Sicilian Mafia weakened, prosecutor says

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ROME, May 2 (UPI) -- Italian law enforcement has struck a severe blow against the Mafia, the country's chief anti-Mafia prosecutor said Wednesday.

Speaking on Italian radio, Pietro Grasso said, "Today, there is no head, and the cupola (supreme command) are all in jail. They tried to get organized on two occasions by we managed to nip it in the bud."

Referring to Matteo Messina Denaro, a Sicilian clan boss who had reportedly been installed as leader after a series of arrests of older Mafia chiefs in the Palermo, Sicily, region, Grasso said Denaro "is not the head of the Sicilian Mafia."

Anti-Mafia police have been waging a "scorched earth" policy of rounding up suspected underworld leaders, the Italian news agency ANSA said Wednesday.

Grasso added in the radio interview, "Today the state is stronger than the Mafia," noting that "in the past 3 1/2 years we have seized assets worth 40 billion Euros ($52.4 billion) and confiscated another 3 billion ($3.93 billion)."