Years of cat-and-mouse end as top mafioso cornered in Italian clinic

Carabinieri Police stand outside the hospital where Italy's most wanted mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro was arrested in Palermo, Italy, January 16, 2023. Igor Petyx/Handout via REUTERS

ROME (Reuters) - Italian investigators knew a lot of things about mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro.

He liked wearing designer clothes, expensive sun glasses and Rolex watches, he loved video games and had a taste for luxury foods. He was also a ruthless killer who once claimed to have murdered enough people to fill a cemetery.