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Senior Sicilian prosecutor warns of Mafia infighting

Mafia top boss Bernardo Provenzano, center, is escorted by Italian policemen as he leaves Palermo to be flown out of Sicily and taken to a maximum security prison near Terni, in central Italy, on Wendesday. PHOTO: EPA

One of Sicily's most senior anti-Mafia prosecutors on Wednesday forecast a war inside Cosa Nostra if its leaders failed to agree on a successor to Bernardo Provenzano, the "boss of bosses" seized on Tuesday.

Investigators believe the fugitive godfather established a "directorate" of up to seven mobsters to run the organization.

"Either the directorate can choose a successor or we could again be in for a fiery time," said Sergio Lari, deputy chief prosecutor of Palermo.

Marzia Sabella, one of those who supervised Provenzano's arrest, told La Stampa newspaper that police traced the fugitive godfather to a semi-derelict farm building near his home town of Corleone by following a package containing freshly washed underwear.

Three more people were arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of helping the head of the Mafia stay on the run. They included a local shepherd and a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman.

Investigators said 73-year old Provenzano, a fugitive for 43 years, was protected by an elaborate network of couriers. Deliveries of food, changes of clothing and other supplies were made along a three-stage chain.

Provenzano, who has three life sentences to serve, was moved Wednesday night to a top security prison at Terni in central Italy, where he was put in isolation.

The choice of a successor is crucial to life on Sicily. After taking over Cosa Nostra in the mid-1990s, Provenzano imposed a policy of avoiding confrontation with the state.

There are thought to be two main candidates. One is 46-year-old Matteo Messina Denaro, known as the "playboy boss" for his love of the high life. The other is Salvatore Lo Piccolo, 63, an old-style Mafia boss from the Resuttana district of Palermo.

Messina Denaro has been in hiding for around 13 years and Lo Piccolo for 23 years.
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