«Matteo Messina Denaro lived for a long time in the Trapani area, his territory, sure of not being discovered. Investigating after his arrest we discovered that he had even been stopped at a checkpoint seven years ago in the province of Trapani. But he was not recognized by the police who checked his document. Everything seemed in order."

This was revealed by the Palermo prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia, the magistrate who coordinated the investigations that led to the arrest of the mafia boss on 16 January 2023, during a meeting with the school children of Casal di Principe, in the province of Caserta .

« Messina Denaro was confident in the fact that the police had years-old photos of him - said the Palermo prosecutor - but there were also those who alerted him to the investigators' movements. We must ask ourselves how it was possible that he spent thirty years in hiding. Today - concluded de Lucia, the commitment of the Palermo prosecutor's office is to identify whoever favored Messina Denaro".

(Unioneonline/lf)

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