SICILY: The mafia "boss of bosses" who had eluded Italian police for more than four decades was finally captured in Sicily yesterday as most of his compatriots had their attention focused on a different kind of ruthless power struggle.
The man nicknamed "the tractor", because of the way he crushed his opponents, was arrested without a shot being fired near his home town of Corleone, the organisation's heartland, a place forever associated with the Godfather films.
Bernardo Provenzano, 73 and in ill health, was taken into custody following a painstaking police operation that most Italians believed would never happen. During his 40 years on the run, the capo di tutti i capi was long thought to have been protected from arrest by his powerful friends. Now the man wanted for the contemptuous murder of two anti-mafia magistrates in 1992 is finally behind bars.
The arrest of Italy's most wanted man after the declaration of election results has inevitably inspired conspiracy theories. Piero Grasso caused a storm earlier this year as newly appointed head of Italy's anti-mafia operations by suggesting that Provenzano had not yet been brought to justice because he was being protected by "businessmen, technical experts, professionals and even politicians".
The arrest is a huge coup for the outgoing minister of the interior, Giuseppe Pisanu, who will be in the running for leader of Forza Italia should Silvio Berlusconi decide to resign. Equally, many mafia prosecutors are firmly attached to the left and it could be seen as a sign that Romano Prodi's new government wants to crack down hard on organised crime.
According to Italian news agencies, Provenzano was tracked down by investigators who had been following a series of pizzini - handwritten or typewritten notes - that he and his close circle used to communicate with each other. Provenzano, who never used a mobile telephone, landline phone or computer for security reasons, had been using this method of communication for more than 40 years. The only photo that the police had of him was an ancient mugshot from the late 50s, enhanced by computer.
Investigators supposedly followed mafia henchmen who had been carrying notes from Provenzano's wife. They also watched the delivery of two packages to the house and decided to storm the property.
Italy's top anti-mafia prosecutor, Piero Grasso, who was present when Provenzano's particulars were taken after his arrest, said the former fugitive looked a bit older than his identikit photo, but younger than his 73 years.
Provenzano left school at 10 but was credited with a wily intelligence that belied his lack of education and won him a secondary nickname of "the accountant". He is credited with making his branch of the mafia much more subtle and less wedded to violence than his predecessors. He was "old school" in that he still regarded not informing on mafia members as a matter of honour. Ever since the brazen attack in 1992 on the campaigning magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, who were blown up in Palermo, Provenzano has been on top of the wanted list. Hundreds of thousands of Italians took to the streets in protest at the murders but he still escaped.
Over the years, police and carabinieri have come tantalisingly close to catching the "ghost of Corleone". The last time was on September 19th, 2004, when they tracked Francesco Pastoia, one of Provenzano's many "postmen", to a meeting with the fugitive godfather. But the quarry made off just before the planned encounter. Pastoia killed himself in jail two days later.