Matteo Messina Denaro
Matteo Messina Denaro, also known as Diabolik, was a powerful Italian mafia boss from Castelvetrano, Sicily. He was born on 26 April 1962 and died on 25 September 2023 at age 61.
Denaro came from a mafia family; his father, Francesco Messina Denaro (Don Ciccio), was a local capomandamento. Matteo learned to use a gun at a young age and built a fearsome reputation by carrying out brutal acts, including the murder of rival boss Vincenzo Milazzo and Milazzo’s pregnant girlfriend.
He rose through the ranks after his father’s death in 1998, becoming a leading figure in Castelvetrano and surrounding areas, and later taking control of the Trapani province. For decades, he evaded capture and became one of the world’s most wanted criminals. In 2010, Forbes named him among the ten most powerful criminals on the planet. After the deaths of other top bosses, he was seen by many as the head of the Mafia.
Denaro was involved in numerous crimes connected to the Cosa Nostra, including murders and bombings in the early 1990s. He was sentenced to multiple life terms in absentia for killings and terrorist acts tied to the Mafia attacks in Capaci and Via D’Amelio, as well as other crimes carried out during his years on the run. He was also linked to money laundering and organized crime networks stretching beyond Sicily, including investments in businesses used to hide illicit profits.
After a long manhunt, Denaro was arrested on 16 January 2023 near a private clinic in Palermo, where he was undergoing chemotherapy under a false name. He was taken into custody under the 41-bis prison regime and later moved to a prison hospital.
Denaro died on 25 September 2023 in the prison hospital in L’Aquila, Abruzzo, after slipping into an irreversible coma due to colon cancer. His death marked the end of one of Italy’s most infamous fugitives’ decades-long pursuit.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 03:20 (CET).