Italian Mafia godfather Settimo Mineo held after major Sicily raid

Italian authorities said they had dismantled the rebuilt upper echelons of the Sicilian Mafia by arresting 46 people, including the presumed new regional boss.

Interior minister Matteo Salvini called the sweep an “extraordinary operation” in the Sicilian capital Palermo.

The arrests included Settimo Mineo, who is believed to have taken over as Mafia chief following the death of the “boss of bosses” Salvatore “Toto” Riina. Based on wiretaps, police determined that, during a 29 May meeting of clan leaders in Palermo, Mineo had been elected head of the “cupola” – the mob leadership.

It was the first time clan leaders had gathered in such a forum for years and followed the November 2017 death of Riina, prosecutors said.

Italy’s chief anti-mafia prosecutor Cafiero De Raho said the election of Mineo, 80, was significant because it showed the centre of power of the Sicilian Mafia had shifted to Palermo from Corleone.

The latter was the Mafia’s long-time base that was made famous by novelist Mario Puzo, who used the town’s name for the main character in his 1969 novel The Godfather.

Palermo prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi said Mineo had already served a lengthy prison sentence for Mafia association and other crimes after he was swept up in the maxitrials against the Sicilian Mafia in the 1980s and 1990s.

As the eldest of the local clan leaders, he enjoyed particular respect, Mr Lo Voi said.

“This is a sign that Cosa Nostra doesn’t abandon its rules,” he told a press conference.

“And that despite the convictions, despite the trials, important people can take over the most important roles once they’re back in play.”

Those arrested are suspected of Mafia association, extortion, weapons violations and other charges, police said.

After Riina’s 1993 arrest, the Sicilian Mafia saw a degree of marginalisation compared with the Calabrian-based Ndràngheta organized crime syndicate or the Neapolitan Camorra.

But Italian officials said it nevertheless continued increasing its financial and business activities.

Mr Salvini said in a tweet the operation had “dismantled the new ‘cupola’ of Cosa Nostra”.

In recent years police have hit the Cosa Nostra network hard.

It was long handicapped by the fact Riina was in jail, but when he died the Mafia moved to rebuild the cupola without taking orders from a “godfather”.

Riina was notorious for his brutality.

Two leading prosecutors, Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, were blown up in 1992 in Mafia hits. Six months later Riina was arrested.

Mineo allegedly ran Mafia operations in Pagliarelli, a central district in Palermo.