The Carabinieri have ruled out Monday that the clinic where Cosa Nostra leader capo Matteo Messina Denaro, who was receiving chemotherapy treatment before his arrest, is involved with the Italian mafia.
Authorities have located Messina, a fugitive from justice for three decades, in a Palermo clinic where he had gone for chemotherapy treatment under a false name. Among the belongings he was carrying at the time of his arrest was a watch valued at 30,000 euros.
«For the moment we have no elements of alleged involvement or complicity on the part of the clinic. The fugitive had provided false documents. Naturally the investigations are at the beginning,» said the chief prosecutor of Palermo, Maurizio De Lucia, at a press conference, as reported by Rai.
He also indicated that article 41 bis of the Italian penitentiary system will be applied to Messina, so he will most probably be isolated from other prisoners, although for security reasons he did not specify in which prison he will be held.
De Lucia explained that, although Messina Denaro was not the only leader of the Cosa Nostra, «he had a remarkable ability to be present in business», so his arrest is an «important contribution» to the fight against Italian mafias.
For his part, the commander of the Carabinieri, Teo Luzi, explained that the ‘Dalla Chiesa’ method was used for his capture, which consists in collecting large amounts of information from the various police departments, as well as telephone interceptions or the use of state databases.
The Palermo prosecutor himself has defended this form of policing, since «without the interceptions, investigations cannot be carried out». «They were fundamental», he has pointed out together with four senior Carabinieri officers.
In his turn to speak, General Psquale Angelosanto, commander of the Special Operations Group, explained that they already knew about his health problems and that the investigations followed a double path: to fight against the military apparatus of the Cosa Nostra and to attack his assets in order to hinder his activity.
The AdnKronos news agency has managed to obtain the identity document used by Messina, alias Andrea Bonafede, to enter the Maddalena clinic. According to the forged personal data, he was born in Campobello di Mazara on October 23, 1963 and would reside a few kilometers from his birthplace, in Castelvetrano.
About a hundred of police officers took part in this delicate operation, in which Messina did not offer any resistance to the agents. The drug lord was transferred to a secure location prior to his arrival at a maximum security prison, in line with the protocols for this type of arrest.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
