Messina Denaro Legacy Between Sister and Nephew: Who Will Take Over Cosa Nostra?

2023-09-26 20:30:26Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Messina Denaro Legacy Between Sister and Nephew: Who Will Take Over Cosa Nostra?
Mateo Messina Denaro

The "hunt" for the hidden legacy of the former mafia boss begins after his death in the prison hospital. Francesco Guttadauro has been in prison for 10 years, Rosalia Messina's son could be released in 2025

Now what will happen inside "Cosa Nostra"? Who will take over the leadership of the most representative and charismatic mafia boss in Italy after his death.

Is there anyone who can inherit the post of Matteo Messina Denaro? And who will continue to manage his still hidden assets?

These are the most frequent questions after the death of the head of "Cosa Nostra", who saw his power (real and virtual) grow to thirty years on the run and eight months of "heavy prison", standing in opposition to the state .

A unique figure in many ways, because he is associated with a dynasty and a personal history that cannot be repeated and that can perhaps only be partially replaced by any member of a family whose blood ties are confused with those of the mafia.

We are talking about two legacies - the mafia and the economic - not necessarily coinciding.

For which, those who are interested first, are the investigators and detectives, strong in knowledge and still limited by the secrecy of ongoing investigations, called to identify and prevent as much as possible the future of the criminal organization.

Of course, surnames and connections in the nucleus of the Messina Denaro family will count in succession; a mafia "house" that will try to survive the last Godfather.

Most of the relatives have been or are still in prison, always kept under control, but still always involved in trafficking related first to the fugitive and then to the lifer of the house.

Among them, one who can boast a kind of "mortgage" on the inheritance, is Matteo's "favorite nephew": Francesco Guttadauro, son of Filippo Guttadauro (still arrested for his "social dangerousness", despite having finished his sentence his) and Rosalia Messina Denaro, arrested last March on charges of managing her brother Matteo's finances while he was wanted.

It is about tens of thousands of euros spent every month in cash, of which only a part was found, together with about 200,000 euros ready to be handed over.

In addition to the direct relationship with the chief of Castelvetrano, Francesco can boast the surname of his paternal family, as well as the clan that governs the "Cosa Nostra" in Bagheria in close contact with the Graviano family, once controllers of the district of Palermo of Brancaccio.

An alliance between gangs sealed by a marriage and the fate of a boy who is not yet forty and has been in prison for 10 years.

Arrested in December 2013, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison, which he is serving without the slightest tolerance from the state.

It is precisely because of his "good behavior" that he can be released from prison at the end of 2025, benefiting from the three-month bonus for each year spent in a cell that is given to all prisoners, the only benefit that it also applies to mafia prisoners.

Among the reasons for his conviction are his relationships with entrepreneurs and traffickers connected to his uncle's hidden income, on whose behalf he collected money and gave directives.

A repentant member of the Bagheria clan, Stefano Lo Verso, told judges how Francesco Guttadauro was a person "very close to Matteo Messina Denaro, who had him in his heart", a "respected individual, already in the limelight , very active".

It is likely that after he gets out of prison, he will turn into one, as happens with many other more or less young mobsters. But he can boast a pedigree that makes him a default.

Francescho's sister, Lorenza Guttadauro, is the lawyer-niece whom Messina Denaro appointed as a confidant after the arrest; the only person he wanted to talk to in the last weeks, before the coma, to the exclusion of relatives and other interlocutors.

Perhaps believing that he will not be eavesdropped on conversations with his lawyer.

The origin of the supplies always guaranteed to the boss - and therefore their source: the still hidden investments that have replaced tens of millions of assets and businesses seized and confiscated by businessmen discovered in the past - are the other side in search of heirs.

For which the family members themselves, secret entrepreneurs, potential middlemen or other aspiring mafia leaders can speak.

Those who until now spoke or acted on behalf of Messina Denaro and now will no longer be able to do so.

New criminal balances will be needed to manage the legacy. It remains to be seen whether this will be achieved without blood, under the new boss rules borrowed from the "silent mafia" reinstated by Bernardo Provenzano, or whether Sicily will return to war. Or not./ Corriere della Sera


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