Italy Seizes $230M of Riches Tied to Late Mafia Boss

Italian authorities have seized more than $230 million in assets linked to the late mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro's drug trafficking network, per the AP. Anti-mafia prosecutors on Thursday described the move as a blow to the Sicilian Mafia's attempts to rebuild its financial power. The seizures included more than 26 pounds of gold bars, millions in cash, premium watches, and some 20 luxury properties.

Messina Denaro died in a prison hospital some nine months after he was arrested in January 2023, ending three decades as a fugitive. He had been tried in absentia and convicted in dozens of murders, including helping to mastermind a pair of 1992 bombings that killed top anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. For the seizures, more than 150 Italian financial police officers carried out searches in Italy and abroad, including in Andorra, Gibraltar, the Cayman Islands, Switzerland, Lebanon, Monaco, and Spain.