Anti‑mafia investigators in Italy have seized cash, companies and assets worth more than €200m (£175m) in an operation targeting the network of notorious Sicilian mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, who died in custody last year.
Financial police in Palermo described the haul as “huge amounts of capital,” saying it stemmed from more than four decades of drug trafficking tied to the former head of the Cosa Nostra, BBC reports.
Announcing the results on Thursday, investigators released video footage showing masked officers in riot gear breaking down doors and scaling walls to raid sprawling luxury villas set amid palm‑lined lawns.
Messina Denaro spent three decades on the run before his arrest in 2023 outside a cancer clinic. He died soon after in custody. While a fugitive, he was sentenced to life for multiple murders, including the 1992 bomb assassinations of two anti‑mafia prosecutors. He was also convicted of kidnapping and killing the 12‑year‑old son of a mafia turncoat — a boy held for two years before being strangled and dissolved in acid.
Police said the latest probe followed the Cosa Nostra money trail across Spain, Switzerland and the Cayman Islands. Three people have been arrested and eight firms identified, including real estate companies linked to illicit funds.
Giovanni Melillo, head of the National Anti‑Mafia Prosecutor’s Office, called the operation “strategically significant.” He said: “It also aims to prevent the reformation of a criminal organisation that existed until a few years ago. Seizing this wealth means continuing the disintegration process [of the criminal group] and the process of re‑establishing structures capable of projecting the full intimidating power and economic and social influence of the Cosa Nostra on a global scale.”
The inquiry began with a report from Andorra about an Italian woman with “significant financial resources.” She was found to be married to a trafficker closely tied to Messina Denaro and the Cosa Nostra. Leads then spread to several other countries.
More than 150 officers took part in the global operation, deploying drones and thermal scanners to locate hidden cash, while IT experts traced digital wallets and cryptocurrency.
Italian media have dubbed the haul “Denaro’s drugs trove,” though investigators believe it represents only a fraction of the mafia network’s vast wealth, reinvested worldwide.
