With Monday's arrests of 11 of his
key supporters, the net is closing on fugitive Cosa Nostra Mafia
boss Matteo Messina Denaro, police said after dawn raids in
Sicily.
They revealed that Messina Denaro, on the run since 1993,
used the same sort of coded message system as his predecessor
Bernardo Provenzano.
The messages, written on tiny scraps of paper called
'pizzini', used codes that referred to various farm practices
and animals for communications among Denaro and his lieutenants,
police said Monday.
They added this was the same sort of the 'pizzini' method
used by Cosa Nostra's Provenzano before his arrest in 2006 and
suspected subsequent hand-off to Messina Denaro.
The messages, with references to "pigs", "fertilizer" and
"beans" were bound with Scotch tape, to be read and destroyed
within a defined period.
Farmers Vito Gondola, 77, and Michele Terranova, among the
11 arrested on Monday, were key to ensuring messages were
transmitted, police allege.
Meetings among Mafia members were held only on farms,
making it much more difficult to eavesdrop on conversations,
said police.
Messina Denaro, 53, has not been publicly seen in more than
20 years, but an informant last year helped Italian authorities
to update their ideas of the Mafia boss's appearance, including
the fact he no longer wears eyeglasses and his dark hair has
receded.
Premier Matteo Renzi cheered the arrests in a Facebook post
and urged fast action in capturing Messina Denaro himself.
"I am grateful to the investigators...now, full speed ahead
to capture the fugitive boss," Renzi wrote of Messina Denaro.
"Italy is...united against organized crime".
The arrests were made in a dawn operation between Palermo
and Trapani, with suspects ranging in age from 27 to 77.
The work demanded well-coordinated action by various police
and security experts as "the Mafia remains one unified
organization," Palermo's Chief Prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi said
at a news conference.
Messina Denaro also enjoys "a high degree of protection" in
Sicily, proven by the fact he has been so well hidden since
1993, authorities added.
That unity is based on greed, added prosecutor Teresa
Principato.
"Matteo Messina Denaro is a kind of parasite that does not
take into account family ties, but makes use of the money that
the members of his family and the clan can get him".
Added Interior Minister Angelino Alfano in a post on his
Twitter feed: "The State wins, the Mafia loses".
He alleged the 11 arrested had "aided and abetted" Messina
Denaro.
Rosy Bindi, head of the parliamentary anti-mafia
commission, called Monday's arrests a "significant success".
"The operation that led to the dismantling, with 11
arrests, of the network of loyal (Mafia) men who helped the
boss of Cosa Nostra to exercise the role of command and
preserve its economic power is a significant
success...demonstrating the determination of the institutions in
the fight against the Mafia," said Bindi.
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