Bernardo Provenzano, the head of the Sicilian mafia, has been arrested in Italy after more than 40 years on the run. The Interior Ministry announced that the 73 year-old Provenzano was captured this morning at a farmhouse in the Sicilian town Corleone.

The man has been on the run since a warrant was issued for his arrest in September 1963, wanted for multiple charges of murder and armed robbery. Provenzano took the role of "Capo di tutti Capi" (Boss of Bosses) for the Cosa Nostra after Salvatore "Toto" Riina was arrested in 1993.

At the time of his arrest, the mobster was wearing a pullover and jeans and refused to speak to the police officers who arrested him. The announcement came at a time when Italy is expecting results from the election, expected to see Silvio Berlusconi unseated and was greeted with delight by President Ciampi, complimenting Giuseppe Pisanu, the Interior Minister, for this action.

Provenzano, also known as "the Phantom of Corleone", has been sentenced in absentia to life in prison for crimes over the past decades, including the killings in 1992 of top anti-Mafia magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. Previously, police officials announced for many times that they were on the point of catching him, but Provenzano always escaped at the last moment.

He never communicated with his friends, except by written notes carried by trusted lieutenants. The last photograph of the mobster police had dated from 1959, so they were forced to reconstruct his image.