Patrizia Messina Denaro, the 55-year-old sister of notorious mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, has been released from Vigevano prison after serving a 14-and-a-half-year sentence. Arrested in 2013, she has returned to Castelvetrano where she is required to regularly report to authorities.
Patrizia Messina Denaro possessed intimate knowledge of her brother’s secrets and managed the complex communication network supporting the mafioso, who was captured in 2023 after 30 years on the run. She was convicted of mafia association and extortion.
Her conviction stemmed from a December 2013 investigation that exposed the network of key lieutenants and associates surrounding the fugitive boss. It revealed Patrizia’s pivotal role in running the organization in the absence of her imprisoned husband. The dawn raid on December 13, 2013, in Castelvetrano targeted the then-elusive Matteo Messina Denaro, then 51, who had been wanted since 1993 for crimes including mafia association, multiple murders, massacre, devastation, possession of explosives, and theft.
The operation resulted in 30 arrests, including Patrizia, the godfather’s nephew Francesco Guttadauro, cousins Giovanni Filardo, Lorenzo Cimarosa, and Mario Messina Denaro, as well as businessmen, professionals, and public officials. All were accused of favouring construction companies linked to the fugitive boss. Investigators dismantled key strands of the vast web of friendships, collusion, and business relationships that had made the Messina Denaro clan the most economically powerful within the Sicilian mafia.
Patrizia Messina Denaro acted as a messenger for the godfather, relaying his instructions to other clan members and managing criminal activities.