Man gets life for murdering mayor

(ANSA) - Busto Arsizio (Varese), April 14 - A judge in the northern Italian city of Busto Arsizio on Tuesday sentenced the ex-deputy chief of local police in the nearby town of Cardano al Campo to life in prison.
    Giuseppe Pegoraro was convicted of murdering the town mayor, Laura Prati, who died in the hospital 20 days after she was shot.
    The judge also recognized 423,000 euros in civil damages: 400,000 euros for Prati's husband and daughter, and 20,000 euros for the ex-deputy mayor of Cardano al Campo, Costantino Iametti, who was also injured in the shootout.
    Pegoraro allegedly acted after being suspended from office following a conviction for graft.
    According to the reconstruction of events, Pegoraro burst into the mayor's office on July 2, 2013 and shot Prati, who was both mayor and provincial president of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), as well as her deputy Iametti. The shooter reportedly then threw a smoke bomb in the headquarters of the SPI-CGIL of Cardano al Campo, and fled in the car. Pegoraro was arrested by police after another shootout. Relatives of the victim applauded at the reading of the sentencing.