A local court handed down
prison sentences ranging from three to 27 years each Wednesday
to 17 members of a leading clan of the 'Ndrangheta, the vicious
Calabria-based mafia.
Six of the 17, including Giuseppe De Stefano, Pasquale 'the
Supreme' Condello, and his cousin Domenico Condello, received
the heaviest sentences of 20 to 27 years each, bringing the
trial against the clan that started three years ago to a climax.
The judges of the Reggio Calabria Tribunal issued the
sentences after deliberating for five days.
The 17 were convicted on charges including mafia
association, aggravated and attempted extortion, threats and
aggression.
The Tribunal found that Di Stefano, son of the murdered
boss Paolo De Stefano, had been head of the 'Ndrangheta in
Reggio Calabria, sentencing him to 27 years in prison.
Domenico Condello and Francesco Bertuca, the gang leader in
the sun-drenched port town of Villa San Giovanni, received terms
of 23 years each.
Pasquale Condello, Giovanni Tegano and Pasquale Libri,
described by prosecutors as the "high command" of the
'Ndrangheta in the mafia-infested port city of Reggio Calabria
together with Di Stefano, received terms of 20 years each.
Among lesser sentences Rocco Palermo, a medical doctor,
received a four-year prison term.
With its stranglehold on the European cocaine trade, the
'Ndrangheta is considered the most powerful of Italy's
organized-crime groups.
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