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.
PHOTO: EPA
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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