CASTELVETRANO – A renewed effort to capture the Sicilian mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, considered the capo dei capi (boss of bosses) within Cosa Notra, has been launched, reports Il Fatto Quotidiano. The hunt will target those surrounding the playboy Mafioso and his network of support. 

 As many as 130 officers will be brought from Rome to Palermo in an operation coordinated by Palermo’s Anti-Mafia District Directorate (DDA). They are currently investigating 19 individuals, including the network of accomplices and financiers which have allowed Denaro to remain uncaptured since he disappeared in 1993.

 Those involved in the operation began their search this morning in Castelvetrano, the last official address of the fugitive and where he grew up. They are also investigating in Mazara del Vallo, Partanna and Campobello di Mazara.

Nicknamed “Diabolik” after the anti-hero protagonist of the eponymous cartoon, it will not be easy to capture Messina Denaro, 57, who was named in the top-ten most wanted criminals in the world by Forbes Magazine in 2010. Having grown up learning from his father, “Don Ciccio” (real name: Francesco Messina Denaro), Messina Denaro was involved in the Cosa Nostra from an early age.

 In 1993, following bombings in Rome, Milan and Florence, Messina Denaro was sentenced to life imprisonment. His had led a campaign to take revenge after a clampdown on mafia activity following the murder of prominent antimafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. Messina Denaro soon disappeared and is thought to remain in Western Sicily, perhaps near his home town.

 In April, the mayor Castelvetrano Antonio Vaccarino was arrested along with two policemen. He was accused of leaking official documents and of aiding mafia activity, and was released after revealing information about Messina Denaro.

 While there have been numerous attempts in the past to capture Messina Denaro - notably the capture of his brother Salvatore Messina Denaro in 2010 and the storming of a farm where it was thought he lived in 2011 -  all have failed.

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