Mafia: investigation into woman linked to Messina Denaro closed Charge changed from aiding and abetting a mafia association PALERMO , 04 December 2023, 3.37pm
ANSA editorial team
The Palermo prosecutor's office has closed the investigation against Laura Bonafede, the teacher from Campobello di Mazara, romantically linked to the boss Matteo Messina Denaro, arrested after the capture of the mafia boss.
The original accusation of aiding and abetting made to the suspect was changed to mafia association. Laura Bonafede, daughter of the historic godfather of Campobello Leonardo, faithful ally of the Messina Denaro, is cousin of Andrea Bonafede, the surveyor who lent his identity to the boss during the last phase of his hiding. According to the Palermo Prosecutor's Office - the investigation was coordinated by the prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia, by the deputy Paolo Guido and by the prosecutors Piero Padova and Gianluca de Leo - Laura Bonafede would have been a fundamental piece of the mechanism that for 30 years protected the fugitive of Messina Denaro.
The two, together with the woman's daughter, Martina Gentile, investigated for aiding and abetting and failure to comply with the sentence, would have lived together and would have always seen each other. "We were a family", wrote the mafia boss in a note addressed to Blu, one of the code names used for the teacher. She took care of the boss's livelihood and safety, she did his shopping during the pandemic in fear that she would get sick and wouldn't be able to leave the house, she shared with him encrypted languages, very secret pizzini, deals and information on the gang. According to the investigating judge who ordered her arrest, the woman had a sort of adoration for her godfather, a feeling that emerges from the love letters found in the fugitive's hideouts. "Such adoration - wrote the judge - has no possible rational explanation and finds meaning only in total adherence to the spirit, ideals and behavior of one of the most ferocious mafiosi known in Italian territory". Wife of a Cosa Nostra killer, Salvatore Gentile, serving a life sentence for two murders commissioned by Messina Denaro, continued to see the mafia boss until a few days before his arrest.
