Mafia boss evaded capture by dressing as bishop

ROME - It's no wonder Bernardo Provenzano, the Sicilian Mafia's "boss of bosses", has eluded capture for more than four decades.

According to a Mafia godmother-turned-supergrass, the 72-year-old mobster turned up to a summit of Cosa Nostra leaders in 1992 disguised in a bishop's purple vestments.

"At first I didn't recognise him. It seemed strange that someone would show up at a meeting dressed as a bishop," Giuseppina Vitale told a court on Monday, according to Ansa news agency.

"He was even wearing a violet hat."

Provenzano has been on the run for 42 years. The most recent photograph police have of him was taken nearly three decades ago.

- REUTERS