Mafia

Messina Denaro, drug trafficking treasure hit: seizure of over 200 million

International operation by the Palermo DDA and the Guardia di Finanza. Three people in jail. Assets, companies and financial assets traceable to the re-investment of capital of the Trapanese Cosa Nostra were targeted.

by Nino Amadore

28 May 2026

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Assets, companies and financial assets worth more than EUR 200 million are at the centre of a vast international operation coordinated by the District Anti-Mafia Directorate of Palermo led by Maurizio De Lucia and conducted by the financiers of the Guardia di Finanza provincial command.

The order, issued by the gip of the Tribunal of Palermo, also orders the pre-trial detention in prison for three people.

Activities are still ongoing and are taking place not only in Italia, but also in several foreign countries: Andorra, Gibraltar, Cayman Islands, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Lebanon, Monaco and Spain, in particular in the cities of Malaga, Marbella, Benahavis and Puerto Banús. The operation is conducted in close cooperation with the judicial and police authorities of the countries involved.

According to the investigative framework, the seized assets were the result of an articulated system of reinvestment of capital from drug trafficking.

A flow of money that, according to the investigators, was also channelled through offshore companies and foreign financial structures, with the aim of shielding the real origin of the resources and reintegrating them into legal economic circuits.

The investigation by the pool coordinated by adjunct prosecutor Vito Di Giorgio reconstructs a picture that has its roots in the 1980s, when drug trafficking activities allegedly thrived under the aegis of Trapani's Cosa Nostra and in the interests of its top leader, Matteo Messina Denaro.

The work of the investigators would have made it possible to track the transformation of the illicit proceeds over time into corporate assets, property and financial assets spread across several jurisdictions.

The most relevant fact of the operation is precisely the transnational dimension of the attacked assets. This is not just a seizure of assets of great economic value, but an operation aimed at striking the financial network through which, according to the prosecution, drug trafficking capital was concealed, moved and reinvested.

The precautionary order and the seizure are part of the strategy of the Palermo judiciary and the Guardia di Finanza against mafia assets: to follow the money, identify the corporate and financial structures used for money laundering, and remove from the availability of the suspects assets deemed to be the proceeds or reuse of criminal activities.

The investigations continue, also through international cooperation, to complete the execution of the measures in the various countries involved and to reconstruct the entire financial chain of the seized assets.