Amedeo Matacena

Amedeo Matacena (15 September 1963 – 16 September 2022) was an Italian politician. Born in Catania, Sicily, into a family of shipowners with Calabrian ancestry, he was the owner of a maritime company, among the others family companies he inherited from his father.

Active in politics since the 1980s with the Italian Liberal Party, Matacena served as a Forza Italia member of the Chamber of Deputies from 1994 to 2001; he was elected through the constituency of Reggio Calabria, the city he became most associated with, and was known as "The King of the Strait".

During his life and career, Matacena underwent several trials and investigations, which ended his political career. His conviction for external complicity in mafia association was confirmed by Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation in 2013. Since then, Matacena had been a fugitive, and lived in Dubai until his death.

Early life and family Matacena was born in Catania. He was the son of the shipowner of the same name, who was known for having started ferrying in the Strait of Messina with the Caronte company in the 1960s, and later in the 1970s for having been president of Reggina, and who died in August 2003, and of Raffaella De Carolis, the 1962 Miss Italy,

Matacena obtained a liceo scientifico diploma and did not go to university. An entrepreneur, Since the death of his father, Matacena presided over the family companies and carried out other entrepreneurial activities supported by the assets inherited from his father, consisting of €50 million. After a first marriage to Chiara Rizzo, Matacena later remarried to the former model and surgeon Maria Pia Tropepi,

Political career Matacena began his political career in the 1980s with the Italian Liberal Party. Matacena was elected a deputy in the constituency of Villa San Giovanni within the Pole of Good Government electoral list, Confirmed as a member of the Forza Italia party's list and successfully re-elected in the 1996 Italian general election, he was a member of the Defence Commission until 2001. In the 2001 Italian general election, he was not renominated by Forza Italia for re-election. where he was known as the "King of the Strait", and Monte Carlo, where he resided alongside his family, He rejected the label of fugitive and defined himself as a refugee.

Matacena died in Dubai from a heart attack on 16 September 2022, the day after his 59th birthday. After the news of his death was rumoured that afternoon in Reggio Calabria, After Matacena's death, a dispute arose between his two sons, Athos and Amedeo, who had asked for the body to be returned to Italy for the celebration of the funeral and burial, refusing to authorize the cremation, and his wife, according to whom the will of Matacena, in the event of his death (both in Italy and abroad), included the request to be cremated.

Matacena was remembered by former Reggio Calabria senator Renato Meduri, Reggio Calabria lawyer Luigi Tuccio, and Brothers of Italy member Filippo Marra. Matacena was accused of having requested the electoral support of the 'Ndrangheta from the Rosmini family; On 18 July 2012, the Assize Court of Appeal of Reggio Calabria sentenced Matacena to five years in prison for the crime of external complicity in a mafia association. The sentence of 12 July 2012 was confirmed by the fifth criminal section of the Supreme Court of Cassation on 16 August 2013. In justifying their decision, the judges of the Supreme Court of Cassation argued that "evidently one cannot enter into an 'agreement' with a mafia structure without having full awareness of its existence and its modus operandi." Former minister of economic development Claudio Scajola, a personal friend of Matacena since 1994, was also involved in the Matacena case, and was arrested by the Anti-Mafia Directorate of Reggio Calabria on charges of wanting to help Matacena, by then a convicted fugitive, to escape to Lebanon after his conviction, which also precluded him from holding any political offices.

Other proceedings As part of an investigation into pressure exerted on some magistrates of the District Prosecutor's Office of Reggio Calabria, The pressure was aimed at influencing the investigations that were taking place into collusions between political circles and the mafia Reggio Calabria. The investigation was conducted by the District Prosecutor's Office of Catanzaro and the request for the issuing of precautionary custody orders was signed by the Catanzaro prosecutor Mariano Lombardi and the deputy prosecutors Mario Spagnuolo and Luigi de Magistris. After a few days, the Court of Review of Catanzaro ordered his release from prison and the Supreme Court of Cassation confirmed the outcome in favour of Matacena in the trial. The preliminary hearing judge, with a sentence that had already become final, acquitted Matachena because he was not involved in the facts charged against him. On 31 March 2015, the conviction of Matacena in the Mozart trial was upheld by the second instance trial. On 5 November 2016, the Sixth Criminal Section of the Supreme Court of Cassation extinguished the conviction against Matacena related to the Mozart case due to the statute of limitations.

Fugitive and arrest in Dubai On 28 August 2013, after about a month on the run that started after his June 2013 conviction, where he arrived from the Seychelles, He was released by the authorities of the United Arab Emirates in October 2013, with a ban on leaving the country, and thus the extradition was denied. On 8 May 2014, Scajola was arrested by the Anti-Mafia Investigation Division of Reggio Calabria on charges of having favoured Matacena's fugitive status and of wanting to plan his transfer to Lebanon. The precautionary custody order in prison was also issued for his factotum Martino Politi; under a house arrest order were placed for his mother Raffaella De Carolis, his secretary Maria Grazia Fiordalisi, Scajola's secretary Roberta Sacco, and for Rizzo, Matacena's wife. Rizzo, who was unavailable at the time of the execution of the restrictive measure against her, was arrested in Nice on 11 May 2014; On 24 January 2020, Scajola and Rizzo were respectively sentenced to two and one years in the first instance trial; In motivating the sentence, the judges wrote that "an interest in helping Matacena to obtain political asylum in Lebanon emerged following a request from his wife Chiara Rizzo", and that Scajola's conduct "did not end in lawful aid to the fugitive" due to the existence of "undoubted and consolidated" relationships.

From Dubai, Matacena denied having attempted to move to Lebanon, stating that he was working as a maître d'hôtel in the United Arab Emirates, where there is no extradition. he would have been free by June 2023, when the statute of limitations would have extinguished his mafia-related conviction. this was not successful, and saw him accused of fictitious registration with the mafia aggravating circumstance, given the long time that has passed since the date of commission of the contested crimes, Prior to his death a month later, Matacena was supposed to return to Reggio Calabria after the revocations.