9:17am UK, Monday November 16, 2009

Nick Pisa in Rome

The Italian Mafia’s second-in-command who had the son of a supergrass dissolved in acid has been arrested in a dramatic police raid.

Masked Italian police officers with captured Mafia fugitiveRaccuglia

Domenico Raccuglia, 45, known as ‘the veterinarian’ for his love of animals, was on Italy’s 10 Most Wanted List and had been on the run for more than a decade.

Despite being hunted, he fathered two children with his wife during his time as a fugitive.

Raccuglia was arrested by armed police in a raid at an isolated apartment on Sunday, following months of undercover work.

He had tried to escape by attempting to climb over a balcony, but was caught.

Helicopters hovered overhead as units of crack police teams stormed the building at Calatafimi, near Trapani, on the west coast of Sicily – the Mafia’s island stronghold.

Officers said he was unarmed but a search of the apartment uncovered several firearms.

After the 2006 arrest of the Mafia’s ‘Boss of Bosses’ Bernardo Provenzano, Raccuglia was named by police as Cosa Nostra’s number two, behind new Godfather Matteo Messina Denaro.

Raccuglia has been given multiple life sentences for murder, including one over the kidnap and killing of Giuseppe Di Matteo.

Crowd holding a Sicilian flag in Palermo applaud Raccuglia’s arrest

The 11-year-old son of informer Santo Di Matteo was snatched in 1993, on the orders of mobster Giovanni Brusca, to force the father to retract his testimony – but he refused.

After more than two years in captivity, Guiseppe was killed in January 1996 and his body dissolved in a barrel of acid to destroy the evidence.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni praised the police for Raccuglia’s capture and said: “(His) arrest is a severe blow to the Mafia because he is in fact number two in Cosa Nostra.”

Italy’s chief anti-Mafia prosecutor Piero Grasso said: “(Raccuglia) is one of Italy’s most wanted criminals and, even during his time on the run, he was still able to maintain his influence as a boss over the Trapani area.”

Raccuglia was in custody in Palermo awaiting an appearance before a magistrate, which will take place within the next two days.