Italian authorities hailed the dramatic arrest yesterday of Salvatore Lo Piccolo, an alleged Mafia godfather on the run for 24 years, as a “decisive turning point” in the fight against organised crime.

Mr Lo Piccolo’s son Sandro, 32, was also captured in the raid on an apparent mobsters’ summit outside Palermo, along with two others. Sandro Lo Piccolo, in tears, shouted “I love you, Dad” as he and his father were led away. Salvatore, 65, wanted since 1983, was one of the two alleged heirs of Bernardo Provenzano, the “boss of bosses” who was arrested at a dilapidated farmhouse near Corleone last year.

Giuliano Amato, the Interior Minister, said that the capture of Mr Lo Piccolo – known in Cosa Nostra as “the Baron” – was “of extraordinary importance”. Sicily’s regional governor, Salvatore Cuffaro, said that he hoped it would be “a mortal, definitive blow to Cosa Nostra”.

Romano Prodi, the Prime Minister, described the arrests as “a success for the State and all honest people”. Francesco Messineo, the chief prosecutor in Palermo, said: “With these arrests we can proceed to dismantle the criminal apparatus in Palermo. They were the reference point for all economic activity by organised crime.”

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The atmosphere at antiMafia headquarters in Palermo was described as euphoric. A crowd celebrated on the street outside while waiting for the captured men to be brought in.

The swoop followed a tip-off from an informer in the Mafia, police said. Inside the building where Mr Lo Piccolo and his son were arrested – a garage at a house in the countryside between Cinisi and Terrasini – police allegedly found weapons, including eight pistols, cash and pizzini – notes used by Cosa Nostra bosses to send instructions to subordinates. Police said that Mr Lo Piccolo did not much resemble identikit images of him, and had an unkempt beard. The two others arrested were Gaspare Pulizzi and Andrea Adamo, allegedly heads of the Mafia in Brancaccio and Carini respectively.

The other alleged heir to Mr Provenzano, Matteo Messina Denaro, is still at large. He is believed to hold sway in Trapani, enjoys a lavish lifestyle and is a feared killer.

Mr Lo Piccolo, by contrast, is considered a more traditional Mafia boss – a product of the seaside district of Mondello and the Palermo back streets over which he ruled. He and Mr Denaro were said to be rivals in drugs, infiltration of construction contracts and protection money, as well as for the sole leadership of Cosa Nostra. The Lo Piccolo empire allegedly included construction companies, bingo halls and supermarkets. His main fortune is allegedly tied up in a financial network linked to organisations in the US.

The operation to find Mr Lo Piccolo was led by three investigating magistrates, Nico Gozzo, Gaetano Paci and Francesco Del Bene, and coordinated by Alfredo Morvillo, a Palermo antiMafia prosecutor. The crackdown comes after a campaign by Sicilian businessmen against protection money, or pizzo. Led by Confindustria, the Italian equivalent of the British CBI, a growing number of businessmen have refused to pay up, despite intimidation and threats to their lives. Confindustria called the arrests a breakthrough yesterday .

Mr Lo Piccolo allegedly began his career with protection rackets in a low-income area of Palermo, serving as a bodyguard to a Mafia boss before climbing up the ladder of power.

He escaped arrest in a crackdown on gangs in 2005.

Mr Paci said the arrests showed that reports in the Italian media that the anti-Mafia police had relaxed their efforts were completely untrue. “The reverse is the case,” he said.

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