Italian police arrest 31 in Sicilian Mafia swoop

Italian police yesterday arrested 31 people accused of belonging to an ultra-violent arm of the Sicilian Mafia, police sources said.

Police carried out the swoop in the Sicilian town of Catania in a latest crackdown the government hopes will lead to the capture of Italy's most wanted man, Mafia Godfather Bernardo Provenzano.

Investigators believed those arrested belonged to the Mazzei clan, an extemist arm of Sicily's Cosa Nostra. They are accused of varying degress of Mafia affiliation, drugs trafficking and attempted murder.

More than 6,800 organised crime suspects have been arrested this year and Interior Minister Guiseppe Pisanu said last week the police were closing in on Provenzano, who has been on the run for 40 years and took control of the Sicilian Mafia in 1993.

"I have faith in the security forces and am convinced that in a reasonable amount of time they will hand him over to justice," Pisanu said.

Provenzano's ability to evade capture is legendary and he made the news again this week when police arrested the director of a Sicilian health clinic where they think he had been a patient. They also suspect the director of money laundering.