"When I notified him of the arrest, he gave his personal details and then fell silent. Only when we pointed out that it was the night of San Graziano did he comment in Sardinian: 'It means that the lucky star is no longer there. You were good.'"

Lieutenant Colonel Giorgio Mazzoli, commander of the Cagliari anti-crime unit of the Ros, is the officer who arrested Graziano Messina in a house in Desulo in the early hours of December 18, 2021. That last fugitive period had begun on July 2 of the previous year, while the Court of Cassation made the 24-year sentence for drug trafficking definitive. When he recalls that "complex activity carried out by a complex team, given that the Cagliari Ros had the support of the central departments of the special operational grouping of Rome, of the Gis and of the territorial Arma", even more than the investigative difficulties, Mazzoli is reminded of the resources that Messina knew how to draw from the reservoir of the symbolic, from the deposit of a subculture that is hard to die.

What was his strength?

"Over the years he had managed to build an aura that had taken hold in the collective imagination. And at least in some sectors of the Barbagia population he enjoyed strong consensus that translated into a very strict code of silence: in that year and a half of hiding there was no one who let slip even a single confidence. And let's think of the ease with which he was able to move, changing hiding places and guests between Goceano and Barbagia. Those who supported him were shepherds but also citizens not directly linked to the agricultural and pastoral environment: this means that his figure still inspired fear but also respect, let's call it that. His goal was money and to obtain it he committed a variety of crimes that reached drug trafficking, but when one insists on speaking of a "romantic bandit" the adjective always ends up sweeping away the noun. And he, also thanks to the mass media and a certain type of culture of the exotic, managed to build this aura. He was an influencer ante litteram and took advantage of this by building a network of transversal supports".

What element allowed you to arrest him?

"The tenacity in putting together without preconceptions the elements collected in the territory. And so we managed to identify a subject from Orgosolo, not from the very first family circle, who had the characteristics to be the trait d'union between Mesina and the world. But I assure you that it took an incessant activity of listening, of analysis, even of covert observation of the countless snacks organized by subjects who we thought were part of his circle of relations. In the end we managed to identify a person: he was absolutely not conspicuous but he seemed important to us. And we were right: he was the person who physically managed his movements. So by following him we managed to identify who at that moment had custody of Mesina and after weeks of observation we managed to frame him. At that point we decided to take action with the Special Intervention Group, also because we had elements such as to believe that he would soon move, and we absolutely did not want to waste that window of opportunity that had opened up".

It was the happy investigative ending of a fugitive life that began in a disconcerting way.

"It is a circumstance that has led to a deep reflection also in the Carabinieri. However, it must be said that Messina had managed to conceal his intentions in a truly effective manner: it was thought that he was now at the twilight of his existence and that he had neither the desire nor the ability to avoid capture. And it is also true that he had already disappeared when the news of the definitive sentence was still unofficial, so he had the news before and avoided it in time".

According to many, being a fugitive is harder than being in prison.

"It is certainly a life of sacrifice. Of course, also for anagraphic reasons we must not imagine him hidden in a cave: he moved between sheepfolds, houses, country cottages. But it is a hard existence, very expensive and completely at the mercy of those who guard you. However, in the eyes of a bandit like Mesina it was preferable to prison, also to continue to give life and meaning to the myth he had built for himself".

Celestine Tabasso

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