Sicilian mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro has died, according to Italian media reports.
Messina Denaro, who was caught in January after spending 30 years on the run, had been receiving treatment for colon cancer.
The 61-year-old was alleged to be a boss of Sicily’s Cosa Nostra mafia and had been on the run since 1993.
He was detained at a private hospital in the Sicilian capital Palermo.
He had been having appointments at the hospital for some time, Italy’s Ansa news agency reported, adding police had secretly moved officers into the building overnight to guard the safety of other patients.
Messina Denaro was sentenced in absentia to a life term for his role in the 1992 murders of anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.
He also faced a life sentence for his role in bomb attacks in Florence, Rome and Milan which killed 10 people the following year.
And he was also accused of being solely or jointly responsible for numerous other murders in the 1990s.
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