Salvatore Lo Piccolo, believed to be the Sicilian Mafia's new 'boss of bosses', has been arrested after nearly a quarter of a century on the run.
Mr Lo Piccolo, 65, was arrested with his son Sandro and two other alleged Mafia bosses in a raid on a country house outside Palermo where they were holding a summit.
The four are among the top 30 most wanted Mafia suspects in Italy. Police fired a few shots during the operation but no one was injured.
Magistrates believe the elder Lo Piccolo, whose Mafia nickname is 'the Baron', took over the reins of the crime organisation after the arrest last year of former 'boss of bosses' Bernardo Provenzano.
Sicily's regional governor said he hoped the arrest of Lo Piccolo would be a mortal blow to the Sicilian Mafia.
Prime Minister Romano Prodi hailed the arrests as 'a success for the state ... and all honest citizens.'
The arrests took place on the day Sicilians annually pay tribute to the victims of the Mafia.
Lo Piccolo began his crime career as a bodyguard for a Sicilian mobster and worked his way up the organisation until he took over after Provenzano's arrest in 2006. He has been on the run since 1983.
Since Provenzano's arrest there have been four Mafia killings that investigators say may have been part of a battle between Lo Piccolo and another contender for leadership of the crime group.
