A Mafia boss was arrested while watching a hit TV serial on the career of bloody don Salvatore Riina.
Michele Catalano, boss of Palermo's infamous Zen district, was nabbed in a girlfriend's flat after escaping a recent round-up that caught Riina's Palermo heir Salvatore Lo Piccolo.
Police rushed past the woman and caught the startled boss who had just settled in for his regular Thursday night dose of Riina's deeds.
The show, Boss Of Bosses, was almost pulled last week after reports that Sicilian kids thought Riina was a role model.
Catalano, 48, didn't put up a fight.
He was found with a few hundred euros and pictures of Italian saints in his pockets.
Catalano is believed to be one of Lo Piccolo's top men, in charge of maintaining contacts with jailed Mafiosi.
The Zen boss had already started trying to get in touch with his old chief, police said.
Catalano was also wanted on a string of drugs and extortion charges.
The boss's arrest followed those of five other top Lo Piccolo lieutenants on November 12.
Lo Piccolo himself was caught on November 5 after 23 years on the run.
The 65-year-old Lo Piccolo is believed to have inherited the mantle in Palermo of former Mafia kingpin Bernardo Provenzano, Riina's former co-boss and later successor.
Lo Piccolo had been vying with a younger Trapani rival to become Cosa Nostra's head since police put an end to Provenzano's 42 years on the run 18 months ago.
A 'pax mafiosa' initially settled in after Provenzano's arrest because neither Lo Piccolo nor his rival Matteo Messina Denaro appeared to have sufficient forces to seek control of Cosa Nostra.
Police said Lo Piccolo had the upper hand because he had been Provenzano's right-hand man in Palermo and his greater experience won him the respect of the older generation of bosses as they pursued Provenzano's policy of keeping as low as possible while strengthening their power network.
Provenzano became the undisputed boss of bosses after the January 1993 arrest of ferocious fellow Corleone townsman Riina, with whom he took control of Cosa Nostra during the 1980s.
Salvatore (Toto') Riina - the subject of the Thursday night show - had waged a war against the state that claimed the lives of a string of policemen and judges including Mafia crusaders Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992.
The show came under fire recently after reports that Sicilian youngsters were excited by its portrayal of Riina.
Justice Minister Clemente Mastella complained it was ''not educational'' and should be pulled.
But the show went on after anti-Mafia groups turned out in mass to support it.
