Italian finance police have seized assets and companies worth more than €200 million ($232 million) linked to the drug trafficking network of late mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro. The government crackdown targets Mafia networks as part of an investigation into the laundering of drug trafficking proceeds.
The probe uncovered luxury resorts and offshore wealth, with assets being seized in Italy as well as Andorra, the Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Monaco, Spain, and Switzerland. Police traced these expensive assets back to the late crime boss.
The investigation began to uncover these secrets following a tip about a wealthy Sicilian woman’s significant assets in a tiny European principality. This follows the 2023 death of Denaro, who had been captured after spending 30 years on the run.