A repentant said that the fugitive would have undergone plastic surgery on the face, in order not to be recognizable. The intervention would have taken place in Piedmont or in the Aosta Valley. [38] An informant, on the other hand, stated on the contrary that Matteo Messina Denaro made plastic in Bulgaria, both on the face and on the fingertips, in order not to be recognizable. He also claimed that the fugitive has health problems: he hardly sees anymore and is on dialysis. The witness said that Messina Denaro went several times to Pisa and Lamezia Terme, and that he would be protected by the 'Ndrangheta . The Florence District Anti-Mafia Prosecutor's Office investigated his story. [39]
His inaction was also financed by gambling, practiced in Sicily and Malta , where the entrepreneur Carlo Cattaneo went several times. [40]
Messina Denaro also has ties with Venezuela , where some people linked to the fugitive would have managed his interests. [41]
On April 16, 2019, as part of the investigation into Messina Denaro's inaction, two carabinieri were arrested on charges of aiding and abetting the mafia, and Antonino Vaccarino, the former mayor of Castelvetrano [42] who sent pizzini to Messina , was also arrested Money. [43]
In March 2019 a Masonic lodge was discovered in Castelvetrano , the birthplace of the boss and reference of the mafia clan [44] , an operation which was followed in November by an anti-drug blitz in Palermo, in which Antonio Messina, a former lawyer disbarred from Trapanese albo and freemason of long standing, who kept in touch with the Sicilian crime rooted in the Milanese [45] [46] in the context of a hashish trafficking organized between Spain, Milan and Sicily. [47]
In December 2019 it was revealed that in 2015, when the magistrate Teresa Principato was the head of the pool investigating Messina Denaro, a 10-inch laptop and two pendrives, with information regarding the investigations and covered by secret of inquiry. [48]
The investigations also led to Milan, where some men linked to the 'Ndrangheta and drug trafficking could constitute his safety net that allows him to be a fugitive. [49]
In February 2020, after the capture of the boss Salvatore Nicitra, one of the leaders of the Banda della Magliana , the investigations also led to Rome, because Nicitra had strong ties with the Cosa Nostra in Agrigento , which is believed to finance Messina Denaro's inaction. [50] Nicitra was active in the gambling and slot machines sector, and had links with Albanian bosses. [51]
Between 15 and 20 June 2020, numerous supporters of Messina Denaro are arrested, initially Francesco Domingo considered to be the boss of Castellammare del Golfo and at the top of the Trapani mafia joints and connection with the American Cosa Nostra . Together with him 11 people were reported and the mayor of the city Nicola Rizzo was also investigated [52] . Finally, the registry residence of the fugitive boss in Castelvetrano was searched and 15 people investigated in various capacities between Sicily and Caserta, while the arrested included Giuseppe Calcagno who performed the task of "postman" in the delivery of orders through pizzini and Marco Manzo who represented Matteo Messina Denaro in the various meetings of the criminal organization [53][54]
On 21 October 2020 he was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Court of Assizes of Caltanissetta for having been one of the instigators of the Capaci and via D'Amelio massacres [55] .
