logo
episode-header-image
Jan 2023
43m 15s

Episode 227: The dramatic capture of maf...

Sunday World
About this episode
HE was the notorious Cosa Nostra boss who lived in hiding for 30 years and who was responsible for terrorist atrocities against Italy. Matteo Messina Denaro was amongst a group of violent mafia bosses who hit back at Italian magistrates, their families and body guards with lethal bomb attacks during the early 1990s when the brave judges took on the notorious criminal organisation.For decades, he was hunted to no avail, but this month he was dramatically arrested in Palermo as he made his way to a cancer clinic.So who is Denaro and what is the significance of his arrest for the people of Sicily and southern Italy?Nicola Tallant chats with Dr Anna Sergi, a Professor of criminology and organised crime at the University of Essex, the author of a number of books about the mob, including her latest 'Chasing the Mafia'.She describes Denaro's background, his violent life, his incredible capture and the secrets he may take to his grave.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Today
Episode 1154: Breakthrough evidence could pin Mr Big to Robbie Lawlor's murder
Gardaí in Ireland say they have evidence which proves that the notorious criminal Mr Big was behind the murder of gangland assassin Robbie Lawlor in Belfast in a complex plot which has been unravelled by Encrochat material they have finally received.Nicola speaks about Big and a ... Show More
25m 36s
Aug 22
Episode 1153: One-armed thug Dean Fagan attacked with knives on Dublin street
He is an underworld influencer who posts regular updates on his social media sites.But Dean Fagan, who lost a hand when a pipe bomb he was holding exploded, was recently caught on camera as he was attacked in broad daylight on a Dublin street.Nicola speaks with Niall Donald about ... Show More
12m 8s
Aug 22
Episode 1152: Vincent Collopy reunites with gangster brothers after prison release
A key member of the Collopy Organised Crime Group has been released from jail and is back in his native Limerick.Vincent Collopy once waged war against rivals in the McCarthy-Dundon gang, turning Limerick into a gangland warzone.Nicola speaks with Eamon Dillon about Collopy and h ... Show More
19m 58s
Recommended Episodes
Jul 2022
106 - Giovanni Brusca: A Mafia Horror Story
Giovanni Brusca was an enforcer under the Boss of all Mafia Bosses in Corleone, Sicily - Totó Riina. Part of a 12-person hit squad, Brusca was cold-hearted and brutal, and would become known as ‘The Swine’ or ‘The Slayer’. He would admit to killing more than 150 people during his ... Show More
43m 24s
Feb 2020
Confessions of a mafia boss
Across Italy hundreds of mafia leaders, hitmen and drug-traffickers are being jailed thanks to the most powerful weapon now in the hands of Italy’s anti-mafia investigators: the words of one clan against another. Italy’s state collaborator scheme has seen mafia chiefs breaking th ... Show More
26m 33s
Mar 2024
From The Professor: Hunting for the Mafia's Missing Masterpiece
William Veres is in trouble. He's been arrested following the largest ever investigation by the Italian police’s art squad. They accuse him of running an $40 million art-smuggling ring with ties to the Sicilian mafia – charges that could get him jailed for 20 years. But Veres has ... Show More
40m 12s
Nov 2023
Introducing The Professor: Hunting for the Mafia's Missing Masterpiece
William Veres is in trouble. In 2018 he was arrested following the largest ever investigation by the Italian police’s art squad. They accuse him of running an art-smuggling ring with ties to the Sicilian mafia. He is alleged to have stolen $40 million worth of art and antiquities ... Show More
3m 24s
Jan 2021
Italy’s secretive ‘Ndrangheta Mafia on trial
More than 350 people currently face trial for their alleged connections with one of Italy’s most powerful Mafia syndicates, the ‘Ndrangheta. The crime group is known for its secrecy. Bosses, accused of murder, money laundering, and drug trafficking, often hide in bunkers in Calab ... Show More
23m 34s
Feb 2021
Sicily's Brutal Wars and Mafia Super Trial
The "Maxi Trial" pitted two fearless Palermo prosecutors and turncoat "Pentiti" against the Cosa Nostra, its thuggish leader Toto Riina, and a whole host of corrupt cops, politicians and businessmen. But when the judge handed down 344 guilty verdicts, the real chaos was just begi ... Show More
43m 54s
May 2023
Season 5: The Murder of Bruce Cucchiara
When 57-year-old Bruce Cucchiara was gunned down in the parking lot of a New Orleans East apartment complex in 2012 his murder devastated his family and stumped law enforcement. The father and business man seemed to be well-liked and on a positive path as he coasted toward retire ... Show More
4m 17s
Jul 2023
The Italian Squad: A Group of 1920s NYPD Immigrant Detectives Who Fought the Rise of the Mafia
The story begins in Sicily, on Friday, March 12th, 1909. Three gunshots thundered in the night, and then a fourth. Two men fled, and investigators soon discovered who they had killed: Giuseppe Petrosino, the legendary American detective whose exploits in New York were celebrated ... Show More
28m 5s