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- The five-year-old would provide mob boss Matteo Messina Denaro with the handwritten notes
- Mafia kingpin Matteo Messina Denaro has been on the run since 1993
- Father of girl who delivered the messages made the claim to investigators after deciding to assist with investigation against Denaro
- Six men from Denaro’s inner circle sentenced to a total of 80 years in prison for racketeering, conspiracy and aiding and abetting the Cosa Nostra
A five-year-old girl was utilized to run secret messages (handwritten notes known as “pizzini”) for Italy’s most wanted and – at the time of his disappearance - most powerful mob boss, Matteo Messina Denaro.
A mob turncoat made the outrageous claim about Denaro, who has been on the run since 1993. That turncoat is one Attilio Fogazza, whose daughter acted as the courier.
He made the revelations after deciding to collaborate with Palermo investigators following his arrest on murder charges last December.
“One day my daughter said ‘Uncle Mimmo’ had taken her for a gelato and put the messages inside her jacket and her backpack,” Fogazza told prosecutors in Palermo according to Italian media reports.
Fogazza is accused of killing Salvatore Lombardo in 2009 after he stole a van from Domenico ‘Mimmo’ Scimonelli, who helped to have the five-year-old make the message deliveries.
In May, a judge in Palermo sentenced six men from Messina Denaro’s inner circle, including Scimonelli, to a total of 80 years in prison for racketeering, conspiracy and aiding and abetting the Cosa Nostra.
The Ndrangheta, also known as the Calabrian Mafia, was formed in 1860 and continues today. With roughly 160 cells and 6,000 members, the Ndrangheta is a powerful criminal organization. The Ndrangheta participates in drug trafficking, murder, bombings, counterfeiting, gambling, fraud thefts, labor racketeering, loansharking, and alien smuggling.
