ROME: Sicilian Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, captured in January after three decades on the run, died on Monday in hospital in central Italy, taking to the grave the secrets of his brutal reign.

The 61-year-old had been treated for colon cancer while detained in a high-security jail in L’Aquila but was moved last month to hospital after his condition deteriorated.

L’Aquila mayor Pierluigi Biondi confirmed the mobster’s death in hospital overnight “following a worsening of his illness”.

His death “puts the end to a story of violence and blood”, Biondi said and thanked prison and hospital staff for their “professionalism and humanity”.

It was “the epilogue of an existence lived without remorse or repentance, a painful chapter in the recent history of our nation”, the mayor added.

Messina Denaro was one of the most ruthless bosses in Cosa Nostra, the real-life Sic­ilian crime syndicate depicted in the Godfather movies. He was convicted of involvement in the murder of anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992 and in deadly bombings in Rome, Florence and Milan in 1993. One of his six life sentences was for the kidnapping and subsequent murder of the 12-year-old son of a witness in the Falcone case.

“No-one should be denied prayers. But I cannot say I’m sorry,” Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said of the mobster’s death. Messina Denaro disappeared in the summer of 1993 and spent the next 30 years on the run as the Italian state cracked down on the Sicilian mob.

But he remained at the top of Italy’s most-wanted list and increasingly became a figure of legend.

It was his decision to seek treatment for his cancer that led to his capture. He was arrested on Jan 16, 2023, when he visited a health clinic in Palermo.

He was initially treated in his jail cell, but was moved to the inmates’ ward of the hospital in L’Aquila in August, where he remained under heavy security.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2023