Mafia operation clobbers Messina Denaro clan

(ANSA) - Palermo, November 19 - A big anti-Mafia operation in Sicily clobbered the clan of on-the-run Cosa Nostra No.1 Matteo Messina Denaro on Wednesday.
    Police arrested 16 suspected members of the clan in dawn raids, including Messina Denaro's 37-year-old nephew, Girolamo Bellomo. The people arrested are suspected of crimes including Mafia association, extortion, robbery and kidnapping.
    Wednesday's operation was the latest in a series of moves by the Italian authorities to close in on Messina Denaro, who has been a fugitive since 1993.
    Italy's anti-mafia authorities in March updated the identikit of Messina Denaro after receiving new information about his appearance from an informant.
    It marked the first time since 2011 that investigators were able to update the computer-simulated portrait of the appearance of the crime boss, who is one of the world's 10 most-wanted men according to Interpol.
    The 52-year-old crime boss has gained weight and his receding hairline has advanced, although his hair remains dark, an informant reported after a personal meeting with the mafia boss.
    Investigators discovered, thanks to the latest witness as well as other informants, that Messina Denaro no longer wears glasses.
    Old photos of the crime boss show him with thick spectacles due to a serious retina illness for which he sought treatment in Spain.
    A specialist who treated him in Barcelona confirmed the gravity of the condition and hypothesized that Messina Denaro has gone blind in one eye.
    Investigators have been closing the net around Messina with a wave of arrests and massive asset seizures since an updated identikit in 2011 gave new impetus to the search.
    The December operation came after police in April 2013 confiscated assets worth over 1.3 billion euros belonging to Vito Nicastri, a Sicilian wind-farm and solar-power magnate linked to Messina Denaro, in the biggest-ever assets seizure in the country's history.
    Messina Denaro is thought to have taken the helm of Cosa Nostra after the arrest of Bernardo Provenzano in 2006 and that of Salvatore Lo Piccolo the year after.