Apr 24 2008
Mafia hideout discovered by police
Palermo — A bunker used by Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano for meetings with other crime bosses when he was a fugitive, was found by Italian police on the southern island of Sicily on Thursday.
According to police, the hideout in Belmonte Mezzagno, outside Palermo, was one of several hideouts used by Provenzano before his arrest in April 2006.
Weapons and ammunition were also found in the bunker which is on a property owned by the late Mafia lieutenant, Francesco Pastoia, a former right-hand man of Provenzano.
Pastoia committed suicide days after his arrest during operation Grande Mandamento in January 2005.
Police say the refuge would have been used by Mafia leaders in cases of ‘emergency’ and for summit meetings. But they believe Provenzano stopped using it after Pastoia’s arrest, for fear of being discovered.
According to investigators, Pastoia killed himself because telephone intercepts recorded by Palermo magistrates showed that he had betrayed his boss while he was a fugitive.
Son of Pastoia, 33-year-old Giovanni Pastoia was arrested for aiding and abetting the fugitive. He was among four people arrested by police on Thursday.
Provenzano, called the Mafia ‘boss of bosses’ is believed to have headed the Corleonesi, a Mafia faction that originated in the village of Corleone.
He dominated the entire Sicilian Mafia until his arrest in 2006 after more than four decades on the run.
Mafia hideout discovered by police - 24 April 2008 - AKI - http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=1.0.2104660453
