11. THE NEW MAFIA BOSS
Who: Matteo Messina Denaro AKA Diabolik – the Sicilian Mafia boss.
Where: Italy (probably)
What he wants: To ‘correct the mistakes’ done to the poor and oppressed and to make a tonne of cash.
What he does: Gets involved in any business which turns a profit – shopping centres, food distribution firms, wind farms and agriculture that are so extensive it is hard to tell where the economy of western Sicily stops and his empire begins. He is wanted for taking part in the Sicilian mafia’s bombing campaign in the early 1990s, which killed magistrates and bystanders in Sicily, Rome and Florence, as well as 50 murders.
How he can be stopped: He’s been on the run and escaped capture for over 20 years but in the last two years, Italian police have arrested around 30 of Denaro’s network and seized assets such as businesses, cars, houses and olive groves. Cutting the cash line and his network will leave him with nothing, they say. Then they will pounce.
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