(ANSA) - Nuoro, October 25 - Sardinian former iconic bandit
Graziano Mesina was acquitted Tuesday of ordering the murder of
Santino Gungui near Nuoro on Christmas night in 1974.
Prosecutors had asked for a life penalty, arguing that Mesina,
then in jail, ordered the hit on 37-year-old Gungui for not
handing over the proceeds of arms and drugs trafficking. Mesina,
74, was pardoned in 2004 after almost 50 years in and out of
jails but returned to drug trafficking and attempted kidnapping
in 2013 and is currently on trial for extortion and loan
sharking. Sardinia's most famous postwar bandit was a hero to
many in the 1960 and 1970s for his supposedly anti-capitalist
kidnappings, daring prison breaks and glamorous lifestyle on the
run.
Graziano Mesina cleared (2)
Sardinian ex-bandit accused of ordering hit