National Obituaries

L'AQUILA, Italy (AP) — Matteo Messina Denaro, a convicted mastermind of some of the Sicilian Mafia’s most heinous slayings, died on Monday in a hospital prison ward, several months after being captured as Italy’s No.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Former NHL player Nicolas Kerdiles died Saturday after a motorcycle crash in Nashville, according to police. He was 29.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Margarita Mota, the wife of Los Angeles Dodgers great Manny Mota and matriarch of a baseball family, died Saturday. She was 81.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Hollis Watkins, who started challenging segregation and racial oppression in his native Mississippi when he was a teenager and toiled alongside civil rights icons including Medgar Evers and Bob Moses , has died. He was 82.

ROME (AP) — Giorgio Napolitano, the first former Communist to rise to Italy’s presidency and the first person to be elected twice to the mostly ceremonial post, died on Friday, the presidential palace said. He was 98.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Former U.S. Sen.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) — Phil Sellers, who led Rutgers to the school's only Final Four appearance and remains the Scarlet Knights' career leader in points and rebounds, has died, the school announced. He was 69.

NEW YORK (AP) — Tenor Stephen Gould, who announced earlier this month that he had been diagnosed with incurable bile duct cancer, has died. He was 61. Gould's agent Stephanie Ammann confirmed the singer died Tuesday in Virginia.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Erwin Olaf, an acclaimed Dutch photographer whose work documented topics ranging from gay nightlife in Amsterdam to portraits of the Dutch royal family, has died. He was 64.

HANOVER, N.H.