Jailed mafia boss Provenzano tries to commit suicide

The jailed and ailing former 'boss of bosses' of Cosa Nostra, Bernardo Provenzano, tried to commit suicide Wednesday by putting a plastic bag over his head and was saved by a warder, prison authorities said Thursday night. The authorities said it was not a serious suicide attempt but a bid to draw more attention to his failing health - he has prostate cancer - and alleged psychiatric problems. According to the jail authorities, "for several days he has tried to make out he is mad". Provenzano, for decades the shadowy overlord of tyhe Sicilian mafia, was caught in 2006 after 43 years on the run. The ex-mafia chieftain is serving life for various murders including those of anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992.