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Italy police nab 'paralyzed' Mafia boss on the run

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-11-25 01:44

A convicted Mafia boss who got out of jail by faking paralysis and anorexia has been arrested at a restaurant after more than two months on the run, police in Sicily said Tuesday.

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Officers arrested Carmelo Di Stefano on Monday as he dined at a seaside village near the Sicilian city of Catania, which he had reached at the wheel of a sports car.

Police official Giovanni Signer said when officers asked him why he was not in a wheelchair, Di Stefano answered: "It's a miracle!"

Di Stefano was sentenced to 30 years in prison for murder, associating with the Mafia and drug trafficking, police in Catania said in a statement.

He had been allowed to serve the sentence at his wife's home in the northern city of Bologna after being hospitalized twice for anorexia and post-traumatic paraplegia. Di Stefano, 36, escaped house arrest in September.

Signer said it was now clear that the boss had faked his condition, using "his willpower" to reach the weight of 84 pounds (38 kilograms).