Jun 19 2008
Italian court upholds life sentences for 16 Mafia bosses
Naples — An Italian appeals court on Thursday upheld life jail sentences for 16 bosses of the Camorra, the Naples version of the Mafia, in what was hailed as a victory for the state.
Defendants including notorious bosses of the Casalesi, a network of crime families, saw their appeal for prison terms first handed down in late 2005, turned down by the Naples tribunal.
Some 500 witnesses testified in the so-called ‘Spartacus’ trial, which opened in 1998 in Santa Maria Capua Vetere north of Naples, including about 20 Camorra turncoats, some of whom have since been murdered or have had relatives killed by their former partners in crime.
‘The substance of the first sentence has been confirmed,’ said prosecutor Francesco Iaocone commenting on Thursday’s appeals verdict. He said he wanted to study the details before making a final assessment.
Italian law gives both defendants and prosecutors two opportunities to appeal verdicts, meaning that proceedings could still be referred to Italy’s top Court of Cassation for definitive sentencing.
Also giving a guarded welcome to Thursday’s verdict was Roberto Saviano author of the ‘Gomorra’ an international best-seller on the Naples mafia.
‘It’s a victory for the state, but there is still much to be done,’ said Saviano, who attended the court session.
He was accompanied by a police escort which was granted to him by the Italian state after he received several death threats from mobsters following the 2006 publication of his book.
In May, the film version of ‘Gomorra’ which includes accounts of the Casalesi’s drug trafficking and other criminal activities, won the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Italian court upholds life sentences for 16 Mafia bosses - Jun 19, 2008, 13:23 GMT - http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1412219.php/Italian_court_upholds_life_sentences_for_16_Mafia_bosses
