Sicilian Mafia arrest gives Italy's mob leadership problems

Italian police have caught the Sicilian Mafia's number two, the latest in a string of top-level arrests that has given the crime group that once terrified Italy problems with rebuilding its leadership.

Domenico Raccuglia, who was on the run for nearly 15 years, was surprised by law enforcement officers while he was watching television on the outskirts of the drab Sicilian provincial city of Trapani.

"The arrest of this boss is another step in the dismemberment of Cosa Nostra's hierarchy," said Senator Carlo Vizzini, referring to the Italian name "Our Thing".

Mr Raccuglia, wielding a pistol, tried to escape via a terrace but was stopped by masked policemen and taken to the island's capital, Palermo, where he was charged with murder, extortion and armed robbery.

The 45-year-old boss, whose mob nickname is The Veterinarian because of his passion for animals, had been handed down three life sentences in trials held in his absence.

Mr Raccuglia was found guilty of the kidnapping of 13-year-old Giuseppe Di Matteo in 1996. The boy was strangled and his body dissolved in acid to punish his father, an ex-Mafia member who collaborated with police.

The Sicilian Mafia is now believed to be headed by Matteo Messina Denaro, who hails from the same area of Sicily where Mr Raccuglia was captured.

"Mr Raccuglia played a major role in Cosa Nostra's attempt to re-organise itself," said anti-Mafia magistrate Antonio Ingroia.

"This will certainly create another vacuum in the organisation," said Dr Ingroia, who worked with magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, both killed by Mafia bombs in 1992. The cupola, or hierarchy, of the Sicilian Mafia, which makes most of its money from extortion these days, has been in freefall since the mid-1990s, when police began arresting its most enigmatic and charismatic bosses.

Salvatore "The Beast" Riina, who had declared war on the state and ordered a string of killings, bombings and kidnappings, was arrested in 1993 after nearly a quarter of a century on the run.

Bernardo Provenzano took over after Mr Riina's arrest and decided it would be better for business if the Mafia kept a lower profile. Both Mr Riina and Mr Provenzano hailed from Corleone, the hill town near Palermo made famous by the Godfather movies. Mr Provenzano, who was called "the tractor" because of the way he mowed down rivals as a young hit man and aspiring boss, was captured in 2006 after 43 years on the run.