They were his loyalists, thanks to them Matteo Messina Money he managed to remain free for years, to live almost undisturbed despite the fact that the police forces from all over the country were looking for him, to continue to exercise his role as leader, to do business. Arrested after the godfather’s capture and put on trial, the boss’s men and women begin to deal with justice.
And they are heavy bills. The gup has Andrea Bonafede sentenced to 14 years, the ‘alter ego’ of Messina Denaro, the surveyor who lent his identity to the then fugitive, allowing him to get treatment, to buy the apartment in which he lived for years, to buy the car with which he traveled. For the preliminary hearing judge, who accepted the requests of prosecutors Piero Padova and Gianluca De Leo, he was much more than a simple abettor.
In Bonafede, in fact, it was the mafia association was contested. Same accusation for the historical lover of the mafia bossthe teacher Laura Bonafede who Still awaits the sentencebut for which the Prosecutor askedstill today, 15 years in prison.
Very heavy sentences slightly attenuated by the choice of the abbreviated procedure such as those ordered over time for the sutlers of the boss Lorena Lanceri, another “friend” of Messina Denaro, and for her husband Emanuele Bonafede, cousin of the surveyor. She is the mafia boss’s faithful accomplice, ready to do anything to look after him and cover for him and to help him correspond with the others in the clan. And in recent months the sentence also fell to Messina Denaro’s driver, Giovanni Luppino, arrested with him on January 16, and to another Bonafede, namesake of the surveyor, the man who shuttled with medical prescriptions for the mafia boss .
What unites many of the characters in the great circle of the godfather of Castelvetrano, in addition to belonging to the historic Bonafede mafia family, is the absolute dedication towards him.
“His adoration for Messina Denaro – wrote the investigating judge of the teacher Bonafede – has no possible rational explanation and finds meaning only in total adherence to the spirit, ideals and behaviors of one of the most ferocious mafiosi known in Italian territory”. While the surveyor, who had been at the fugitive’s disposal for at least ten years before his capture, was defined by the magistrate who ordered his arrest as a “reserved man of honour”.
In short, much more than simple accomplices who acted out of fear of the mafia boss, as many of their lawyers have argued over time.
The ROS carabinieri arrived in Bonafede during the search for Messina Denaro. After discovering that the boss was ill, thanks to the discovery of a pizzino at his sister’s house, they in fact ascertained that he was being treated using Bonafede’s identity. It took a few more months to reach the teacher (her daughter Martina was also part of the boss’ network and is now under house arrest for aiding and abetting).
The woman, arrested in April 2023, was initially charged with the crime of aggravated aiding and abetting, which was changed during the investigation to that of mafia association. For the prosecutors she would have been a fundamental piece of the mechanism that for 30 years protected Messina Denaro’s fugitive status. The two, together with the woman’s daughter, would have lived together and would have always seen each other.
“We were a family“, wrote the latest massacre of Cosa Nostra in a little joke directed to Blu, one of the code names used for the teacher. She took care of his livelihood and her safety, she did his shopping during the pandemic in fear that she would get sick and wouldn’t be able to leave the house, she shared with him encrypted languages, very secret pizzini, business deals and information about the gang.
Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA
