ITALIAN authorities said yesterday they had crushed a bid to revive the Sicilian mafia after making around 100 arrests in a series of raids, nearly three years on from the capture of the cosa nostra’s supremo.

A huge police operation wrecked plans by the Sicilian Mafia to reform its once all-powerful leadership today.

SALVATORE Lo Piccolo, who magistrates believe is the Sicilian Mafia’s new “boss of bosses”, was arrested yesterday after nearly a quarter of a century on the run, police said.

Police in Italy were today celebrating the arrest of a key Mafia leader tipped to become the syndicate’s next “boss of bosses.”