19 January 2023 , 11:24
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A secret bunker was discovered following the arrest of a notorious mafia boss.
Matteo Messina Denaro was one of Italy’s most wanted mob bosses and had been on the run for 30 years.
The don of Sicily’s Cosa Nostra crime syndicate was arrested in the island capital Palermo, and stands accused of dozens of murders.
The 60-year-old was seized inside a private health clinic as he prepared to undergo treatment for a suspected cancer diagnosis.
However, in the aftermath of the shocking arrest, police forces in Italy have discovered a secret bunker they suspect Denaro was using.
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The bunker was only accessible through a cupboard, and inside contained a collection of jewels and necklaces, Italian media reported.
Italy's number one fugitive was arrested at a private healthcare clinic (Uncredited/AP/REX/Shutterstock)Italian media added that there were signs of a second smaller hideout - a small chamber barely big enough for one person that had been inhabited "recently".
The second bunker was in a house about 300m from the mob boss' first hideout in Sicily which police described as "comfortable".
Inside, luxury perfumes, expensive furniture, two mobile phones, Viagra pills, and designer clothes were found.
Italian police outside the mob boss' hideout (LaPresse/REX/Shutterstock)It was discovered at the back of a wardrobe with a sliding base and empty paper boxes were found inside - suggesting that potentially important documents had been cleared out.
Investigators are said to be hoping they will find written material detailing the past alleged crimes of the mafia boss.
The Times reported that mafia turncoats said Denaro had secret archives owned by the late boss Toto Riina which could reveal which politicians who worked got into bed with the mob.
The Italian Carabinieri taking pictures of the Sicilian godfather's home (ITALIAN CARABINIERI PRESS OFFICE)Investigators are also said to hold little hope Denaro will ever confess, but believe there is a chance of finding written material detailing activities.
Denaro claimed once “I filled a cemetery by myself” and was tracked to the Palermo health clinic where he was receiving treatment for cancer after police overheard a relative discussing his poor health from apartments they had bugged.
In 2020 he had an operation for colon cancer before receiving chemotherapy when the cancer reappeared, reports claim.
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Police at the crime boss' house - he was accused of dozens of murders (LaPresse/REX/Shutterstock)Local media reported that Denaro, whose nickname is ‘Diabolik’, checked into the clinic under the false name of Andrea Bonafede.
Following his arrest he was moved to a secret location, and Italian state television showed jubilant crowds piling into the streets to celebrate as the crime lord was hauled into custody.
Denaro was a young man when he fled in 1993, and wrote a letter to his girlfriend at the time indicating his name might become “associated with serious bloodshed”.
A reconstruction of the godfather fugitive (ITALIAN CARABINIERI PRESS OFFICE)The letter was written after a number of massacres in Rome, Milan, and Florence in 1992, that resulted in the deaths of dozens, according to ANSA.
The correspondence read: "You will hear about me ... they will paint me as a devil, but they are all falsehoods".
In his absence, he was sentenced to life in prison.
Denaro being hauled away by police (Carabinieri/ANSA via ZUMA Press/REX/Shutterstock)The brutal murders included the killing of Giuseppe Di Matteo, the 12-year-old son of a rival mobster who was strangled and dissolved in acid.
Denaro’s decades-long avoidance of the law made him one of Italy’s longest-running fugitives, beating the record of his close ally Toto Riina, known as "the beast" - who was on the run for for 23 years.
Another associate, Bernando Provenzano, nicknamed “the tractor” for the way he mowed his victims down, managed to avoid prison for 38 years.