After the arrest of Matteo Messina Denaro (61), the mafia is looking for a new boss
Is “The Fat One” following “The Skinny One”?
The king is dead, long live the king. The motto also applies to the Sicilian mafia. After the boss of bosses was arrested on Monday after 30 years on the run, new and old mafiosi want to take power in the Cosa Nostra.
Published: 16 minutes ago
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With the spectacular arrest of Matteo Messina Denaro (61), a boss of bosses resigns. His place is now being filled. The first favorites are already being traded in the Italian media.
Myrtle MuellerOutside Reporter News
Nobody fears the once most wanted boss of bosses anymore. Matteo Messina Denaro (61) is finally in jail after 30 years underground. He will stay there too. In addition, “Diabolik” or “U Siccu” (in English: “The Skinny”), as Denaro is also called, has colon cancer. He seems finally disempowered.
“But anyone who thinks the mafia has been defeated is very wrong,” Palermo’s prosecutor Maurizio De Lucia (61) warned La Repubblica. “Unlike the Neapolitan Camorra, the Sicilian Mafia is a single-headed structure.” Now the Cosa Nostra has to find a new super boss. However, the mafia hunter does not reveal who he is thinking of. According to De Lucia, this is not possible due to ongoing investigations.
Italian media present five mafia candidates
The Italian media, on the other hand, are already presenting five favorites for the mafia throne, also known as the “dome”. There would be drug baron Stefano Fidanzati (70), called “Don Tano”. He is the little brother of the once powerful mafia boss Gaetano Fidanzati (1935-2013), who built up a large heroin and cocaine trade in New York in the 80s in complicity with the Sicilian gangster syndicate. Stefano Fidanzati took over the international business.
At 85, Settimo Mineo (85) is the senior among the contenders. He was appointed as his successor in May 2018 after the death of the legendary mafia boss Salvatore “Toto” Riina (1935-2017). He was arrested seven months later and sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020 for his leadership position in Cosa Nostra. In November 2022, “Uncle Settimo” was finally acquitted. He would be available again for the Cosa Nostra.
Even younger mafiosi want to be on the throne of the Cosa Nostra
Like Matteo Messina Denaro, “The Skinny”, Giovanni Motisi (64), nicknamed “The Fat”, has been on the run for decades. The boss of the clan of the same name has been wanted for murder since 1998. He was a “trust killer” for super boss Salvatore “Toto” Riina. Motisi is at the top of the European wanted list.
But the young mafia also has ambitions for the post of chief godfather. Sandro Capizzi (41) is the son of mafia boss Benedetto Capizzi (78), who tried to use force in 2008 to seize power in “Cosa Nostra”. Fearing a new mafia war, the Sicilian judiciary intervened and had father and son arrested. The junior, who has been free since 2015, is now aiming for the dome. Giuseppe Auteri (48), a specialist in extortion and treasurer of the richest clan in Palermo, also appears to be ambitious. “The tray”, as he is called, has also been on the run for a year – but is quite active from the Sicilian underground.