Why Messina Denaro’s lover’s daughter left Campobello: “I’m following a path of legality”

Last Updated: December 11, 2023

She started a path of legality with an anti-mafia association and social workers and chose to leave her hometown, Campobello di Mazara, to go and teach in Pantelleria to distance herself from a context in which she no longer recognized herself. In her brief spontaneous statements made to the judge Martina Gentile, daughter of Laura Bonafede, a historic lover of Matteo Messina Denaro, she stated that she had gained a series of awareness after reading who the godfather who had raised her as a daughter really was. She realized that the affection she had for him was misplaced and that she had been emotionally betrayed. The young woman is currently under house arrest on charges of aiding the mafia, and the prosecutor had previously requested her arrest. The judge denied the measure for lack of evidence, but after new investigations, the judge decided to place her under house arrest. Meanwhile, the prosecutor for minors had requested the suspension of parental rights for Gentile, fearing that she could instill mafia values in her daughter, and to place the child in a community, even though Gentile’s husband was not under investigation. The process was postponed, but after the girl’s arrest, the prosecutors made a new request for an urgent decision on parental rights. The court partially rejected the request and only advanced the hearing to December 22, but they decided to listen to Gentile. The photo depicts a farewell at a distance between Martina Gentile and Matteo Messina Denaro in a still from a video taken by investigators.