Italy arrests Mafia boss, on run for 15 years

updated 3:06 p.m. ET Nov. 15, 2009

PALERMO, Italy - Italian police arrested a top Sicilian mafia boss on Sunday who had been a fugitive for more than 15 years, dealing what a minister said was a major blow to the crime syndicate.

Domenico Raccuglia, considered the most prominent member of the Cosa Nostra after the most wanted fugitive, Matteo Messina Denaro, has been convicted in absentia to three life sentences for murder and other Mafia crimes.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said Raccuglia's arrest was "one of the strongest blows inflicted on Mafia organizations in recent years because he was, effectively, the number two of Cosa Nostra."

Police said Raccuglia had been seized in a house near Trapani, in the western tip of Sicily, and has been taken to the island's capital, Palermo. He was considered the head of important Mafia clans operating in and between the two cities.

Although his wife was kept under police surveillance, he managed to father a second child while he was on the run.

More from msnbc.com   Silver Lining: Tales of struggle and hope Is Obama’s star dimming as U.S. standing drops? First Read: Guest list for White House dinner Opinion: Coherent after coma? Not so sure Analyst: India needs reassurance it's a priority She lost it all, but found a purpose On Twitter: Breaking news updates | Weird and wild

MORE FROM EUROPE

Europe Section Front

Iraq inquiry: Early U.S. push on Saddam Prostitute linked to Berlusconi tells her story Italy finds proposed lunch ban hard to digest Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species’ fetches $172,000 Walesa takes Poland's president to court Man says emergence from ‘coma’ like rebirth U.K. cops arrest people ‘just for the DNA’ Beheaded bodies found in Russia's Caucasus Europe Section Front   Add Europe headlines to your news reader: