A Turin court on Friday handed down 13 prison sentences in an 'Ndrangheta mafia case nicknamed Esilio (Exile).
The court imposed the stiffest sentence, eight years, to boss Giuseppe Mirabella, a 71-year-old Catania man nicknamed Grandad.
Five more defendants entered into plea bargains, and one was acquitted. They were arrested last year in a Carabinieri police sweep that rounded up 21 suspected members of a 'Ndrangheta mafia cell operating near Turin that was dedicated to drugs and weapons trafficking and extortion.
They also seized 1.5 million euros' worth of real estate and 500 kilos of hashish, which police said the gang trafficked from Spain.
The cell included members from Piedmont and Sardinia as well as one from Calabria, home to the powerful 'Ndrangheta mafia.
It began operating in the Turin area in 2007, and Carabinieri got on their trail thanks to a former member who turned State's witness.
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