Mafias
The weekly magazine “Gente”: “Giovanni Motisi, the last Cosa Nostra boss at large, died in Colombia. But the investigations do not confirm

by FQ | March 3, 2025

The weekly magazine Gente had given him up for dead in a clinic in Cali, Colombia. But the Palermo Prosecutor's Office has not found confirmation of the death of Giovanni Motisi , 66, the last major fugitive from the Cosa Nostra massacre phase , wanted since 1998. Totò Riina's hitman, former district boss of the Pagliarelli neighborhood, must serve a life sentence for the murder of the deputy head of the Palermo Flying Squad Ninni Cassarà, killed by Kalashnikov on August 6, 1985 together with the agent Roberto Antiochia . In recent weeks, on behalf of the prosecutors of the Palermo District Anti-Mafia Directorate, the Police interviewed Antonello Zappadu , a Sardinian photojournalist and author of the article, who said he learned of the godfather's death from a mediator he was in contact with for an interview. Zappadu also indicated the name of the clinic where the boss, who he said was ill with pancreatic cancer, was admitted. The investigations of the SCO (Central Operations Service), however, did not confirm the statements : Motisi, therefore, remains wanted.