Wisconsin State Journal from Madison, Wisconsin • 1

Wisconsin we Journal Boss of bosses meekly gives up ft li By Frances D'Emilio Associated Press ROME The Italian mafia's "capo dei capi," who ruthlessly directed the mob's criminal empire during 23 years in hiding, was taken meekly into custody Friday after police blocked his car on a Palermo thoroughfare. The arrest of Salvatore Riina, Italy's No. 1 fugitive, was the government's biggest coup in years in its checkered war against the mob. The country braced for a counterattack by Cosa Nostra. Riina is accused of orchestrating the mob's drug trafficking and extortion operations and ordering more than 50 murders, including last year's bombings of the top Mafia investigators, Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.

Police, with the help of Mafia turncoats, had been zeroing in on the "capo dei capi," or boss of bosses, for several months, they said. Without giving details, they said they located Riina on Friday and blocked his car. He and his driver were unarmed and put up no resistance, authorities said. Several Mafia defectors have said the stocky 62-year-old Riina also nicknamed curto," Sicilian for "the short one" is the head of the Corleone crime family, considered Sicily's most powerful Mafia clan. Riina seemed to mock the law enforcement community by reigning from underground over a heroin network and ordering the deaths of top anti-Mafia fighters.

More than one Mafia defector has said that Riina came and went as he pleased in Palermo. His lawyer last year said on TV that he regularly met with his client. While in hiding, Riina married the sister of a reputed mobster. The priest who presided at the cere mony was later convicted of having Mafia connections. Unable to snare the elusive Riina, prosecutors were forced to try him in absentia on murder and drug trafficking charges, and he was sentenced in 1987 to life imprisonment, Italy's stiffest punishment.

Riina's arrest "means we can fight and beat Cosa Nostra," said Luciano Violante, who heads the parliamentary anti-Mafia commission. "We have to go ahead and break all ties, including those with politics and institutions." But "a counterblow is inevitable and it will be a big one," Violante said. Riina went into hiding in 1969 during a state-ordered "exile" from Sicily in northern Italy. He had just finished serving a five-year prison sentence for Mafia association. Police lacked a recent photo of Riina.

Before a police photographer took his picture Friday, the last one investigators had was more than 30 years old. Friday's mug shot showed a stocky man with a double chin and short bangs bearing little resemblance to a recent FBI computerized mockup that tried to envision how Riina would look after more than two decades underground. The FBI portrait showed an older-looking man with a small face, brushed-back hair and slightly narrow eyes. Investigators have said they suspected Riina had plastic surgery to throw police off his track. Police said two "pentiti," Mafiosi defectors from Riina's own clan, helped them to discover his latest lair.

But the boss may have hastened his own capture. His arrest was made a priority by law en- i Jr i Ill Salvatore Riina forcement authorities amid public outrage over the murders of Falcone and Borsellino within two months. Interior Minister Nicola Mancino predicted a bitter struggle to succeed Riina. State Journal photoCAROLYN PFLASTERER Readying the boat Iraq gets What's going info the air? This smokestack at the Capitol heating plant at 624 E. Main St.

underwent routine emissions testing for air quality this week as part of EPA standards. The power plant serves all Capitol buildings, GEF buildings, City-County Building and Wilson Street office buildings, a power plant supervisor said. 10 7 7' UW skaters win, 3-2; UW women win, 75-67 DetailsID 1 ESQ 1 Lyricist Cahn dies Lyricist Sammy Cahn, whose Oscar-winning songs included "Call Me Irresponsible," "Three Coins in a Fountain" and "High Hopes," died Friday. Details2A. ii Associated Press new U.S.

threats By Mark Thompson Knight-Ridder Newspapers WASHINGTON The possibility of another military showdown between the United States and Iraq grew late Friday as United Nations officials insisted Saddam Hussein guarantee the safety of U.N. flights into his country. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney said it was "entirely possible" the United States and its allies would attack again if Iraq doesn't stop violating the ceasefire terms that ended the Persian Gulf War. Earlier Friday, President Bush demanded Iraq agree by 3 p.m. CST to permit flights of U.N.

inspectors into Baghdad. Less than an hour before that deadline, Iraq said it would permit the flights but claimed it could not protect them. Bush and U.N. officials rejected that statement. Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger called Baghdad's response "wishy-washy," and said it could provoke another allied attack.

"I think the president's made it clear that if Saddam Hussein doesn't step up to the plate and deal with the situation the way he really wants, why, he, Saddam, may be in some more trouble," Eagle-burger told PBS. "It is up to Iraq to guarantee the safety and security of our personnel," U.N. spokesman Tim Trevan said late Friday. "Would you in those circumstances be prepared to get on the plane?" he asked a reporter. "If I am told that the weapons of Iraq are pointing at the plane, and if I am told that the government refuses to take responsibility not only for its citzens' actions but for its own actions then I think we can quite clearly say that Iraq is not abiding by its obligations under Security Council resolutions." U.S.

military officials said they were ready to attack Iraq for the second time in four days if Bush gave the order, but Pentagon sources said they doubted there would be a quick attack. U.N. officials said they would send renewed demands Friday night that Iraq guarantee safe and unconditional flights into Baghdad. The officials refused to speculate on the possibility of renewed allied attacks but indicated there would be no U.N. flights without Iraqi guarantees of safety.

In granting flight clearance to the U.N., Iraq's statement Friday said it could not guarantee the flights' safety "because all the nozzles of the weapons in Iraq, even at the popular level, are aimed in defense of the sky of Iraq and its sovereignty." "That is just not acceptable," said a Bush administration official, who declined to be named. Representatives of the United States, Britain, France and Russia delivered the same message to Iraq's U.N. mission. Bush ducked a question on whether he was prepared to launch a second military strike but implied the allies were considering it. refugees.

Residents along the beach responded to President-elect Bill Clinton's statement to return boat people by saying they may wait a few weeks for signs of democratic progress before testing Clinton's resolve. See story, 3A. A Haitian woodworker fits a piece of wood into the hull of a 40-foot boat Friday on the beach of Ca Ira, near Port-Au-Prince. The United States ordered 22 Navy and Coast Guard ships to ring Haiti in an effort to block a feared exodus of Inaugural PARTY! Clinton's inauguration parties are shaping into a Big Chill reunion. Young and hip, the entertainers plan to jazz up, rock and roll Washington, D.C.

Details 1C. Still fighting: According to a Native American, white America has never understood Indian spirituality, so Native Americans today still are fighting for religious freedom. DetailslC. Shalala defends UW probe Hearings clear path for her Senate confirmation 1 PHlWWf Em Big Nicolet contract Nicolet Instrument Corp. has landed a $3.2 million Navy contract to make equipment needed to check the purity of oxygen used by pilots.

Details8B. tee on Tuesday. Kassebaum, the only Republican senator to attend all of Friday's hearing, praised Shalala but said her review of the UW-Madison research probe convinced her the federal government's review process needs changing. She questioned Shalala's contention that university administrators should have primary oversight, saying the universities might be tempted to downplay abuses because of the potential damage publicity would have on their prestige and finances. But Shalala said university officials could be trusted.

"I believe that what universities have at stake is their own reputations and the reputation of science," Shalala said. Senators' 'facts'2A other scientists as their own. After two investigations, Shalala cleared the scientists. The National Institutes of Health, which provided funds for some of the research in question, never signed off on the exoneration finding because of a dispute over access to university notes. "The university appears to have followed National Institute of Health regulations," Kassebaum told committee members interviewing Shalala on Friday.

"The case was never resolved definitively, but it was closed last month." Questions about the allegations against UW-Madison scientists Hector DeLuca and Heinrich Schnoes posed the only bump in Shalala's otherwise smooth trip through two Senate confirmation hearings this week. She is expected to win easy endorsement from the Senate Finance Commit By Dunstan McNichol Washington bureau WASHINGTON President-elect Bill Clinton's transition team worked into Friday morning compiling documents for a senator concerned about Chancellor Donna Shalala 's handling of a probe into alleged research fraud at UW-Madison. The senator, Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas, is ranking Republican on the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee. That committee Friday considered Shalala's nomination to be secretary of Health and Human Services. Throughout Thursday and early Friday, Kassebaum's staff worked to gather documents on Shalala's handling of a 1989 probe into allegations that two professors had claimed the research of Mixed bag: The year ended with some pretty good consumer signals but not so good for trade balance.

Details8B. THE 1 3.24 Pig6B fcffilil milt UlL 'After all, how many men are there in women's clothing that go to rural homes to talk to someone they don't Randy Koschnick public defender, arguing that his client had been approached before by the man in women's clothing whom he is charged with shooting. Details2B. Land-use management to be Meyer's top priority at DNR I World news4A I OpinkxVSA I ill A FOCUS: DNR's SECOND TRY LOCAL Area briels2B Wisconsin3B Obttuarfes4B M0NEY8B Stock listings6-7B MAf CH I 4 i .1 I LOOK By Nathan Seppa Environment reporter George Meyer, tapped Friday to be the next secretary of the Department of Natural Resources, said his top priority would be land-use management. "This issue is critical," he said.

"It touches all the bases. We cannot afford to build more and more highways, widening from four to six lanes every 10 years." Land-use questions affect farming, transportation, energy, the future of cities and infrastructure costs, Meyer said. Other top issues he cited were the handling of toxic wastes, the future of hunting and fishing and the balance between northern Wisconsin's economy and environment. The state Natural Resources Board voted unanimously for Meyer two days after Madison attorney Peter Peshek withdrew from consideration for the job. Meyer, also an attorney, will start on Feb.

1 and earn $92,281 a year. Meyer, 45, is a 23-year DNR veteran who made his mark as the chief negotiator with Chippewa Indians during the long dispute over the tribe's hunting and fishing rights in northern Wisconsin. He currently heads the agency's division of enforcement. Peshek and Meyer were among the 10 finalists for the job. Meyer was the deputy secretary choice of Peshek, who withdrew when it became clear conflict-of-interest questions would delay his appointment for months.

"George Meyer is well qualified to serve as secretary," Gov. Please turn to Page 2A, Col. IMovlellstlngs3C IComlcs4C I TVRadlo5C SPORTS TODAY'S FORECAST Partly to mostly cloudy. High 31. Mostly cloudy tonight with a chance of light snow.

Low 21. DetailsBack page. Stale Journsl pholoSCOTT StIO I Morning Brleflng2D I Scoreboard6D I ClasslfleoV7D DNR Secretary-designate George Meyer: "We need a highly decentralized agency because of the wide range of issues we deal with." i 1 -r.