A Sicilian Mafia family boss found living in London could be bailed while Italian authorities seek to extradite him to serve a seven-year jail term.
Domenico Rancadore headed a family involved in extortion, racketeering and drug trafficking, Italian police claim.
The 64-year-old was arrested on Wednesday at a house in Uxbridge under a European Arrest Warrant.
But his lawyers claim "significant deficiencies" in the warrant mean he should be granted bail.
Commenting on the arrest, Italian deputy prime minister and interior minister Angelino Alfano said an "important mobster" had been arrested and he would "go to jail".
Rancadore, a father-of-two, was initially acquitted of Mafia-related crimes after a three-year trial in Italy and came to the UK in 1993.
'Blameless life'He was said to have been known to his neighbours in Manor Waye, Uxbridge, as Marc Skinner.
But in 1999 he was convicted in his absence of being part of a criminal organisation and sentenced by the Italian authorities to seven years in jail.
In a statement, the Italian Interior Ministry said Rancadore had "played the role of chief of the Cosa Nostra in Trabia, Palermo".
Under the terms of a European Arrest Warrant issued last year he was arrested on Wednesday at his west London home.
At Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday, Euan Macmillan, for Rancadore, said there were "significant deficiencies" in the warrant.
His client had come to the UK "as a free man on his own Italian passport with his family".
"He has led a blameless life in this country for the past 20 years," he added.
Remanding Rancadore in custody on Thursday, District Judge Quentin Purdy said: "There are concerns about the validity of the warrant that has come before the court."
Judge Purdy is expected to rule later whether Rancadore can be bailed pending the outcome of legal proceedings against him by the Italian authorities.
'Way of life'The BBC's correspondent in Rome, David Willey, said the concerns about his arrest warrant regarded the generic terms of the charge under which he was convicted in Italy.
He was found guilty of mafia conspiracy, a charge used extensively by Italian justice in pursuing mafia criminals.
"Now under English law, mafia conspiracy does not exist as a crime," David Willey said.
"So although he's been found guilty of extortion, which is an extraditable offence, there are problems and the Italians are quite aware that they've had difficulty convincing British justice that he is one of their most wanted criminals."
The correspondent added that the fact that Rancadore was able to live in Uxbridge without raising any suspicions was very "typical of mafia criminals in Sicily".
"It's very difficult for Italian police to nab mafia bosses. They live often for years undercover and they're protected by their families and friends and they merge into the background.
"This is what this man appears to have been able to do very skilfully in London just as he and many other mafia criminals have managed to do in Sicily.
"It's a way of life and this is why the Mafia is such a problem here in Italy and why successive governments, who have battled against organised crime - particularly in the Island of Sicily - they find it too difficult to bring all these people to justice."
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