Former Mafia boss Gaspare Spatuzza was sentenced Wednesday to 12 years in jail for his part in the massive May 1992 explosion that killed anti-mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone, his wife, and three police escorts.
Spatuzza, who has confessed to some 40 murders, received a lighter sentence because he turned police informant, shedding light on numerous crimes including a stream of deadly Mafia explosions that rattled the entire country.
The sentences came more than 24 years after the Capaci massacre, named for the Sicilian highway town where the Falcone assassinations occurred.
Meanwhile, Giuseppe Barranca and Cristoforo Cannella were sentenced to life in prison for their role in the May 1992 bombing while Cosimo D'Amato was sentenced to 30 years in jail.
Spatuzza gave evidence to prosecutors concerning how the half-tonne of explosives was obtained and used for the deadly blast.
Earlier this year, Spatuzza confessed to being responsible for the deaths of roughly 40 people, including the victims of a series of Cosa Nostra bombings from 1992 to 1993.
"I am responsible for about 40 murders. I ask forgiveness from the city, from the victims and from their relatives," Spatuzza said in September in a Milan court via live video transmission from prison.
The former Cosa Nostra crime boss has been convicted of six bomb attacks in 1992 and 1993.
During that time, the Sicilian Mafia resorted to bombings to assassinate leading anti-mafia magistrates as well as civilians near artistic heritage sites - such as the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and Milan's Galleria d'Arte Moderna - in a bid to weaken the Italian State.
The murders of Falcone and his colleague Paolo Borsellino were among the crimes that allegedly induced the State to enter into secret talks with Cosa Nostra two decades ago in a bid to stop attacks.
Two months after Falcone was murdered on May 23, 1992 while driving into Palermo, Borsellino and his security detail were killed in a huge carbomb in July 1992 outside his mother's apartment. Falcone and Borsellino have become national heroes for their sacrifices in fighting the mafia in Italy.
New claims made by Mafia 'boss of bosses' Toto' Riina in taped prison conversations suggest that bomb was detonated by the intercom that Borsellino rang to get into his mother's building.
Nicknamed 'the Beast', Riina is in jail for crimes including ordering the slayings of Borsellino and Falcone.
Riina also threatened Palermo Prosecutor Nino Di Matteo in a more recent wiretapped conversation and is believed to continue to play a role in managing Costa Nostra from prison.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
