The French news agency quoted Italian media as saying that the leader of the Italian mafia, Messina Denaro, who was arrested in January after being on the run for 30 years, has died at the age of 61.

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Messina Denaro was suffering from cancer at the time of his arrest. After his health deteriorated in recent weeks, he was transferred to the hospital from a heavily guarded prison in central Italy where he was initially held.