Andrea Bonafede, the man whose identity Matteo Messina Denaro used, was arrested. The investigation was coordinated by the Palermo prosecutor Maurizio De Lucia and the arrest was carried out by the Carabinieri del Ros. The accusation against Bonafede, a 59-year-old surveyor, is a mafia association.
After the arrest of Messina Denaro, considered the head of Cosa Nostra, Bonafede had admitted to having bought, in 2022, the apartment in Campobello di Mazara where Messina Denaro had spent the last period of the fugitive, with money received from the fugitive same. Bonafede had also given his ATM card to the former fugitive, allowing him to buy the car in which he was traveling and which had been purchased a year ago at a Palermo dealership. The car, formally, was registered to Bonafede’s mother. Messina Denaro also had an identity card, a driving license and also the health card in the name of Andrea Bonafede. Bonafede and Messina Denaro have known each other since they were boys. Messina Denaro had in fact taken possession of Bonafede’s identity, replacing him and with his consent.
Repubblica reported what was written by the judge for preliminary investigations Alfredo Montalto in the request for arrest of Bonafede: «There is, in essence, albeit in terms of circumstantial seriousness, a probably confidential affiliation of Bonafede by the will of Messina Denaro ». And again: «Bonafede has a family background compatible with the role of participant in the mafia association (and which, at the same time, explains why Messina Denaro Matteo was able to turn to him), since he is a nephew (son of brother) of the well-known Bonafede Leonardo, already the “regent” of the mafia “family” of Campobello di Mazara who protected, at least in recent years, the fugitive of Messina Denaro Matteo himself, allowing him to fully play the role of undisputed head of the coterie of Cosa nostra in the province of Trapani». For the investigating magistrate, Binafede “concretely provided a contribution of certainly no secondary importance to the criminal dynamics of the mafia association in the province of Trapani, having thus allowed Messina Denaro, not only to maintain his hiding, but above all, also through its presence in the territory, to continue to exercise the managerial role of the mafia organization”.
– Read also: What was Matteo Messina Denaro’s life?
