Matteo Messina Denaro / Boss in the shadows since 1993: fugitive and theories (Nostre) Publication: 01.06.2020- Emanuela Longo Matteo Messina Denaro, the story of the number one boss of Cosa Nostra and fugitive since 1993 at the center of the episode of Cose Nostre
The transmission "Cose Nostre" returns from today 1 June on Rai1, in the late evening, to retrace the stories of the mafia and the secret affairs of the most famous bosses. It was therefore impossible not to leave with the "Chief of the Chiefs" Matteo Messina Denaro , the so-called "boss in the shadows" considered the number one of Cosa Nostra and a fugitive for 27 years now. Messina Denaro is considered the head of the Castelvetrano district, the last of the "Corleonesi", fugitive since 1993 and the undisputed representative of the mafia in the province of Trapani. However, his great power exercised him far beyond the borders of his province. Since 1993 they have looked for him far and wide with various blitzes made also in light of numerous testimonies, such as that of a repentant according to whom he is in Veneto. Numerous the names used in the pizzini in which he signed himself, found by investigators in the hideout of Binnu Provenzano, in Montagna dei Cavalli. His life runs parallel to the history of the post-war mafia. However, everything seems to explode between 1992 and 1993 when Cosa Nostra declared war on Italy with sensational attacks in which the judges symbol of the fight against the mafia died - from Falcone to Borsellino - and bombs exploded in the main cities of Italy. The reaction of the state is not long in coming and while prominent names of Cosa Nostra end up in prison, like Totò Riina, only one man manages to escape capture: it is Matteo Messina Denaro.
MATTEO MESSINA DENARO, BOSS LATITANT FROM 1993 The wanted number one par excellence, Matteo Messina Denaro has the "merit" of having brought Cosa Nostrato a new level. Traces of him have been lost in the wheat fields of the Trapani countryside, the same ones in which father Ciccio, the mafia patriarch, had initiated him to the values ​​of the old rural mafia. From him he also learned the secrets of hiding, since the man was found lifeless, in 1998, died of a heart attack. From that moment the command passed to his son Matteo. The fugitive boss is considered responsible for an unknown number of executions as well as among the organizers of the kidnapping of the little Giuseppe Di Matteo, strangled and dissolved in acid after 779 days of captivity. Around the figure of Matteo Messina Denaro a real myth has been created. His hiding began in the summer of 1993, when he was last seen on vacation in Forte dei Marmi with his brothersFilippo and Giuseppe Graviano . Since that time, an arrest warrant was issued for mafia association, murder, massacre, devastation, detention and port of explosive material, theft and other minor crimes. But Messina Denaro not even the shadow. There are many theories about it: there are those who claim that it can still be in Sicily and those who talk about face and fingertip surgery with a view to a drastic change of identity. Among other theories also those who argue that it can be protected by the 'ndrangheta. Certainly, it still enjoys a dense protection network between Sicily and Northern Italy which has so far made it possible to avoid capture.
During the transmission of Rai1 which starts right from its history we will see the testimonies of those who have dealt with all these years of his hunt, by Nino Di Matteo , Andrea Tarondo and Teresa Principato , passing through members of the police such as Giuseppe Linares , Renato Cortese , Saverio Montalbano and Rino Germanà as well as journalists and collaborators.
