JAKARTA - Top mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro was arrested thanks to a handwritten note found hidden in his sister's house, violating one of the mafia's communications traditions, a judicial document showed after police arrested the woman on Friday.
Rosalia (Rosietta) Messina Denaro, 67, has been detained in Sicily on charges of mafia membership, police Carabinieri, who released a 57-page arrest warrant.
His younger brother Matteo Messina Denaro, 60, was Italy's most wanted person to arrest him on January 16, after 30 years on the run. He was arrested in Palermo, outside a private clinic for cancer treatment.
Matteo Messina Denaro used a false identity, but the police exposed him after finding out that the man whose identity he stole was not in the hospital, when records showed he was supposed to be there.
Italian authorities previously said Messina Denaro had stumbled on his declining health. But on Friday they revealed the source of the key hints.
During his escape, Messina Denaro followed the mafia's tradition of communicating with relatives and affiliates through pizzini, pieces of small paper sometimes written in the code.
His brother was one of the people who handled the pizzini, but did not follow his younger brother's advice to burn it after use, police said.
"The historic results of the arrests came from a note, which was kept CARElessly, although hidden, by Rosetta," a judge wrote in a warrant.
A month earlier, police had found the record in the foot of an aluminum seat at Rosalia's house in Castelvetrano City, western Sicily, an arrest warrant said.
Officers managed to find him during a secret operation to plant wiretapping tools and video recorders, one of which is planned to be planted in a chair.
The police photographed the note, which initially looked like an elusive collection of words, signs and letters, then arranged it at the place they found it. The analysis shows that the record records the struggle of a man against colon cancer.
Polisi menduga bahwa catatan tersebut merujuk pada seorang kedua, dan berfokus pada Matteo setelah memverifikasi bahwa tidak ada anggota keluarga lain yang memiliki masalah cancer yang sama.
It is known that Matteo has been convicted of a long list of crimes, including the killings of top prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, as well as a teenager whose bodies are dissolved in acid.
As for Rosalia, the authorities accused her of having a major role in the mafia family, acting as treasurer, saying she communicated with Messina Denaro using the code name "Fragonone" or "bigstrober."
His house is decorated with a large portrait of his fugitive brother, who showed him wearing sunglasses and a crown, a video of the police showing him.
Rosalia's husband, Filippo Guttadauro, is a Sisilia mafia who was also convicted. Meanwhile, his daughter Lorenza is a lawyer for Matteo Messina Denaro's defense.
It is known that the arrest warrant against her described Rosalia as a woman with "procedions and traditions inspired by an orthodox and harsh mafia culture".
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