Benedetto "Nitto" Santapaola, a once-powerful leader of the Sicilian mafia's Cosa Nostra, has died in a Milan prison at the age of 87. Known as "il cacciatore" (the hunter), Santapaola led the mafia in Catania from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, expanding its control over public contracts, extortion, and drug trafficking.
He was convicted as one of the orchestrators of the 1992 assassinations of anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, attacks that also killed their wives and protection officers. Santapaola was also found guilty of ordering the murders of journalist Giuseppe Fava and police inspector Giovanni Lizzio.
Santapaola's reign was marked by violent feuds with rival clans, resulting in hundreds of deaths. His wife was murdered two years after his 1993 arrest. Despite requests for medical facilities due to his declining health, his appeals were denied. Italian media reports he died of natural causes after a hospital admission.