by Wladimir Pantaleone
PALERMO, Italy (Reuters) – Perfumes, luxury clothes and Viagra were discovered on Tuesday in an apartment which investigators say was the last hiding place of Sicilian mob boss Matteo Messina Denaro, the day after his arrest , we learned from judicial sources.
Matteo Messina Denaro, arrested Monday in a private clinic in Sicily after 30 years on the run, is being held in the town of L’Aquila, in the central region of Abruzzo, the Palermo prosecutor said on Tuesday.
His apartment was located in a modest building in the center of the town of Campobello di Mazara, in the Sicilian province of Trapani, just a few kilometers from the birthplace of Matteo Messina Denaro, Castelvetrano.
Investigators found clothes, shoes, a well-stocked fridge and restaurant bills there, the judicial sources said. They also found Viagra, prescribed for erectile dysfunction.
“He had a normal life, he went to the supermarket,” said magistrate Paolo Guido.
Matteo Messina Denaro was known for his taste for luxury goods, including sunglasses and clothing. Police said he was wearing a watch worth 35,000 euros when he was arrested.
Police believe he has lived in the flat for the past year but are looking for other places he might have been, the court sources said.
Investigators believe Matteo Messina Denaro went to La Maddalena Hospital in Palermo on Monday to be treated for cancer.
The police have indicted the doctor Alfonso Tumbarello, suspected of having helped Matteo Messina Denaro while he was being treated under a false name.
The sources said Matteo Messina Denaro, 60, gave the name of Andrea Bonafede, the owner of the apartment where the mafia boss lived and who is also under investigation.
Nicknamed “Diabolik” or even “U Siccu” (“The Dry”), Matteo Messina Denaro is considered one of the leaders of Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian mafia. He was sentenced in absentia to life for his role in the 1992 murders of anti-Mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.
Judicial authorities have said Matteo Messina Denaro is fit enough to serve his sentence in prison, where he will continue his cancer treatment.
(With contributions by Angelo Amante and Alvidse Armellini in Rome; French version Lina Golovnya and Blandine Hénault, edited by Jean Terzian)