Italy seizes $232m in Mafia assets linked to late crime boss

Italian authorities announced Thursday they have seized over $232 million in assets belonging to the late Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro. The financial police, known as the Guardia di Finanza, led the operation and traced the money across Europe and offshore jurisdictions to dismantle what officials called a vast criminal fortune built since the 1980s.

Messina Denaro was a leading figure in Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian Mafia. He evaded arrest for 30 years before police caught him in Palermo in January 2023. He died later that year after spending only months in prison.

The seized assets span multiple countries. They include Spain, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Monaco, Lebanon, the Cayman Islands and Gibraltar. Authorities said the money had been funnelled back into the legal economy through companies and investments. These included luxury properties on Spain's Costa del Sol, financial portfolios and corporate holdings.

Three people have been arrested as part of the investigation. Police used drones, aircraft and thermal scanners to find hidden assets and concealed spaces. Giovanni Melillo, Italy's chief anti-Mafia prosecutor, said the operation was a major step in destroying the group's financial base. "It is not simply a matter of identifying and seizing a significant portion of the illicit wealth accumulated over decades of related trafficking and parasitic exploitation of the territory – Sicily in particular – from an organisation as powerful as the Cosa Nostra," he said.

Messina Denaro was convicted of multiple serious crimes. These included involvement in the 1992 killings of judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. He was also sentenced for bombings across Italy in 1993, and for the kidnapping and murder of a 12-year-old boy. Officials say the latest seizures will delay and hinder the organisation's efforts to rebuild after Messina Denaro's death.