ITALY: Salvatore Lo Piccolo, who magistrates believe is the Sicilian Mafia's new "boss of bosses", has said he will refuse to speak during his trial proceedings

Salvatore Lo Piccolo, who magistrates believe is the Sicilian Mafia's new "boss of bosses", has said he will refuse to speak during his trial proceedings. Mafia 'boss of bosses', Salvatore Lo Piccolo, told an Italian judge on Thursday (November 22) he would refuse to speak during his trial proceedings. Lo Piccolo, who was arrested with his 32-year-old son, Sandro, and two other Mafia bosses on November 5, was connected to the Palermo courtroom, where his trial is taking place, by video conference from a high security prison in Milan, northern Italy. "I don't intend to reply" Lo Piccolo told the judge presiding his case during his video link up. "I don't intend to reply either" said his son Sandro. At an earlier hearing both defendants had said they would be willing to reply to the questions directed to them by their defence lawyers. Lo Piccolo and his son are among the top 30 most wanted Mafia suspects in Italy and were arrested in a raid on a country house outside the Sicilian capital Palermo where they were holding a summit. Police fired a few shots during the raid but no one was injured. As he was being arrested, the younger Lo Piccolo told his father: "I love you, Dad," according to local media reports. Magistrates believe the elder Lo Piccolo, whose Mafia nickname is "the Baron," took over the reins of the crime organisation after the arrest last year of former "boss of bosses" Bernardo Provenzano.

ITN Source | November 23, 2007

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