The son of jailed Mafia super boss Benedetto (Nitto) Santapaola was arrested with dozens of other gangsters Tuesday in Sicily in an Italian police huge operation.
Vincenzo Santapaola, 38, had been in and out of jail since 1992on various charges including the murder of anti-Mafia journalist Giuseppe Fava, Italian News Agency ANSA reported.
He was arrested along with 37 other Catania gangsters, now faces charges of trying to reorganize his father's business.
Italian police found hidden weapons, drugs and an accounts book listing revenue from protection rackets and payments to affiliates.
The sweep follows the arrest in April 2006 of Mafia boss of bosses Bernardo Provenzano and last month's arrest of Provenzano's presumed heir Salvatore Lo Piccolo.
Provenzano, 74, was nabbed on a sheep farm near Corleone after 42 years in hiding.
Lo Piccolo, 65, was caught in the countryside near Palermo after 24 years on the run.
Italian Interior Minister Giuliano Amato claimed that a new alliance between the State and Sicilian society was shaking off Mob influence.
He said a beefed-up presence of the State in Sicily "is changing the climate and eradicating the Mafia."
There have been dozens of arrests linked to the Santapaola clan since Nitto, 79, was caught in May 1993 after ten years on the run.
The Santapaola clan is accused of being part of the cupola (governing body) which ordered the most notorious Mafia crimes of recent years including the 1992 murders of anti-Mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino and a summer 1993 wave of bombings.
Source: Xinhua
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