Italy arrests 45 to thwart Mafia war of succession

Police arrested at least 45 people yesterday in what they said was an operation aimed at thwarting an all-out Mafia war of succession after April's capture of former "boss of bosses" Bernardo Provenzano.

Police said the suspects, including the heads of 13 Mafia families in Sicily, made up the support network that had allowed Mr Provenzano to remain on the run for 43 years.

A total of 52 arrests warrants were issued and some were still being served.

Palermo police chief Francesco Caruso said the sweep came after police intercepted telephone conversations between suspects pointing to a possible Mafia war of succession after Mr Provenzano's arrest.

"Through wiretaps, we found out that winds of war were blowing in Palermo that could have started a new Mafia war and so we move in," Mr Caruso told a news conference.

Police were also led to the suspects by coded notes left behind in Mr Provenzano's hideout near the hilltown of Corleone, made famous by the Godfather films. National anti-Mafia prosecutor Piero Grasso said the probe allowed police to identify mob ties to politicians and businessmen. He gave no details.

Mr Provenzano, nicknamed "Binu the tractor" for the way he would mow down enemies as a young hitman, has been accused of complicity in dozens of murders carried out by the Mafia during the more than four decades he was on the run.

Mr Provenzano's arrest was the state's biggest success against the Mafia in more than 13 years. Known as the "Phantom of Corleone", he had run the Mafia since former "boss of bosses" Toto Riina was arrested in 1993.

He had been sentenced in absentia to life in jail in connection with the Mafia's most notorious crimes of recent decades, including the killings in 1992 of top anti-Mafia magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.