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.
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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.
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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.”
Israel will call up 60,000 reservists as it prepares to launch an expanded military operation in Gaza City.
The military said the country’s defence minister Israel Katz has approved plans to begin a new phase of operations in some of the most densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces will operate in areas of Gaza City where they have not yet operated and where it believes Hamas is still active, a military official said.
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Israel must have ‘security control’ to end Gaza war, Netanyahu says
The city is the main military and governing stronghold of Hamas and Israeli troops will target the group’s vast underground network, the official added.
Although Israel has targeted and killed much of Hamas’ senior leadership, parts of the group are actively regrouping and carrying out attacks, including launching rockets towards Israel, the official said.
It remains unclear when the operation will begin, but it could be a matter of days.
Palestinians at the site of a house struck by Israel in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters
The official said 60,000 reservists will be called up in the coming month and the service of an additional 20,000 reservists currently serving will be lengthened.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the objectives of the war are to secure the release of the remaining hostages and destroy Hamas.
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Gaza hospitals ‘overwhelmed with malnutrition cases’
International criticism of Israel increased after the planned offensive was announced earlier this month amid fears of another mass displacement of Palestinians.
The families of the hostages and former army and intelligence chiefs oppose an expanded operation in Gaza City, with most of the families of hostages wanting an immediate ceasefire.
They worry an expanded assault could threaten prospects of bringing the 50 remaining hostages home. Israel believes 20 of those are still alive.
Read more:
Tents abandoned as Palestinians flee Israeli advance
Gaza ceasefire proposal agreed by Hamas
Parachutes drop aid supplies in Gaza. Pic: AP
Palestinians rush to collect airdropped humanitarian aid packages. Pic: AP
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people and abducting 251.
Many of the hostages have been released in ceasefires and other deals, with Hamas saying it will only free the remainder in exchange of a lasting ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal.
More than 62,000 people have been killed during Israel’s 22-month counteroffensive, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says women and children make up around half of those killed.
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Earlier this week, the ministry said 154 adults had died of malnutrition-related causes since the ministry began counting such deaths in late June, and 112 children have died of malnutrition-related causes since the war began.
Thousands have fled parts of Gaza City in recent days amid airstrikes and advancing Israeli troops, new satellite imagery shows.
Israel’s advance comes as it prepares to mount a full-scale invasion of the city, where the UN says around one million Palestinians are sheltering.
Satellite imagery shows that entire tent camps in southeast Gaza City were emptied between 9 and 17 August as families fled the renewed attacks.
The video below shows the moment of an airstrike in southeastern Gaza City on 13 August. Sky News geolocated the footage to a building less than 200 metres from a major tent camp.
Another video, taken on 15 August, shows a strike on a building right next to the camp.
By the following day, almost all the camp’s residents had fled, along with people sheltering at 30 other locations in the area.
Fresh vehicle tracks in the area indicate extensive troop movements on the ground.
The satellite image below, taken on 17 August, shows at least nine military vehicles in the streets surrounding one former tent camp.
Sky News counted 58 military vehicles in the area on 17 August, including 17 bulldozers.
The image below shows four IDF vehicles, including a bulldozer, parked next to the remains of one tent camp. Several nearby buildings had been levelled in the days beforehand.
Between 9 and 17 August, at least 132 buildings were destroyed in less than one square kilometre of the city.
It’s unclear how much of the destruction was carried out by IDF bulldozers and how much was a result of airstrikes.
On Monday, eyewitnesses reported that Israeli tanks had made further advances into eastern Gaza City.
The advances came as Hamas said it had approved a ceasefire deal presented by mediators Egypt and Qatar. Israel has yet to respond to the proposal.
Earlier this month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed his country’s military to prepare for a full-scale invasion and occupation of the city in order to “free Gaza from Hamas”.
The UN has said that the invasion risks “catastrophic consequences” for the estimated one million Palestinians sheltering in the city, while UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the plan would “only bring more bloodshed”.
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
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