Three people have been
arrested as part of an investigation by prosecutors in Palermo
on an international drug trafficking ring allegedly operating on
behalf of the Sicilian Mafia and fugitive Cosa Nostra boss
Matteo Messina Denaro, investigative sources said Wednesday.
ROS security Carabinieri police from Trapani and GICO
economic-financial police in Palermo carried out the nationwide
operation on Wednesday that led to the arrests and included
search operations in which 100 Carabinieri and tax police
officers were deployed, the sources said.
Police said Meddina Denaro, called Iddu (Him) by his
subordinates, may have been driven to Trapani rail station
recently by one of the three people arrested.
Police have been 'draining the swamp' of Messina Denaro's
protectors and abetters for years.
In June the latest 19 people were placed under investigation
in a fresh probe into persons believed to be helping Cosa
Nostra's No. 1 fugitive evade capture.
The 19 are professionals and 'men of honour' who have already
been involved in previous probes, police said.
In the last few years police have made a series of sweeps
snuffing out the superboss's web of supporters including close
relatives - two brothers in law are doing hard time - and
businessmen who, according to investigators, have funded his
life on the run.
These include electrician-turned-windfarm king Vito Nicastri
who is accused of bribing former League transport undersecretary
Armando Siri for an amendment, which was never approved, in
favour of renewable energy projects.
Nicastri got nine years in jail for mafia association last
month.
In the latest operation, police carried out raids at
Castelvetrano, Mazara del Vallo, Partanna and Campobello di
Mazara in western Sicily.
Messina Denaro, 57, has been on the run since 1993 and was
once considered a candidate to be Cosa Nostra's boss of bosses
following the deaths of Bernardo Provenzano in 2016 and
Salvatore Riina in 2017.
He is on Europol's list of Europe's most wanted fugitives.
He has not been seen in public in 23 years.
An informant in 2014 helped authorities update their facial
composite of him.
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