Italy’s Top Mafia Fugitive Was Finally Captured after being ravaged by Cancer.

More than anything else, Matteo Messina Denaro’s declining health put a stop to his 30 years of living as a fugitive. Until his capture on Monday, he was Italy’s most wanted man.

Messina Denaro, 60, and a companion were apprehended outside a private medical facility in Palermo. The mobster was a frequent visitor there, according to judicial authorities, following a cancer procedure last year.

According to Palermo Prosecutor Paolo Guido, “one of the events in a (fugitive’s) life that causes them to come out into the open” is illness.

Police zeroed in on Messina Denaro after receiving a tip that he was ill, eliminating other potential suspects of the same age and condition, in part by looking up his information in the national health system’s database.

General Pasquale Angelosanto of the Carabinieri police ROS Special Forces described the investigation’s work as “unceasing, steady, and incremental.”

He continued by saying that over the years, the Carabinieri police had detained more than 100 alleged Messina Denaro accomplices, including his sister and other family members, and had seized assets worth approximately 150 million euros ($162 million), which had significantly weakened his network of supporters.

According to Palermo Chief Prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia, the individual referred to as “U Siccu” (the skinny one) or “Diabolik” (an Italian comic book character) ultimately gave no resistance and made no attempt to flee.

He claimed, “We captured a very dangerous fugitive without resorting to violence, we didn’t even use handcuffs.”

Police discovered a well-groomed individual with a nice watch worth 35,000 euros ($37,840) who appeared to be in good health. Messina Denaro was captured on camera sporting a brown, fur-lined jacket, glasses, and a brown and white wool hat.

Even though Messina Denaro’s appearance had only been captured in computer-generated graphics that were based on decades-old photographs, it was immediately obvious that the police and magistrates had made the correct arrest.

According to Colonel Lucio Arcidiacono, another Special Forces chief of the Carabinieri police, “Looking at him, there was nothing that needed to be validated; he was who we were expected to discover.”

Messina Denaro, according to Chief Prosecutor de Lucia, spent his entire life hiding out in several regions of Italy, but most recently resided in Trapani, a province in western Sicily, and Palermo, the island’s regional hub.

De Lucia referred to his alleged white collar helpers as the “Mafia bourgeoisie,” raising doubts about the extent to which the mobster’s links in politics and other established circles helped him to avoid justice for so long.

“Investigations into this are still ongoing,” he stated.

Messina Denaro, meanwhile, appears destined for a life in prison.

The cancer-stricken mobster was found guilty in absentia of a large list of killings, including the dismemberment and acid dissolution of a teenage boy. Prosecutors maintained that he is fit to serve time in prison.

Guido declared, “He will be treated and cared for in a prison, as is the right of any Italian citizen.