Matteo Messina Denaro, ‘last godfather’ of Sicilian mafia, dies after long illness, reports say

Cosa Nostra boss, 61, had been in hiding since 1993 and was arrested in January while attending hospital

Matteo Messina Denaro, the “last godfather” of the Sicilian mafia and who was accused of orchestrating some of the most heinous crimes perpetrated by the Cosa Nostra, has died after a long illness, Italian media have reported.

In January, Denaro, 61, who had been in hiding since 1993, was apprehended in a private clinic in Palermo, where he had been periodically receiving treatment for a tumour under the false name of Andrea Bonafede.