On the Run for Decades, Convicted Mafia Boss Messina Denaro Dies in Hospital Months After Capture

On the Run for Decades, Convicted Mafia Boss Messina Denaro Dies in Hospital Months After Capture
This photo reproduction of a computer generated image released by Italian Police of Mafia top boss contender Matteo Messina Denaro, is displayed at the Palermo police headquarters, Italy, on April 6, 2007. Alessandro Fucarini/AP
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L'AQUILA, Italy—Matteo Messina Denaro, a convicted mastermind of some of the Sicilian Mafia’s most heinous slayings, died on Monday in a hospital prison ward, several months after being captured as Italy’s No. 1 fugitive and following decades on the run, Italian prosecutors said.

Rai state radio, reporting from L'Aquila hospital in central Italy, said the heavy police detail that had been guarding his hospital room moved to the hospital morgue, following the death of Mr. Messina Denaro at about 2 a.m. Doctors had said he had been in a coma since Friday.