After the arrest of super boss Messina Denaro, Italy’s politics – politics

does he sing Does he unpack? And what would be going on in Italy then?

Since the arrest on Monday of Matteo Messina Denaro, Cosa Nostra’s super boss, Italians have been wondering if this Sicilian, who smiled as he was taken away, will soon tell them a bit of their recent history. Inconvenient Truths. For example, will he tell you how the mafia sometimes negotiates with the state, and the underworld with the upper world? Does he mention the names of those people, probably also celebrities, who helped him to hide for 30 years – at home, in Campobello di Mazara?

That’s not very likely, the myth of the really big bosses lives from the fact that they remain silent. But that cannot be said with certainty in this case. Messina Denaro has always been an atypical boss. Merciless in dealing with his rivals, but also a bon vivant. In love with his lifestyle, expensive clothes and watches. Now he is 60 years old, suffering from cancer, he is in the maximum security prison of L’Aquila in Abruzzo, 1026 kilometers away from Campobello di Mazara. Kept under Article “41-bis”, the toughest detention regime in Europe.

And at home the investigators find a new hiding place from the time of his supposed escape almost every day, there are now three. In one of these “caves”, as the Italian media call the shelters, although they are simply apartments, hung a picture of Marlon Brando, painted in oil: as Don Vito Corleone in the film “The Godfather”. So the real godfather was reflected in the fictitious one. The police also found notebooks, an accounting of the small expenses including receipts, a list of names and numbers, codified, of course. Is that all? The investigation has only just begun, but Italian politics is already tearing itself apart.

Euphoric hymns to the state, then the tearing began

At first it was the same as always: after the arrest there were euphoric hymns about the state. He showed once again how strong he is. The right pointed out that they were always in government when big bosses were arrested. That is coincidence: the mafia hunters, the public prosecutors and the carabinieri do not base their searches on election winners and legislative periods. Some of them grow old with the bosses they seek. You can see that at the press conferences after arrests: all gray, tired, happy men.

But in fact recent catches have come at a time when the right has ruled, so the triumph was not reckless. And so some left-wing opposition politicians raised the question of whether Messina Denaro could have made a deal with the state because it just wasn’t possible anymore, this complicated life with cancer. The thesis hit not only the political opponents, but also the investigators, with whom you share some fights.

The right wants to limit wiretapping. The mafia hunters are worried

The right-wing government was in the process of restricting the practice of phone tapping. Justice Minister Carlo Nordio thinks it’s too expensive, it’s used far too often, and the minutes often make it to the media. Only, without wiretapped phones, organized crime cannot be dealt with. Maurizio De Lucia, Palermo Public Prosecutor and chief investigator in the Messina Denaro case, never tires of explaining to everyone that without them intercettazioni all effort would be in vain. It is not true that the mafia does not make phone calls, as the Minister of Justice had claimed. Minister Nordio insisted that investigations into the mafia and terrorism were exempt from his reform. He only wants to limit eavesdropping when there is suspicion of “minor crimes” – which he apparently also includes corruption and abuse of office.

Open detailed view

But it is precisely this gray area of ​​favors that is the best climate for the mafia. Clans have often been broken up that had arranged and entertained themselves with so-called white-collars from the corrupt and complicit upper world: with lawyers, notaries, politicians, civil servants, bankers, doctors. Messina Denaro also managed to elude justice for so long because he was covered by a tight network of such figures. And because he had enough money to keep them all happy. The boss’s fortune is estimated at several billion euros. He owned supermarket chains, petrol stations, hotels, bars and wind energy plants through straw people. He invested in art, in gambling, in olive oil.

This created a “context,” as the Italians call it, in which many got their money’s worth: by buying votes in elections, with controlled building tenders, and targeted tips from judicial investigations. Chief Public Prosecutor De Lucia spoke of a “Borghesia mafiosa,” a mafia-like bourgeoisie that protected Messina Denaro.

The chance of the “fatso”: Is Giovanni Motisi now moving up?

And now? There is much speculation about possible successors to Messina Denaro aka “U Siccu”, the thin one, at the helm of Cosa Nostra. Mentioned above all is Giovanni Motisi, “U Pacchiuni”, Sicilian for fat sod. Motisi had been a loyal hitman of the Corleonesi, the bosses Salvatore Riina and Bernardo Provenzano. They had dominated the mafia for decades with their brutal terror methods, with murders and bombs on the mainland too, and had overstepped the mark. The Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta in particular benefited from this, as did the Neapolitan Camorra to a certain extent. Motisi has been in hiding for a long time, he is now 64. Does the “fatso” have what it takes to be the boss?

In general, the Italians are wondering whether the centralized and pyramid-organized Sicilian mafia with a “boss of bosses” at the top still exists. La cupola, the dome under which all clans are said to be united? It is apparently broken and all attempts to build a new one have failed. Cosa Nostra has become quieter under Messina Denaro. Busier too. She is well camouflaged in the “Borghesia mafiosa”. But not safer.