Top Mafia boss Provenzano arrested after decades

ROME, Apr 11 (Reuters) Bernardo Provenzano, the head of the Sicilian Mafia who has been on the run for more than four decades and was Italy's most wanted man, was arrested in Sicily today, the Interior Ministry said.

It was the state's biggest success against the Mafia in more than 10 years.

Provenzano, known as the ''Phantom of Corleone'' after the hill town in Sicily made famous by the Godfather films, has been running the Mafia since 1993, when former ''boss of bosses'' Toto Riina was arrested in the Sicilian capital Palermo.

Provenzano, 73, a ruthless member of the Corleonese crime family, has been wanted for decades.

The last picture police had of him before his arrest was taken in 1959 when he was 25.

He was arrested in a farmhouse in the countryside near Corleone, according to initial police reports.

REUTERS CH RK1542