Ex MP Pittelli gets 11 years in 'maxi' Ndrangheta trial

(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 20 - Former Forza Italia MP Giancarlo Pittelli was given a jail term of 11 years by a court in Lamezia Terme on Monday as judges started to read out the sentences for 338 defendants in the so-called Rinascita Scott 'maxi' trial against alleged members of the 'Ndrangheta mafia in the Calabian province of Vibo Valentia and the mob's white-collar facilitators.
    Prosecutors had requested a prison term of 17 years for him.
    Carabinieri police Lieutenant Colonel Giorgio Naselli was sentenced to two years and six months in jail, much less than the eight years requested, former Finance Police Officer Michele Marinaro got 10 years and six months, compared to the 17 years requested, and former regional councillor Pietro Giamborino was sentenced to 18 months, while prosecutors had wanted him put away for 20 years.
    The court gave 30 years to Saverio Razionale and Domenico Bonavota, the bosses of the San Gregorio and Sant'Onofrio clans.
    The former mayor of the town of Pizzo, Gianluca Callipo, was acquitted after prosecutors had requested an 18-year sentence for him.
    The court is handing down its rulings in a specially set-up 'bunker' courtroom in Lamezia Terme after two years and 10 months of hearings.
    The 'Ndrangheta is widely considered to have become Italy's most powerful organized-crime syndicate thanks to its control over much of the cocaine that arrives in Europe and its reach has stretched outside its base in the southern region of Calabria and gone beyond the country's borders. (ANSA).