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Italy's infamous mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro arrested: His life reminds of a crime novel| Top 5
The 60-year-old went into hiding in 1993 and was involved in the planning of the 1992 murders of anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino - crimes that shocked the nation and sparked a crackdown that led to Riina's arrest in 1993.
Matteo Messina Denaro, one of Italy's most wanted mafia bosses, was arrested by the armed police at a private hospital in Sicily on Monday where he undergoing treatment. Denaro - who was reported to be on run for nearly three decades- has been convicted of dozens of murders, including helping to plan, with other Cosa Nostra bosses, a pair of bombings that killed top anti-Mafia prosecutors and prompted the Italian government to tighten its grip on the Sicilian crime syndicate.
Here are five points on mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro:
1) Denaro was born in the southwestern Sicilian town of Castelvetrano in 1962, the son of a mafioso. He followed his father into the mob and at 15 he was already carrying a gun. Police believe he carried out his first killing when he was just 18, news agency Reuters reported.
2) The 60-year-old went into hiding in 1993 and was involved in the planning of the 1992 murders of anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino - crimes that shocked the nation and sparked a crackdown that led to Riina's arrest in 1993.
3) He was also held responsible for subsequent bombings in Rome, Florence, and Milan in 1993 that killed 10 people in an apparently failed bid to force the government to halt its war on the Sicilian mob, known as Cosa Nostra (Our Thing).
4) Denaro never married, but was known to have a number of lovers. Denaro wrote that he had a daughter, but had never met her. He is also believed to have a son, but little is known about him, media reports underlined.
5) According to a report by the BBC, Denaro once boasted he could "fill a cemetery" with his victims. He also oversaw racketeering, illegal waste dumping, money laundering and drug trafficking for the powerful Cosa Nostra organised crime syndicate.
