MILAN: Italian police claimed progress Thursday in closing in on Italy's most-wanted Mafia fugitive, Matteo Messina Denaro, arresting 21 suspected associates in western Sicily, including family members to whom he had given leadership roles in the clan.
Investigators said the complex investigation revealed the depth of reverence for Messina Denaro in the Trapani province, with particular affection expressed after the recent death of the "boss of bosses'', Salvatore "Toto'' Riina.
Messina Denaro, 55, has been on the lam since 1993 and is wanted for his role in the bombing assassination of magistrates in the 1990s, along with other Mafia hits and crimes. He is considered a prime successor for Riina, who died in November while serving 26 life sentences.
Investigators say the Trapani mafia was, and still is, active in extortion and controlling public contracts, and often resorted to destroying the property of anyone who tried to stand up it.
Palermo prosecutor Francesco Lo Vio said members used modified arms to avoid the identification of provenance during ballistic tests, and showed "a maniacal attention to communications systems to protect themselves''.
In particular, the investigation targeted the network of pizzini, the system of paper notes that support Denaro's flight and also transmit the fugitive crime boss's wishes. These have included putting one of his brothers-in-law in charge in the town of Castelvetrano after a series of arrests in 2013 and 2015 landed many associates behind bars. Two brothers-in-law were among those arrested.
"We have arrived truly close to the heart of the fugitive, in the literal sense in that we have detained members of his own family,'' another prosecutor, Paolo Guido, told a news conference.
The suspects were being held on suspicion of mafia association, extortion and other mafia crimes.
Investigators said they never turned up any of the pizzini, which Denaro ordered destroyed, but did intercept some phone calls, including one where two of the suspects praised Riina's decision to order the death of the son of a Mafia turncoat. The boy was held for nearly two years before being killed at the age of 13, his body dissolved in acid.
Shortly after Riina's death, some 200 agents last December searched the homes of around 20 alleged mafiosi in Trapani province in a bid to ramp up pressure on Messina Denaro, amid concerns that the power vacuum would lead to a battle for dominance.
In this April 6, 2007 file photo, a police officer shows a computer-generated image of Mafia top boss Matteo Messina Denaro, at the Palermo police headquarters, southern Italy. (AP photo) >