Venice film questions Sicily’s mafia boss on the run

Mafia-inspired film premieres at Venice Film Festival, shedding light on Italy's dark past and present criminal underworld.

The mafia makes its presence felt at the Venice Film Festival this year, with a film inspired by boss Matteo Messina Denaro, who died last year after three decades on the lam.

That long period as a fugitive — aided by family, loyalists and likely even more powerful political forces — is “a black page in the history of Italy”, said Fabio Grassadonia, who along with director Antonio Piazza directed “Sicilian Letters”, which premiered Thursday at the festival.

The two Sicilian filmmakers told AFP they sought to understand how Messina Denaro was able to live and operate underground for so long before his arrest in January 2023 and death from cancer in September while in prison.

Those reasons “are not only due to the intelligence or skill of the fugitive, but have very deep roots in the system that revolves around him, in the system of little ones who help him, but also strong powers who supported him,” Mr. Grassadonia said.

Messina Denaro was one of the most ruthless bosses in Cosa Nostra, the real-life Sicilian crime syndicate depicted in the “Godfather” movies.

The 61-year-old was convicted of involvement in the murder of anti-Mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992 and in deadly bombings in Rome, Florence and Milan in 1993, while one of his six life sentences was for the kidnapping and murder of the 12-year-old son of a witness in the Falcone case.

He disappeared in the summer of 1993 during a crackdown by the Italian state on the Sicilian mob, remaining on the top of Italy’s most-wanted list while steadily becoming a figure of legend.