The Devil’s resting place: Tomb of Murderous Mafia boss who is said to have slaughtered 50 people as he avoided Italian police for more than 30 years is revealed in Sicily
- Matteo Messina Denaro, 61, died earlier this week from colon cancer
This is the final resting place of Mafia godfather Matteo Messina Denaro – a gangster who gruesomely boasted how he had ‘filled a cemetery’ with his victims.
Ruthless Denaro, 61, died earlier this week from colon cancer and he spent 30 years on the run before finally being arrested in January as he turned up for a medical appointment.
The infamous Don is said to have murdered at least 50 people – including an eleven-year-old boy – after his father had turned informant.
Police had sealed off the cemetery at Castelvetrano, south of Palermo, for his funeral and only 13 family members were allowed inside to see his coffin placed in the family’s vault.
The marble and stained-glass mausoleum is easily the most expensive in the cemetery and also holds the body of his father Francesco Messina Denaro, who died aged 78 in 1998.
Castelvetrano cemetery where the mafia boss’ body was entombed in a mausoleum
The marble and stained-glass mausoleum is easily the most expensive in the cemetery
Police had sealed off the cemetery at Castelvetrano, south of Palermo, for his funeral and only 13 family members were allowed inside to see his coffin placed in the family’s vault
Ruthless mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro who spent 30 years on the run for allegedly murdering 50 people died of cancer aged 61
He died on the run and associates left his body – complete in a dapper suit – for police to find so he could have a proper burial.
MailOnline was the first media organisation inside the cemetery after authorities reopened it and found a single pink flower attached to the iron door, as well as lighted candle on the step.
Denaro had specifically asked for a non-religious ceremony and in note left for his family had requested yellow long-stemmed roses to be placed on his wooden casket.
Local police chief Salvatore La Rosa had vetoed the request for a public service to be held and a cortege to pass through the town over public order fears.
In one of his final pizzini – secret notes passed to trusted collaborators – Denaro had set out his funeral request and also paid tribute to his father.
He said:’ My father was my world. His cause was mine; it was as if I was a magnet in a magnetic field.
‘With an unbreakable devotion I held onto him, as if he were a piece of wood floating in an ocean of contradictions, circling my world, his world, our world.’
As part of his funeral requests Denaro – dubbed ‘The Last Godfather’ had also asked for a marble angel that was indie the mausoleum to be removed.
Denaro’s home (pictured) with his mother’s green Fiat car parked outside
Denaro lived in the village of Castelvetrano and used his powers to intimidate business owners
A source said:’ He never liked the statue – his fear was that police would hide a listening device in it and he feared they would eavesdrop at his funeral and other family members.’
Unlike other tombs in the sun-baked cemetery, the doors are opaque and invisible to outsiders and while many other graves are run down and abandoned his is perfectly maintained.
As one local told MailOnline: ‘ His tomb is the perfect place for a meeting to go unobserved.’
Denaro’s brother-in-law Vincenzo Panicola, who was only recently released from jail, was at the funeral but his wife – Denaro’s sister – Patrizia was barred from attending as she is still serving time.
His elderly mother Lorenza was also nowhere to be seen and is thought to have watched the arrival of her son’s hearse on TV in the family’s home on the outskirts of Castelvetrano.
Mausoleum also holds the body of his father Francesco Messina Denaro, who died aged 78 in 1998
Other attendees included his sisters Bice and Giovanna, his brother Salvatore and his daughter Lorenza Alagna, who had only recently met him following his capture.
He was nicknamed The Devil because he helped organise the kidnapping and killing of 12-year-old Giuseppe Di Matteo in 1993 after his dad turned informer.
The keen horse rider and altar boy was held in captivity for two years before being killed and his body dissolved in acid.
As if this wasn’t horrendous enough, he is also said to have murdered rival boss Vincenzo Milazzo before then strangling his victim’s pregnant girlfriend to death as well.
Denaro had specifically asked for a non-religious funeral – even though the Catholic Church forbids one for gangsters – although it has emerged three nuns had wanted to say prayers for him.
One of them, Mother Donatella, told Italian media:’ We know full well what he did but he was still a child of God.
‘We wanted to pray for him, in spite of everything that he did but the police wouldn’t let us. He may not have wanted a religious funeral, but every soul has the right to be saved.’
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