Lawyer Arrested for Managing Matteo Messina Denaro's Clan Cash
In the coded language that the godfather and his lover, Laura Bonafede, used in the notes, the professional was referred to as "Solimano"

Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro after his arrest, in the frame his daughter Lorenza
by Editorial Staff

April 29, 2025

He allegedly managed the money of the Campobello di Mazara mafia family, guaranteeing Matteo Messina Denaro financial support during his time as a fugitive: these are the accusations that the Palermo DDA is contesting against the Freemason lawyer Antonio Messina, 79, under house arrest from today on charges of mafia association. In the coded language that the godfather and his lover, Laura Bonafede, used in the notes, the professional was referred to as «Solimano».

Already convicted of drug trafficking, external association with a mafia organization, witness tampering and for the kidnapping of Luigi Corleo, father-in-law of the mafia tax collector Nino Salvo, Messina was formally affiliated with Cosa Nostra, as he himself admitted in a wiretap, on the proposal of the boss Leoluca Bagarella and he had established relationships not only with Messina Denaro, but also with the most important mafia figures in the Trapani area over the last twenty years such as Domenico Scimonelli, Giovanni Vassallo, Franco Luppino, Jonn Calogero Luppino.

All ties aimed at acquiring economic activities to also be used to guarantee Matteo Messina Denaro the money necessary for his clandestinity.

"An absolutely versatile and multifaceted character, one of the main protagonists (in a negative way) of this trial. On the one hand, he works as a professional lawyer, representing mafiosi and common criminals (including Rosario Spatola, who later became his main accuser); on the other, he is active in various fields of crime and cultivates relationships with leading figures of organized crime", wrote about him years ago, the Assize Court of Trapani.

Matteo Messina Denaro and his long-time lover, Laura Bonafede, had planned to seriously intimidate the lawyer Antonio Messina, arrested today for mafia association, believing that he had violated financial agreements. This emerges from a note found in the boss's hideout written by the woman who says: «I have always understood that Solimano (pseudonym used to indicate the lawyer, ed.) cared so much about money, he likes to spend and make easy money but I could never have thought that he would go that far. When you say that you will make him pay, that you will not stop, I can tell you that I am certain,
I know you in this aspect too. I do not deny that I would have liked you to have killed two birds with one stone; Solimano and Pancione. But Pancione (the mafioso Epifanio Napoli, ed. ) is thinking about it alone, he eats like a pig, he can not even walk anymore».

From the content of the note "it was clear that, evidently," the prosecutors wrote in the request for Messina's arrest, "both had already received money from Solimano in the past, but Messina's greed, his gluttony and his failure to respect previous agreements or practices (to be read unambiguously in terms of a previous subsidy for the fugitive Matteo Messina Denaro and the Campobello di Mazara family) had also occurred in the past, so much so as to force Depry (the nickname with which the woman referred to the fugitive mafia boss) to send a warning to Solimano in order to make him afraid."

And in fact Messina has suffered several intimidating episodes over time. In another note Bonafede expresses her resentment towards the lawyer without mincing words: "That piece of shit Solimano has destroyed us," she writes.