Matteo Messina Denaro's Self-Description and Revelations

 "I define myself as an honest criminal." These are the words of Matteo Messina Denaro during his first interrogation after his capture in February of last year.

This self-description emerges in the context of a narrative that the boss shares with Prosecutor Maurizio De Lucia and Deputy Prosecutor Paolo Guido, where he talks about the informant Francesco Geraci, the jeweler from Castelvetrano. Messina Denaro could have killed him or had him killed, he says, but he didn't because "I have a behavioral code in my mind."

However, "an honest criminal" is an oxymoron, states Dr. De Lucia, to which Messina Denaro replies, "Yes, 'The Cold Flame' – they always used this example in school."

When explaining Francesco Geraci's "dishonesty," Messina Denaro clarifies that what annoyed him most was that Geraci "claimed I was his torment; the jewelry business – would you like to know? – half of it was mine, and they still have it, you understand?"

Geraci, the boss recounts, "didn't tell the state, 'gentlemen, half of this is yours, take it', no, he stole it for himself."

Further, "It's not like because I had it, because I called him my enemy, he betrayed the friendship we had since birth, that's fine... he's also a thief because he stole the money we invested together. Without me, he would have been a beggar, but that's fine. But when you, if you're a man – in quotes, he wasn't – you become an informant, blame everything on me, let a year pass, two years, three years, and then tell your family: 'Give the part this gentleman had with us to his family', which never happened, so that's dishonesty according to me, but...".

Moreover, Messina Denaro reveals to Prosecutor De Lucia that he always knew Geraci's protected location: in Bologna, on Enrico Panzacchi Street (and even specifies the house number). "He also had a jewelry shop in Bologna, on Via XX Settembre (which is actually a square, editor's note), in the historic center."

"How did you know he lived there in Bologna?" asks Deputy Prosecutor Paolo Guido.

"Through my means, obviously," he responds. "I'm even mentioning the street and the number."

When asked about these means, Messina Denaro asserts: "So, my means, if you want to make me say it's someone from the state...". "The means that were told to me, obviously I can't tell you, because it means we're stepping out of here and you'll go arrest people, and I don't do these things."

But the fact that the boss knew this address had already been reported by Repubblica, which also explained that the Carabinieri's ROS had confirmed that the address was not where Geraci lived, but a reference used within the legal realm for trial summonses. However, here we have another element: the jewelry shop on Piazza XX Settembre in Bologna.

It seems that Messina Denaro didn't know Francesco Geraci had died from colon cancer (the same illness he had), since the news had just come a few days prior: "Now I know about the cancer, I didn't know before; I knew he had teamed up with a lawyer for informants, he had children, then he left, but the rest...".

Then, to Prosecutor De Lucia, he also says: "In your opinion, if I cared about killing him or doing other things... his family is in Castelvetrano, the family of... they're all there, nothing ever happened to them because I have my own behavioral code in my mind...".

True, the family is in Castelvetrano. But Andrea Geraci, Francesco's brother, had very direct dealings with the Messina Denaros.

In one of the notes found in the ironing board at Rosalia Messina Denaro's house, there were indications of money movements that Andrea Geraci was supposedly handling. Money was handed over to the boss's sister, Rosalia Messina Denaro, referred to as "Fragolone" in the notes, by an individual identified as "Malato", whom investigators indeed identified as Andrea Geraci.

In short, the bridges with Francesco Geraci were closed, but wide open with his brother Andrea, who, on several occasions, supposedly delivered money to Rosalia.

Not a hair was harmed on the informer and his family. Yet it was Francesco Geraci himself who had informed the prosecutors of the Mafia's plan to kill Judge Giovanni Falcone and journalist Maurizio Costanzo. In this plan, Matteo Messina Denaro had a significant role.