Excitement in Rome

Mafia boss’s niece works for the Ministry of Education

Matteo Messina Denaro during his arrest

(Bild: Carabinieri via AP, File)

Until a few months ago, she defended her uncle, the long-time number one in the Mafia, Matteo Messina Denaro. Now his niece, the Sicilian lawyer Lorenza Guttadauro, is working for the Ministry of Education in Rome. She has won a position in the office responsible for education in the Lazio region with its capital Rome thanks to a public tender, the authority confirmed. 

The case is causing a stir. 44-year-old Lorenza Guttadauro is the daughter of Messina Denaro's sister Rosalia. In recent months, she had defended her uncle Messina Denaro, who was arrested in January 2023 after 30 years on the run.

Mafiosi niece's husband also a criminal
Guttadauro's husband Girolamo Bellomo was sentenced to ten years in prison. According to the indictment, he directly managed the drug trade from Palermo, put pressure on construction companies and planned blackmail to control the area. Guttadauro's paternal grandfather was the legendary boss of the Brancaccio district in Palermo, Giuseppe Guttadauro. Guttadauro's father Filippo also had repeated problems with the law. The fact that Lorenza Guttadauro works for the Ministry of Education caused discussions in Rome and could embarrass the government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Mafia godfather Matteo Messina Denaro in a mugshot created using an ageing simulation

(Bild: AP)

The Italian judiciary is continuing to investigate the group of people who facilitated Messina Denaro's escape. Just a few days ago, a friend of Denaro's was sentenced to eleven years and four months in prison. The teacher had lived with the deceased mafia boss for years and maintained Denaro's contacts with other mafiosi.

Mafia boss caught after 30 years on the run
Messina Denaro was caught in January 2023 after 30 years on the run as he was leaving a clinic in Palermo where he was being treated for cancer. He died on September 25, 2023 at the age of 62 in a hospital in the city of L'Aquila. Denaro had been convicted for his involvement in dozens of murders, including the 1992 Cosa Nostra bombings in which anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino were killed.

Even child murdered and dissolved in acid
In addition to the murders of Falcone and Borsellino, Messina Denaro was convicted of the murder of Giuseppe Di Matteo, the son of a mafioso. Giuseppe Di Matteo was kidnapped in 1993 at the age of twelve, strangled and dissolved in acid in 1996 to punish his father, who had testified against a leading mafia member. Messina Denaro was also convicted of bomb attacks on art and religious sites in Milan, Florence and Rome, in which ten people were killed and 40 others injured in 1993.