OMEN
04-21-2006, 12:29 AM
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41547000/jpg/_41547742_provenzano_203l_afp.jpg
Provenzano has been a fugitive for most of his life
The alleged head of the Sicilian Mafia, Bernardo Provenzano, arrested last week, has refused to answer questions in his first official interrogation.
During an eight-minute interview, he gave prosecutors his name, his age, his place of birth - but nothing else.
Provenzano is due to appear in court next month in an ongoing trial in connection with murders committed during the Mafia wars of the 1980s.
He was a fugitive for 42 years until his arrest at a farm in Sicily.
During his years on the run, Provenzano was convicted in absentia and given life sentences for more than a dozen murders.
He is an old-school Mafioso and still believes in the Cosa Nostra's code of honour - he has killed to protect it.
So it came as no major surprise to prosecutors here that he refused to answer any of their questions.
Mafia 'codes'
Provenzano is being held in an isolation cell at a top security prison in Umbria.
There are six ongoing cases against him that range from murder to extortion and his first appearance in one of those cases is scheduled for 2 May at an appeal court in Palermo.
He will appear by teleconference.
Police are still hoping they can decipher coded documents they found at the hiding place.
The codes conceal names, and police have employed the help of a Mafia turncoat.
Provenzano's lawyer, Franco Marasa, said his client had so far been denied visitors and could only meet his immediate family once a month for an hour.
So tight is security around him that his meals are made separately from other meals in the prison canteen.
BBC
Provenzano has been a fugitive for most of his life
The alleged head of the Sicilian Mafia, Bernardo Provenzano, arrested last week, has refused to answer questions in his first official interrogation.
During an eight-minute interview, he gave prosecutors his name, his age, his place of birth - but nothing else.
Provenzano is due to appear in court next month in an ongoing trial in connection with murders committed during the Mafia wars of the 1980s.
He was a fugitive for 42 years until his arrest at a farm in Sicily.
During his years on the run, Provenzano was convicted in absentia and given life sentences for more than a dozen murders.
He is an old-school Mafioso and still believes in the Cosa Nostra's code of honour - he has killed to protect it.
So it came as no major surprise to prosecutors here that he refused to answer any of their questions.
Mafia 'codes'
Provenzano is being held in an isolation cell at a top security prison in Umbria.
There are six ongoing cases against him that range from murder to extortion and his first appearance in one of those cases is scheduled for 2 May at an appeal court in Palermo.
He will appear by teleconference.
Police are still hoping they can decipher coded documents they found at the hiding place.
The codes conceal names, and police have employed the help of a Mafia turncoat.
Provenzano's lawyer, Franco Marasa, said his client had so far been denied visitors and could only meet his immediate family once a month for an hour.
So tight is security around him that his meals are made separately from other meals in the prison canteen.
BBC