'Godfather' evades authority yet again

For more than 40 years, Sicilian investigators have been pursuing the Godfather of Palermo, Bernardo Provenzano. The Mafia boss, who is nicknamed "The Tractor" for the way he mows down opponents, has always managed to stay one step ahead of justice.

Even, it seems, when he needs medical treatment. Provenzano has undergone a prostate operation in a private clinic near Marseille, travelling from Sicily to France by car without being apprehended.

Investigators seized medical records from Marseille in a raid. The records apparently belonged to a Sicilian baker, Gaspare Troia, who had had a prostate operation in October 2003.

According to the newspaper La Repubblica, staff at the small, private clinic in La Ciotat identified "Monsieur Troia" from an old picture of Provenzano.

"He was a queer one," said a nurse. "He never once exchanged a word with the other man, and never smiled."