, as the Sicilian Mafia is known, has lacked a supreme leader for years, possibly since Riina – in part because the various clans struggled to convene and select one.
Historian John Dickie, who wrote the book Cosa Nostra: The Definitive History of the Sicilian Mafia, told Sky News the Mafia is broken up, suggesting it might struggle to find someone to lead the group of clans around Palermo.
He said the Mafia’s “hierarchy, its leadership structure, its whole territorial structure… has been hugely disrupted” since the early 1990s.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
How was feared Mafia don captured?
Police think the Mafia is on the hunt for a super-boss
But some investigators see the Sicilian Mafia as a “single-headed structure” – and believe it is searching for its new super-boss.
Speaking about the future of the Mafia shortly after Messina Denaro’s arrest, Palermo prosecutor general Lia Sava said: “What will happen in detail, we can’t know.
“But one thing is sure: Cosa Nostra is made up of rules. It has supported itself on these rules for 150 years, so certainly it will put into motion those rules to repair the damage, and thus create the new leadership structure needed after the arrest.”
Who could become top boss?
So, if the clans get around the table and elect a new head, who would be in the running?
According to many reports in Italy, 85-year-old Settimo Mineo is a frontrunner. Officially, he runs a jewellery shop in Palermo, but he is also considered one of the oldest heads of the Mafia, being named as successor to Riina following his death.
Settimo Mineo. Pic: Getty/Igor Petyx/KONTROLAB/LightRocket
Mineo, like many Mafia members, is currently serving a lengthy jail sentence after being arrested on suspicion of being the Mafia’s top boss – but it is not unusual for leaders to run the business from behind bars.
Corriere della Sera, Italy’s leading newspaper, believes 64-year-old Giovanni Motisi – known to most as “The Fatman”, could be next in line.
Giovanni Motisi. Pic: eumostwanted.eu
He is the boss of the organisation’s Pagliarelli district in Palermo, and has been on the run since 1998 after being found guilty of murdering a police officer. Motisi was also believed to be Riina’s most trusted hitman.
He is one of the most wanted men in Italy, with some even saying he may be dead.
The daily paper also says Giuseppe Auteri, 48, the treasurer of the richest Mafia district in Palermo, is in the running.
Though a barrier for Auteri could be that he has been on the run for a year in the Sicilian underbelly.
Sandro Capizzi also has leadership ambitions in Sicily, according to Sky Tg24. The 41-year-old’s father, Benedetto, attempted to seize power in Cosa Nostra by force in 2008, but the pair were arrested by police who feared Sicily was on the brink of a new Mafia war.
But, the junior of the pair is free from prison and is said to be gunning for head honcho.
Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts
So what’s next for the Cosa Nostra?
Despite its fame as a powerful and ruthless crime syndicate, the Mafia has been struggling for years.
In the lucrative drugs market, it has been supplanted by the ‘Ndrangheta, an organisation based in the Calabria region in southern Italy.
Though the Mafia does retain control of Sicily and some parts of the economy, Anna Sergi, an organised crime expert at Essex University, said: “Messina Denaro was the last godfather, he represented all the secrets of Cosa Nostra.
“It is the end of a myth and the organisation will have to cope with this.”
The fast-moving developments on Trump’s Ukraine peace deal are dominating the G20 summit in South Africa, as European leaders scramble to put together a counter-proposal to the US-Russia 28-point plan and reinsert Ukraine into these discussions.
European countries are now working up proposals to put to President Trump ahead of his deadline of Thursday to agree a deal.
Ukraine is in a tight spot. It cannot reject Washington outright – it relies on US military support to continue this war – but neither can it accept the terms of a deal that is acutely favourable to Russia, requiring Ukraine to give up territory not even occupied by Moscow and reducing its army.
Overnight, the UK government has reiterated its position that any deal must deliver a “just and lasting peace”.
Ukraine war latest: Kyiv to discuss ending war in talks in Switzerland
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Keir Starmer calls for growth plan at G20
The prime minister, who spoke with E3 allies President Macron of France, Chancellor Merz of Germany and President Zelenskyy of Ukraine on the phone on Friday, is having more conversations today with key partners as they work out how to handle Trump and improve this deal for Ukraine.
One diplomatic source told me allies are being very careful not to criticise Trump or his approach for fear of exacerbating an already delicate situation.
Instead, the prime minister is directing his attacks at Russia.
Read more:
Trump’s 28-point Ukraine peace plan in full
Analysis: We could all pay if Europe doesn’t guarantee Ukraine’s security
Prime Minister Keir Starmer attends a plenary session on the first day of the G20 Leaders’ Summit. Pic: Reuters
“There is only one country around the G20 table that is not calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine and one country that is deploying a barrage of drones and missiles to destroy livelihoods and murder innocent civilians,” he said on Friday evening.
“Time and again, Russia pretends to be serious about peace, but its actions never live up to its words.”
Pic: AP
On the Trump plan, the prime minister said allies are meetin on Saturday “to discuss the current proposal on the table, and in support of Trump’s push for peace, look at how we can strengthen this plan for the next phase of negotiations”.
Strengthening the plan really means that they want to rebalance it towards Ukraine’s position and make it tougher on Russia.
“Ukraine has been ready to negotiate for months, while Russia has stalled and continued its murderous rampage. That is why we must all work together with both the US and Ukraine, to secure a just and lasting peace once and for all,” said the prime minister.
“We will continue to coordinate closely with Washington and Kyiv to achieve that. However, we cannot simply wait for peace.
“We must strain every sinew to secure it. We must cut off Putin’s finance flows by ending our reliance on Russian gas. It won’t be easy, but it’s the right thing to do.”
Pic: AP
Europeans hadn’t even seen this deal earlier in the week, in a sign that the US is cutting other allies out of negotiations – for now at least.
Starmer and other European leaders want to get to a position where Ukraine and Europe are at least at the table.
There is some discussion about whether European leaders such as Macron and Meloni might travel to Washington to speak to Trump early next week in order to persuade him of the European and Ukrainian perspective, as leaders did last August following the US-Russian summit in Alaska.
But Sky News understands there are no discussions about the PM travelling to Washington next week ahead of the budget.
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment3 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024