After Lo Piccolo Arrest
After the arrest of Salvatore Lo Piccolo in November 2007, Messina Denaro is generally viewed as one of the possible leading Mafia bosses. According to Antonio Ingroia, one of the prosecutors of the Direzione Distrettuale Antimafia (DDA) of Palermo, the main leading figures in Cosa Nostra at the moment, Messina Denaro, Giovanni Riina, Domenico Raccuglia, Pietro Tagliavia and Gianni Nicchi, are still too young to be recognized as leading bosses of the organisation. The police believes that Messina Denaro is hiding out close to his family home at Castelvetrano, and is moving between safe houses. On November 15, 2009, Domenico Raccuglia was arrested in a small town near Trapani having been convicted in absentia for murder and other crimes, facing three life sentences.
On November 18, 2008, Italian authorities seized 700 million euros (US$885 million) in assets from the supermarket king of Sicily, Giuseppe Grigoli, traceable to Messina Denaro. The assets include 12 businesses, 220 real estate holdings - including villas and apartment blocks - and 133 land holdings for a total of some 60 hectares. Grigoli was arrested in December 2007 after authorities found documents linking him to Messina Denaro in the hideout where Provenzano was arrested in April 2006. Grigoli has the exclusive franchise for western Sicily of the Despar supermarket chain.
"This is one of the most important operations in recent years," according to Palermo prosecutor Roberto Scarpinato. Investigators believe that through his supermarkets Grigoli was able to launder illicit profits for Cosa Nostra and give a legal cover to mafiosi. "Having conquered the food distribution market, Grigoli was able to give jobs to hundreds of people close to Cosa Nostra or recommended by the Mafia," Scarpinato said. From evidence discovered on tiny paper-scrap messages found in the hut where Provenzano was arrested, Messina Denaro "knew to the last comma the accounts of Grigoli's supermarkets", he added.
Read more about this topic: Matteo Messina Denaro
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