Teacher, Mafia niece helped Messina Denaro while in hiding

Floriana Calcagno, the woman arrested today for helping Matteo Messina Denaro during his time in hiding, is a teacher and the niece of mafia boss Francesco Luppino.

Her husband, Paolo De Santo, ended up in prison for aiding another mafioso: Calogero John Luppino.

Calcagno voluntarily presented herself to the Prosecutor’s Office on January 21, 2023, just five days after Messina Denaro’s arrest, CE Report quotes ANSA.

To Deputy Prosecutor Paolo Guido—who coordinated the investigation led by the Carabinieri's ROS (Special Operations Group) that resulted in the mafia boss’s capture—she claimed that she had only just discovered who the man really was, despite having seen him for months and having had a relationship with him. She said that he had introduced himself to her as Francesco Salsi and told her he was a retired anesthesiologist.

According to Calcagno's account, the two met in 2022 at a supermarket in Campobello di Mazara.

She said that, after running into him a couple more times—again at the supermarket and near the school where she worked—they started a relationship. Messina Denaro supposedly revealed to her that he had cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy.

Calcagno told prosecutors that at the time, she was going through a personal and marital crisis, and that she visited his house only once, in the autumn of 2022. After that, she claimed their contact was limited to messages and phone calls.

However, her role in the mafia boss’s final two years in hiding is believed to have been far more significant.