There are two doctors under investigation for aggravated aiding and abetting as part of the investigation into the network of supporters who helped Matteo Messina Denaro while he was on the run. They are the gastroenterologist and endoscopist from Marsala Francesco Bavetta and the surgeon from the Mazara del Vallo hospital Giacomo Urso. Both professionals treated the then fugitive in the autumn of 2020.
Bavetta is the specialist who on November 5, four years ago, diagnosed the mafia boss with colon cancer through a colonoscopy. The patient, who introduced himself with the name of Andrea Bonafede, had reached him through Giovanni Luppino, an entrepreneur who was later arrested on January 16th together with the boss. The reports compiled by Bavetta and registered to Bonafede were found in the Messina Denaro hideout. The doctor, heard by the prosecutors, admitted having carried out the testbut claimed to have learned only after the capture that the patient was actually Matteo Messina Denaro.
Urso, on the other hand, is the surgeon who operated on the mafia boss for cancer just four days after Bavetta’s diagnosis. He too, when questioned, denied having been aware of the patient’s true identity. As stated on the Ansa website: “The picture of connivance in favor of Matteo Messina Denaro outside and inside healthcare facilities is taking on alarming dimensions and will require further investigations which will be carried out in a context which up to now has not shown any spirit collaborative”, wrote the prosecutors of Palermo in the request for a precautionary measure which, months ago, led to the arrest of another healthcare representative: the radiologist technician of the Mazara del Vallo hospital, Cosimo Leone, investigated together with the architect Massimo Gentile , the professional who took the identity of the boss, and a third abettor.
At the moment the alleged collusions in the medical environment discovered, in addition to those hypothesized and all to be verified against Bavetta and Urso, are two: in addition to the doctor treating the godfather, Alfonso Tumbarello, Leone, who would have helped the mafia boss after the diagnosis of the tumor by asking to change shifts and making his presence in the hospital coincide with the diagnostic tests undergone by the mafia boss and constantly informing another supporter of the patient’s health, Andrea Bonafede, cousin and namesake of the surveyor who had lent the boss his identity for treatment .
