Reputed Mafia boss refuses to answer Italian investigators' questions

ROME -- Reputed Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano refused to answer prosecutors' questions Thursday, ending his first official interrogation since his arrest after eight minutes, his attorney said.

Three prosecutors and a police official from Palermo, Sicily, questioned Provenzano in the presence of his attorney, Franco Marasa. Provenzano responded when asked his name and date and place of birth, then clammed up as soon as prosecutors read him his rights, said Marasa.

"He said 'I intend to avail myself of my right not to answer,'" Marasa said by telephone, quoting his client.

The 73-year-old Provenzano was interrogated at the prison in Terni, Italy.

, where he is being kept in an isolation cell.

Prosecutors Giuseppe Pignatone, Marzia Sabelli and Michele Prestipino were traveling Thursday afternoon and could not be reached for comment.

Provenzano was captured April 11, more than 40 years after he went into hiding, and is believed to have taken over leadership of the Sicilian Mafia after the 1993 arrest of Salvatore "Toto" Riina.

Riina also did not talk to investigators after he was captured, prosecutors have said.

Both men are considered "old school" Mafiosi, who cling to Cosa Nostra's "honor" code of refusing to cooperate with authorities. Many younger mobsters have talked after being arrested, according to the Mafia experts.

Provenzano was arrested at a rundown farmhouse just outside his hometown of Corleone, which was made famous by "The Godfather" movies.

During his years as a fugitive, Provenzano was convicted in absentia and given life sentences for more than a dozen murders of mobsters and investigators. There are six ongoing cases against him on charges that range from murder to extortion and money laundering, Marasa said.

His first court hearing is scheduled for May 2 at an appeal court in Palermo, and Provenzano is expected to appear via teleconference, his lawyer said.

Marasa said Provenzano cannot be moved, is not allowed visitors and can only meet with his immediate family once a month for one hour.

Asked how Provenzano was doing, Marasa' answered, "Him? Normal," then added that he would not answer "personal" questions.