Matteo Messina Denaro was silently confronted with cancer diagnosis, oncologist says in trial

Matteo Messina Denaro reacted almost without blinking when he was diagnosed with cancer, from which he eventually died.

This was stated in court in Marsala by an oncologist from the “La Maddalena” clinic in Palermo, Vittorio Gebbia, who was called as a witness for the defense in the trial of Dr. Alfonso Tumbarello, former general practitioner of Campobello di Mazara, accused of external complicity in a mafia association and of falsifying public documents. He is said to have issued numerous medical certificates under the name of “Andrea Bonafede” (born in 1963) in order to provide medical treatment to the mafia boss, who died in L’Aquila on September 25, 2023.

“Mr. Bonafede (Matteo Messina Denaro, editor’s note),” Gebbia added, “came alone and never gave any family members as contacts.

He never had an attendant and did not seem like someone who was in financial trouble. He processed the negative diagnosis almost in silence.” During the same hearing, a pathologist from the Castelvetrano hospital, Roberto David, also testified. He had carried out histological examinations on samples sent from the Mazara hospital, where the first operation on Messina Denaro was performed by surgeon Giacomo Urso. The doctor from the Castelvetrano hospital mentioned some urgencies, but only for humanitarian reasons, from a hospital employee. However, he could not give a clear answer to the question of whether Dr. Bavetta had specifically insisted on the sample report taken from Andrea Bonafede.

The two doctors were the last witnesses called by the defense, represented by lawyers Gioacchino Sbacchi and Giuseppe Pantaleo. The prosecutor is Palermo’s anti-mafia deputy prosecutor Gianluca De Leo.