Italian police on Wednesday arrested another close aide to the country's most wanted mafia leader Bernardo Provenzano, inching closer to what it believes is the leader of Sicily's Cosa Nostra organization.
Giuseppe Palazzolo, 56, is believed to have acted as a middleman and front for Provenzano, making real estate transactions in his name.
Palazzolo was arrested in the central Sicilian town of San Cataldo.
Provenzano, 68, is believed to have reorganized the Sicilian mafia after the arrest of Cosa Nostra's top men, Toto Riina, in 1993, Leoluca Bagarella, in 1995, and Giovanni Brusca, in 1996.
He has been on the run since 1963 and is believed to be living in hiding in Sicily. He has been sentenced to life in absentia for the murder of a police chief.
Another of his close aides, Benedetto Spera, was arrested on the southern island on January 30 after a nine-year search -- ROME (AFP)
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