The man thought to be the capo di tutti capi(boss of bosses) in the Italian Mafia has been captured after 25 years on the run.
Salvatore Lo Piccolo (65) was arrested today outside the Sicilian capital, Palermo, in a operation that also netted his son Sandro (32), and two other Mafia bosses, Andrea Adamo and Gaspare Pulizzi.
Police said the four, arrested in a raid on a country house where they were holding a summit, were among the top 30 most wanted Mafia suspects in the country.
Magistrates believe the elder Lo Piccolo, whose Mafia nickname is "the Baron," took over the reins of the crime organisation after the arrest last year of former top boss Bernardo Provenzano.
Lo Piccolo snr began his crime career as a bodyguard for a Sicilian mobster and worked his way up the organisation's ladder until he took over after Provenzano's arrest in 2006.
Magistrates believe that after Provenzano's arrest, Lo Piccolo fought for the Mafia's leadership against another contender, Matteo Messina Denaro.
Provenzano, who was known as "the tractor" because he mowed down his enemies as a young hit man, took on legendary status because he was on the run for 43 years.
In the 18 months since Provenzano's arrest, there have been four Mafia killing that investigators say may have been part of a war between Lo Piccolo and Denaro for the top spot in the crime group.