ROME — The Italian authorities have arrested 46 members of the Sicilian Mafia, including top leaders in the Palermo area, as part of a sweeping international operation spanning Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The Italian arrests were announced on Tuesday, nipping in the bud an attempt to re-establish a ruling mob council for the province. One of those arrested was Settimio Mineo, 80, whom top mobsters from the area chose this year as the council’s leader, officials said.

Mr. Mineo, the mob capo, or chief, of Palermo’s Pagliarelli district, was arrested along with the heads of the Villabate, Belmonte Mezzagno and Porta Nuova districts, as well as the bosses of 10 Mafia families from Palermo and the surrounding region, Italian officials said in a statement.

The four senior Mafia leaders have all served prison time.

The council, known as the Cupola in Mafia-speak, aimed to coordinate illegal activities among the area’s principal crime families and make joint decisions on important issues, finding strength in numbers. The Sicilian Mafia had such a structure for decades, until it collapsed in the 1990s.