11 Mafia arrests as police move closer to Messina Denaro
Clan 'decapitated' near fugitive Cosa Nostra No.1's power base
December 16, 2011

(ANSA) - Rome, December 16 - Italian police made 11 arrests Friday in an operation they said moved them closer to fugitive Cosa Nostra chief Matteo Messina Denaro.

Police said the operation had "decapitated" a powerful clan in Campobello di Mazara, near Messina Denaro's power base in the western Sicilian city of Trapani.

Among those arrested was the mayor of Campobello, Ciro Carava'.

The investigation, which began five years ago in 2006, discovered that the Campobello family kept up "close contact" with the hiding boss of bosses.

To increase its power, police said, it had managed to "progressively penetrate business and economic activities in the area through blanket control of the territory," police said.

Those arrested, including the mayor who has been in power since 2006, are all charged with Mafia conspiracy as well as false declaration of assets.

Italian police have been closing in on Messina Denaro for the last few years and in July were able to issue a new identikit picture of the Sicilian Mafia's fugitive head.

The image of Denaro, 49, was aged to update a previous identikit issued in 2007, a year after he took over Cosa Nostra following the arrest of Bernardo Provenzano.

Listed by Forbes magazine as among the 10 most wanted criminals in the world, Messina Denaro has been on the run since 1993.

A year ago police were able to reconstruct his DNA.

The genetic profile of the so-called 'Godfather of Trapani' was identified through tests on biological evidence, including hair, obtained from Messina Denaro's brothers without their knowledge.

Identifying the DNA was considered a major breakthrough because he has never been arrested.

Copies of his fingerprints taken when he was drafted for military service have long since been destroyed.

Messina Denaro built up his power base in his native Trapani before beating Palermo chieftains to become Mob kingpin after 'boss of bosses' Provenzano was caught in 2006 after 43 years on the run.

His position at the top of Cosa Nostra was assured with the November 2007 arrest of Palermo boss Salvatore Lo Piccolo, a veteran mafia chieftain who had appeared to be vying with the younger mobster for control of the crime syndicate and had the apparent support of the 'old guard'.

Messina Denaro is currently believed to be expanding his criminal empire abroad and police have found evidence of trips to Austria, Greece, Spain and Tunisia.

Nicknamed 'Diabolik' after a cult Italian comic strip criminal, Messina Denaro sealed a reputation for brutality by murdering a rival Trapani boss and strangling his three-months pregnant girlfriend.

He is reportedly idolised by Cosa Nostra younger troops because of his ruthlessness and playboy-like charisma.

For the last three years police have been implementing a 'scorched earth' strategy to try and flush Messina Denaro out, arresting scores of his underlings and seizing millions of euros in assets.

"The circle is closing around the No.1 fugitive," ex-interior minister Roberto Maroni said last year.

Palermo Chief Prosecutor Francesco Messineo added at the time that their aim of their strategy against Messina Denaro was to "dry up the water he swims in".

http://www.ansa.it/web/notizie/rubriche/english/2011/12/16/visualizza_new.html_14645202.html