Mafia boss held after 12 years

The second in command of the Italian Mafia, who had the son of a supergrass dissolved in acid, has been caught after eluding police for 12 years.

Domenico Raccuglia, 45, known as the veterinarian, was on Italy's "10 most wanted" list. He was arrested by armed police last night.

Helicopters hovered as he tried to escape from an isolated flat at Calatafimi near Trapani on the west coast of Sicily, the Mafia's island stronghold. Several firearms were found at the flat but Raccuglia was unarmed.

He had been named by police as Cosa Nostra's number two, behind new Godfather Matteo Messina Denaro, after the 2006 arrest of the Mafia's boss of bosses, Bernardo Provenzano.

Raccuglia has been given multiple life sentences for murder, including the killing of 11-year-old Giuseppe Di Matteo, son of supergrass Santo Di Matteo.

After being held captive, and tortured, for 26 months, the boy was strangled in January 1996. His body was dissolved in a barrel of acid. Raccuglia is in custody in Palermo.