Matteo Messina Denaro assets probe widens in Italy and Switzerland

Italian authorities have intensified efforts to locate the estimated €5 billion fortune of Matteo Messina Denaro, Italy’s most wanted mafia boss who was arrested in Palermo after nearly three decades on the run. Investigators suspect significant sums are concealed in Swiss bank accounts, prompting renewed cooperation with Swiss prosecutors and searches of properties in the Ticino region.

In parallel, prosecutors have charged retired surgeon Francesco Burrafato with aiding and abetting Denaro’s criminal organization and violating probation. Evidence includes a pistol, handwritten notes linking him to the boss, and a recent seizure of assets worth €200 million. Burrafato is described as a longstanding associate, referenced in earlier mafia communications and present at family events, underscoring the deep‑rooted network surrounding the captured boss.