In brief
The National Anti‑Mafia Prosecutor’s Office announced that police seized over €200 million—cash, cars, villas and companies—believed to be the proceeds of more than four decades of drug trafficking and other crimes by Matteo Messina Denaro, Sicily’s most‑wanted gangster. The raid, conducted by financial police, involved more than 150 officers worldwide, including drones, thermal scanners and cyber‑trackers, and highlighted the global reach of the Mafia’s money‑laundering operations. Denaro, who was arrested in 2023 and died in custody, had been convicted of a series of murders, kidnappings and bomb attacks that shook Italy.
Anti‑mafia investigators in Italy seized cash, companies and other assets worth more than €200 million (about £175 million) in an operation targeting the network of the notorious late Sicilian Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro.The funds, described by the financial police in Palermo as “huge amounts of capital,” are believed to be proceeds from over four decades of drug trafficking linked to the former head of the Cosa Nostra group.Law‑enforcement officials released a video that showed masked officers, some in riot gear, bursting into large luxury villas surrounded by palm trees, using ladders and riot gear to break into the properties. The operation was announced on Thursday.Messina Denaro spent thirty years on the run until his arrest in January 2023, when he left a clinic where he was treated for cancer. He died in custody soon after.While on the run, he had been sentenced to life for a range of crimes, including the 1992 bombings that killed two anti‑mafia prosecutors. He was also convicted of kidnapping and killing the 12‑year‑old son of a mafia informant, whose body was dissolved in acid to evade discovery.Police say this latest investigation follows a money trail that spanned several countries, including Spain, Switzerland, the Cayman Islands and Andorra. Three people have been arrested and eight firms identified, including real‑estate companies tied to the illicit funds.The head of the National Anti‑Mafia Prosecutor’s Office, Giovanni Melillo, said the operation was “strategically significant” because it recovered large sums of capital and aimed to prevent the re‑formation of the criminal organisation. He added that the seizure would continue the disintegration of the Cosa Nostra’s global influence.The finance police trace the operation back to a report from Andorra concerning an Italian woman with “significant financial resources.” She was married to a drug trafficker closely tied to Messina Denaro. Leads grew in other countries, leading to a multi‑national effort involving drones, thermal scanners, IT experts and digital‑wallet tracing.Italian media have dubbed the haul “Denaro’s drugs trove,” although analysts believe it represents only a fraction of the vast wealth of his network, which remains dispersed worldwide.The seized assets included numerous villas, sports cars and a Porsche, illustrating the opulent lifestyle sustained by the Mafia’s illicit profits.}
