Rome [Italy], November 21 : Over 200 crime gang members have been sentenced to a total of 2,200 years in prison by an Italian court, following the country's largest mafia trial in three decades, CNN reported.
The trial began in January 2021 taking place in a purpose-built bunker in the southern Italian town of Lamezia Terme among safety concerns.
The 338 defendants accused were represented by more than 400 lawyers, whilst the case in total had some 900 witnesses providing testimony.
A panel of three judges deliberating the fate of the accused delivered their verdict Monday 20, after over a month- with the trial ending on October 16.
The three judges had been living under police protection during the trial, which lasted two years and 10 months, CNN reports.
It took the court one hour and 40 minutes to hand down its rulings, Italian news outlet Ansa reported.
Some 207 mobsters were jailed and more than 100 were acquitted. The total jail time includes five life sentences and three 30-year sentences, CNN has reported.
42 women were tried during the case, a record for a mafia trial, with 39 of them being convicted.
Many of the defendants had colourful nicknames - including "The Wolf," "Fatso," "Sweetie" and "Lamb Thigh" - that were caught on some 24,000 wiretaps, according to the testimonies presented during the trial.
The convicted include the onetime Forza Italia lawmaker Giancarlo Pittelli; former police chief Giorgio Naselli; former financial police officer Michele Marinaro; ex-mayor Gianluca Callipo; and the former regional councillors Luigi Incarnato and Pietro Giamborino, according to the sentencing document seen by CNN.
The mobsters accused were part of the Nrangheta organized crime syndicate, one of the world's most powerful, extensive and wealthy drug-trafficking groups.
The syndicate operated out of Calabria, in southern Italy, where the case was held, and has grown to become one of the most powerful criminal enterprises in the world, with thousands of members and affiliates globally, according to the Italian DIA (Anti-Mafia Directorate).
The mafia members were convicted of mafia association, extortion, bribery and five murders.
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