Hunt for Messina Denaro’s hideout: a key leads to a residence in Mazara del Vallo

Last Updated: July 17, 2024

Caccia al covo di Messina Denaro, una chiave porta ad un residence di Mazara del Vallo

The keys found on Messina Denaro the day of his arrest, the analysis of his cell phone records, and the images from surveillance cameras placed in various locations in Trapani, the province where investigations to capture the former fugitive have been focused for years, led investigators to the residential complex in Mazara del Vallo, at 45/c Castelvetrano Street, where police and carabinieri are currently conducting a search.

Following the arrest of the mafia boss and the identification of the Alfa Romeo that the wanted boss was using, investigators reviewed footage and analyzed cell phone data, discovering that on one occasion the mafia boss and his lover, Lorena Lanceri, who is currently imprisoned and serving a 13-year sentence for mafia-related crimes, had a meeting near Mazara.

In the footage, their cars are seen passing under one surveillance camera and appearing under another electronic eye an hour later. This led investigators to believe that the two had a meeting place between the two cameras, prompting further investigations.

Police, who had seized keys found on the boss, also discovered that one key opened the gate of the residence on Castelvetrano Street. Investigators are now trying to determine if any of the other keys seized open apartments or garages in the residential complex. Since the boss’s capture, investigators have suspected that Messina Denaro had one or more secret hideouts, never yet located, where he hid documents and computers. Today’s activity aims to locate these hideouts.

The Palermo Dda, coordinated by prosecutor Maurizio De Lucia, ordered the search and inspection of all the garages in the residential complex and an inspection of the locations to verify if any keys found on the fugitive and his associates open apartments and spaces in the structure. The investigative activity, carried out by the police and carabinieri, is part of the investigation into Matteo Messina Denaro’s network of associates. The measure stems from investigations by the SCO that allowed to reconstruct the mafia boss’s movements in an area of Mazara in the months prior to his arrest. Focus has been on a residential complex where it is believed that Messina Denaro had access to a property or a possible still unlocated “secret hideout”.