Documents connected to Italy’s formal request to extradite Italian Mafia boss Sebastiano Brunno were presented in court yesterday

Deputy Attorney General Donatella Frendo Dimech exhibited the voluminous paperwork, along with the required authorisation signed by Justice Minister Owen Bonnici clearing the way for Mr Brunno to be extradited to Italy.

Gerald Farrugia, from the Foreign Affairs Ministry, confirmed the documents were received from the Italian Embassy and immediately passed on to the Attorney General’s office.

Mr Brunno, 56, was arrested in Buġibba on October 2, five years after the Sicilian police mounted an extensive manhunt.

He is known as the head of the Nardo Cosca, a branch of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra.

The arrest followed an international investigation coordinated by the Catania anti-Mafia unit and the Malta police CID and drug squad.

Mr Brunno is wanted in connection with several brutal murders and was one of the Mafia leaders involved in a bloody feud in the 1990s.

He has been a fugitive since 2009. An Italian court has already condemned him to life imprisonment.

Magistrate Aaron Bugeja put off the case to next week, giving defence lawyers time to analyse the documents.

Lawyers Roberto Montalto and Michaela Spiteri appeared for the accused.

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