ROME – Pasquale Di Filippo, former Cosa Nostra killer turned state witness, has given an interview with La Repubblica in which he appeals for Matteo Messina Denaro, thought to be one of the leaders of Cosa Nostra, to turn himself in. 

 Messina Denaro has been in hiding since taking part in the Sicilian mafia bombings of the early 1990s.  He has long been one of Italy’s most wanted fugitives.

 When asked in the interview what he would like to say to Messina Denaro, Di Filippo’s message was unequivocal.

 “I would like to say to him that he may escape arrest, but his relatives are all in prison for his sake.  Matteo, Cosa Nostra is finished, the state is more powerful.  Reflect, there is only one thing left for to do: turn yourself in.”

 He added, “Sooner or later, someone will betray him.”

 In the interview, Pasquale Di Filippo said that he knew Messina Denaro well, having met him in 1994 and 1995.  He described Messina Denaro as a very intelligent and shrewd man, who loved to be always fashionably dressed and was without question central to Cosa Nostra – “The last word on important issues is always his.”

 As for Messina Denaro’s secrets, Di Filippo said that he wanted to tell the crime boss that he knew that the bomb attacks had been suggested to Messina Denaro, or even that he had been coerced into them, by “other powers”.  He said he did not know the identity of these “powers” or he would already have exposed them.

 Di Filippo’s Cosa Nostra past continues to haunt him.  Having served 11 years for four murders, he described himself in the interview as

 “a person who leads a normal life, finally.”  Yet he mentions receiving threatening letters, and his 15-year-old daughter refuses to speak to him since finding out about his past by watching the “Il Cacciatore” television series, about the Mafia attacks in the 1990s. 

 According to Il Fatto Quotidiano, in 2018 Di Filippo asked for one million euros in compensation after the programme, which he says misrepresents him as a torturer who killed 20 people.

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