Bid to release Mafia boss Provenzano fails

ROME, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- An appeal to release former Sicilian Mafia leader Bernardo Provenzano from jail, due to ill health, was rejected Wednesday, a court in Rome announced.

Provenzano, 80, suffers from Parkinson's disease and other related disorders, and his lawyers argued his failing mental and physical condition no longer make him a risk.

Prosecutors said he was still able to run criminal enterprises from prison.

Arrested in 2006 after 43 years on the run, Provenzano is serving life sentences for several murders, and is subjected to harsh prison isolation procedures known as "Article 41-bis" which essentially forbids him from communication with the outside world, the Italian news agency ANSA said.