Messina Denaro’s Mafia poker group “pokerino beverino” discovered during hiding

For months, while law enforcement searched for him throughout the country, Matteo Messina Denaro spent at least one evening a week at the poker table. The latest surprising discovery, made by the Carabinieri of the Ros and the Prosecutor’s Office of Palermo who arrested the fugitive in January 2023, confirms that the mafia boss was able to lead a normal life despite being on the run. In the mobile phones seized from Lorena Lanceri, one of Messina Denaro’s mistresses sentenced to 13 years and 4 months for external participation in a mafia association, a whatsapp group chat titled “pokerino beverino” was found in which Messina Denaro participated, using the name Francesco Salsi, and other people who attended the gatherings.

Investigators are trying to understand if and which of the players present at the games were aware of the boss’s true identity, which, however, the woman had introduced to the group as the doctor Francesco Salsi. The chat contains numerous messages that the mafia boss exchanged with the participants with humorous comments about the evenings spent together. We are in 2021. The players met, when Covid restrictions were not in place, often at the home of Lanceri and her husband Emanuele Bonafede. In the “pokerino beverino” group, there is a photo sent to one of the absent participants that reads “the doctor is exhausted tonight,” a comment perhaps related to the fact that Messina Denaro had lost. Attached is a photo of the godfather with his head down and hands on his face. A pose to show his discouragement and at the same time a way to cover his face and avoid his image circulating, say the investigators.