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Matteo Messina Denaro upon his arrest
Photo: Carabinieri National Police/AFP
After the arrest of Italy's most wanted mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, a doctor spoke about the 60-year-old's colon cancer.
"His health is serious," Vittorio Gebbia, head of oncology at the Maddalena Clinic in Palermo, told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica.
The disease has progressed in recent months.
The 60-year-old was arrested on Monday in a private clinic in the Sicilian capital of Palermo.
At the same time, Gebbia emphasized that the police had taken Messina Denaro's cancer into consideration.
"The police officers asked me if there would be any consequences if the chemotherapy cycle he was supposed to have was delayed by a few days."
He gave his consent "because such a small delay will have no effect on his state of health".
Messina Denaro was taken to a maximum security prison in L'Aquila, in central Italy's Abruzzo, after his arrest in Sicily.
There he was placed in solitary confinement.
According to information from the newspaper "Corriere della Sera", the prominent prisoner is continuing his chemotherapy at the San Salvatore Hospital in L'Aquila, which has a special ward for such prisoners.
The boss of the Sicilian Costa Nostra, who went into hiding in 1993, is considered the successor to the historical "godfathers" Bernardo Provenzano and Totò Riina, who died in prison.
Messina Denaro was sentenced in absentia to life in prison for murder, including the 1992 assassination of anti-mafia judge Giovanni Falcone.
When he was arrested, Messina Denaro was unarmed and offered no resistance.
However, the public prosecutor emphasized that he was a "boss" with "contacts and financial resources" until the very end.
bbr/AFP