Italian Mafia Boss Messina Denaro Dies in Hospital, Ansa Reports

Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, who was convicted of dozens of murders including those of Italy’s leading prosecutors, has died in hospital, news agency Ansa reported Monday.

(Bloomberg) — Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, who was convicted of dozens of murders including those of Italy’s leading prosecutors, has died in hospital, news agency Ansa reported Monday.

Messina Denaro, 61, who died in L’Aquila in central Italy, was arrested in January after 30 years on the run. He was suffering from cancer at the time of his arrest. He was hospitalized in August and had been in an irreversible coma since Friday, Ansa said. 

Messina Denaro has been convicted of killings including those of anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992 and mafia terror attacks in Rome, Milan and Florence the following year. 

He was one of Italy’s most wanted criminals and considered the leader of the Sicilian mafia after the arrests of Bernardo Provenzano in 2006 and Salvatore Lo Piccolo in 2007. 

Read more: Italy’s Most-Wanted Mafia Boss Arrested After 30 Years (1)

–With assistance from Alberto Brambilla.

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