His coffin was driven in a hearse out of the hospital in L Aquila and is expected to arrive in his hometown of Castelvetrano in Sicily in the early hours of Wednesday, according to the ANSA news agency.
Mobster Matteo Messina Denaro, who died Monday aged 61, was a ruthless assassin who spent 30 years on the run after a campaign of violence that helped forge the bloody reputation of the Sicilian Mafia.