The Italian police arrested the most wanted mafia leader, Matteo Messina Denaro, ANSA, AFP and Reuters reported on Monday, according to Agerpres.

Messina Denaro, who was detained in Palermo, Sicily, is considered one of the godfathers of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra mafia and was wanted since 1993.

„After 30 years on the run, superboss Matteo Messina Denaro was arrested. I thank with great emotion the women and men of the state who never gave up (the pursuit), confirming the rule that sooner or later the big criminals on the run are arrested”, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini reacted on WhatsApp.

Carabinieri commander Pasquale Angelosanto specified for the AGI agency that Messina Denaro was detained on Monday „inside a health facility in Palermo where he had gone to undergo clinical therapy”.

The 60-year-old was sentenced in absentia to life in prison for his role in the 1992 murders of anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. He is also serving another life sentence for his role in a series of bomb attacks in Florence, Rome and Milan in 1993 that left 10 dead.

Last September, Italian police indicated that, despite his „disappearance”, Messina Denaro continued to control the mob near the western Sicilian city of Trapani.

Agerpres