Italian police nab Mafia suspects

ROME (AP) - Italian police arrested the "postmen" of the Mafia's top boss on Monday, 19 close aides who delivered the notes he writes to impart orders from his hideout, officials said.

The officials hailed the arrests as the most significant blow to date to top boss Matteo Messina Denaro, who has been a fugitive for 17 years. Those taken into custody included Messina Denaro's brother, Salvatore, police said.

The written notes allowed Messina Denaro to run his businesses and communicate with his lieutenants and other Mafia families in Sicily and elsewhere, police said. Several businesses were shut down across Sicily.

The suspects were picked up in raids early Monday, said police in Trapani, the city in Sicily where Messina Denaro is believed to be based. Charges against them include Mafia association, extortion and fraud.

"We have dismantled the 'post office,' the network of communication with which the No. 1 fugitive passed on information and gave orders to the whole Mafia operation," said Interior Minister Roberto Maroni. "We are closing in on him."

Messina Denaro has been on Italy's wanted list since 1993 for murder and other crimes. He is believed to have climbed to the top of the Sicilian Mafia after the 2007 arrest of top boss Bernardo Provenzano.

Messina Denaro tried to minimize risks by employing relatives -- who would be more likely to remain faithful to him -- and reducing the number of meetings to a minimum, said Giuseppe Linares of the Trapani police. Most of the communication took place through the encrypted notes -- or "pizzini" -- to and from other mobsters.