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Top Italy mobster still alive: Police

ROME, Italy -- Police in Italy say they have uncovered compelling evidence that the Mafia "boss of all bosses" is still alive -- after nearly 40 years on the run.

Officers have found a number of letters from Bernard Provenzano's wife and sons which apparently quash speculation that he is dead.

The letters -- some written late last year -- were discovered in a house, near Palermo, where another senior Mafiosi was arrested two weeks ago.

They are said to cover everything from the family's laundry business to how to wash socks.

Police have revealed that some are written partly in code and will need to be deciphered.

Provenzano is widely believed to have become the Sicilian Mafia's top boss after Salvatore "Toto" Riina was caught in 1993.

Provenzano was given a life sentence in absentia in 1999 for his part in a bomb attack that killed top anti-Mafia prosecutor Paolo Borsellino and five bodyguards in 1992.

Reuters contributed to this report.



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