Matteo Messina Denaro: how fast-living mafioso evaded police for 30 years

Sicilian mobster who boasted ‘I filled a cemetery by myself’ managed to stay hidden without going far from home

When the Cosa Nostra boss Salvatore “Totò” Riina was arrested in 1993, after 23 years on the most wanted list, he was living comfortably in Palermo with his wife and four children. Thirteen years later, his sidekick, living like an ascetic, eating cheese and chicory and reading his Bible in a shepherd’s hut near his birthplace, Corleone, was run to ground.

For years, only one of Riina’s inner circle, responsible for a campaign of violence that left hundreds dead including judges, priests and politicians, remained at large. A man known for his wealth and his love of fast cars, who had numerous girlfriends and liked the finer things in life, he nonetheless managed to hide from investigators without going far from home.