How could mafia boss evade Italy for so long, Venice film asks – FBC News

(Source: Reuters)

Italian detectives knew a lot about mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro: his love of designer clothes, video games, Rolex watches and his long list of victims.

But they never seemed to know where he was until his arrest outside a Palermo clinic in January 2023, ending three decades on the run. He died of cancer months later, refusing to spill the beans about his criminal empire.

“Sicilian letters”, which premiered Thursday at the Venice Film Festival, focuses on a brief period during Denaro’s time as a fugitive in his native Sicily and questions the extent to which the Italian state really wanted to get him.

“How is it possible that a country like ours, which can boast a culture admired by the world… has been unable to withstand a world of such mediocrity and has allowed a man to evade capture for years?” said veteran Italian actor Toni Servillo, who stars in the film.

The film, directed by Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza, is inspired by the “pizzini” – the notes distributed by messengers that Denaro used to keep in touch with the outside world while hiding in safe houses.

A bunch of his messages were found in 2006 when police arrested the then leader of the Sicilian Mafia, Bernardo Provenzano.

“His human side comes out in his pizzini,” actor Elio Germano, who plays Denaro, said at a press conference.

“We are simply talking about a human being who is capable not only of the worst cruelty, but also of gentleness, sensitivity and a certain ethics.

This is disturbing because it means that within each of us lies the potential to become such a person.” he said.

Servillo plays a local school principal who is Denaro’s godfather and is persuaded by the police to help him track down the mafia boss, in exchange for clearing up his own legal problems.

It is a fictional character, but is inspired by an exchange of pizzini between the feared mafiosi and a mayor of his hometown.

“This mayor seemed to embody a certain type of character from Italian comedy par excellence,” said co-director Grassadonia.

While the film was in pre-production, it was announced that Denaro had been arrested. This brought a lot of new information about the man, forcing the team to re-examine their profile of him.

“Fortunately, we realized that the portrait we had developed, not only of him but of the world spinning recklessly around him, was quite accurate, so we continued our work,” said Grassadonia.

“Sicilian letters” is one of 21 films competing for the prestigious Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, which will be awarded on September 7.