Matteo Messina Denaro, the "Final Godfather" is supposed to look earlier than a court docket in L'Aquila on Thursday, the place he is interesting a life sentence over the 1992 homicide of a mafia prosecutor.
His arrest, thirty years after his conviction, has raised a number of questions. Though he was on Italy's "most wished" listing for many years, in the end police did not actually must go far to search out him.
He was caught in his native Sicily, arrested in entrance of a medical facility, which he'd often go to with out utilizing any specific precaution or disguise, aside from false paperwork.
He was identified on the town. At dwelling, police discovered restaurant receipts. Witnesses say he used to go to the grocery store. He was out and about, however by no means stopped and searched till 16 January, 2023.
Euronews requested Anna Sergi, Criminology and Organised Crime Professor on the College of Essex, how that was attainable.
Cash cannot purchase status
"In the beginning", says Sergi, "for some generations of mafiosi, like Matteo Messina Denaro, social recognition issues greater than cash. It is a query of pleasure. In the event you flee and go away your native territory, your fame leaves you, too. It is really and wholly a part of the mafia life-style. Fleeing to Brazil or the Caribbean wouldn’t be truthful to their characters. Additionally, establishing a safety community overseas is costlier and complex. After all they'll at all times rely on massive sums of money and logistical help there, nevertheless it's not precisely the identical."
A vicious circle of energy and social recognition
"That’s why all mafia-like prison methods must create a bond with their territory. They do it by means of extortion and worry. They work all their life for that, and by doing so, they intertwine their identification with the territory. Individuals again dwelling know who they're, as a result of the mafia has constructed a temper of intimidation and consent. Additionally, by giving up territory, you surrender energy too. Simply take into consideration drug trafficking".
Do different prison organisations additionally cover their leaders at dwelling?
"In some circumstances, sure. I bear in mind the case of a Mexican cartel chief, Nazario Moreno González, who had been presumed useless when, actually, he was alive and at dwelling. He stayed there as a result of he felt protected."
How do you clarify the truth that large Italian kingpins could be at massive for many years earlier than being caught?
"Italy, or, extra exactly, Sicily, undoubtedly has the file in that sense. However keep in mind that going after these individuals is extremely difficult and costly for a state. And Italy has spent hundreds of thousands upon hundreds of thousands on it. Elsewhere, criminals can afford to not disappear utterly...as they know that the state will ultimately surrender. A few of them are discovered useless even earlier than police get to them. So, Italy's file can be a file by way of cash spent."
The massive mafiosi appear to get pleasure from a sure stage of safety. How does the community usually work?
"It is one thing you activate at varied ranges and levels. First it is advisable have somebody who at all times is aware of the place you might be, and for those who're alive, that is the fundamentals. Then there are greater safety ranges. For instance to stop legislation enforcements from getting too near you. That entails recurring funds that should come out from financial institution accounts above any suspect. Within the case of Messina Denaro, it was his sister who was serving to out. In truth, she was arrested just a few days in the past. She was maintaining the clan's books."
"Then, there’s the day-to-day routine, which is especially essential for the eldest bosses, as they're not self-sufficient, as an illustration to take care of the home and even their meals. You’ve obtained to verify they’re at all times fed, and so they eat nicely, due to course they need to eat nicely. And you need to be sure they've a protected hideout, a spot that goes unnoticed and may’t be traced to them."
"Even paying gasoline or electrical energy payments requires specific cautions and procedures. In the event you do all this stuff in a spot you already know already very nicely, it is simpler."
Will anybody take Matteo Messina Denaro's place now that he is in jail?
"Fairly doubtless so, and I wouldn’t be shocked if legislation enforcement had recognized that individual already. However, usually talking, the Italian mafia was in disaster even earlier than Messina Denaro's arrest."
"What the mafia actually misplaced with Matteo Messina Denaro's arrest, is the organisation’s ‘mythological’ ethos. They have been pleased with having their boss on the run for thus lengthy."
While you say the mafia is in disaster, do you imply a navy disaster, a status disaster or a monetary disaster?
"All this stuff collectively. Within the 90s, the Sicilian Mafia was severely harmed not simply by state, however by the actions of its very personal boss Totò Riina, whose imaginative and prescient of the mafia ultimately didn’t actually profit the organisation."
Within the early 90s, Riina unleashed an all-out struggle in opposition to the state, main a number of bombings throughout Italy, which took dozens of lives. He was trying to combat again and break the state's crackdown in opposition to the organisation, nevertheless it backfired. He was then arrested in 1993.
"The Sicilian mafia has misplaced lots of prison energy. These days, they not dominate drug trafficking, and by shedding that, additionally they misplaced some huge cash"
"They nonetheless launder cash within the wind power market, for instance, or within the hospitality sector…however the navy aspect of the Sicilian mafia is not predominant, as a result of it virtually led to the organisation’s self destruction. Sure, the outdated households nonetheless exist and have some energy on the territory, nevertheless it's principally a neighborhood energy."
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