Italian Authorities Closing In On Mafia Boss

Matteo Messina Denaro, the so-called “boss of bosses” from Cosa Nostra or the Sicilian Mafia, has been a wanted man since 1993 but his days on the run may be drawing to a close according to Italian Interior Minister and Deputy Premier Angelino Alfano as reported by ANSA:

“A series of police initiatives have closed the circle around the supporters of mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro. It is obvious that the state is putting maximum, tireless effort and great hope into this investigation,” Alfano said after a meeting of the National Committee for Public Safety and Order in the central Sicilian town of Caltanissetta. “No more can be said (on the matter), but it is certain that it is the hope that I cultivate as interior minister and as a Sicilian,” Alfano added.

Assets worth more than $4 billion have been seized from Messina Denaro’s suspected associates since 2009 as previously reported by Tom Kington for the Los Angeles Times:  “investigators will not say whether they believe an arrest is imminent, but police have ramped up seizures of businesses they believe are fronting for Messina Denaro,” and are hoping that he “could yet be betrayed by otherwise loyal entrepreneurs exasperated by the growing number of seizures of their bank accounts, properties and businesses.”

Interior Minister Alfano has “called for beefing up the state’s management of mafia assets as a key weapon needed for the battle against organized crime in Italy” as reported by ANSA.

U.S. law enforcement could take a page from Italy’s anti-Mafia playbook by targeting the so-called legitimate businesses which front for and otherwise associate with the mob families.  Indeed, the Treasury Department should designate New York’s five families as transnational criminal organizations under Executive Order 13581 which would freeze their U.S. assets and ban Americans from conducting business with them.  Inexplicably, the American authorities have ignored this powerful tool in going after the Italian mob and left its economic infrastructure in place.

Further reading that may be of interest:

A Call For U.S. Treasury Department To Designate Gambino Crime Family As A Transnational Criminal Organization