An Italian court has sentenced the country's most wanted man, Sicilian Mafia mobster Matteo Messina Denaro, to life imprisonment over his role in a bombing campaign which claimed the lives of two magistrates in 1992.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A court in the Sicilian city of Caltanissetta sentenced Messina Denaro late on Tuesday.
He was tried in absentia for his involvement in the bombings that killed anti-Mafia magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, as well as many others, Italian news agency ANSA reported.
The court also ruled the victims' family members should receive sums ranging from 10,000 to 500,000 euros ($A16,700 to $A835,000) while the three survivors of the bombings were awarded 100,000 euros.
Messina Denaro, 58, went into hiding in 1993 and is considered the most high-profile fugitive of the Sicilian Mafia, though it is not clear whether he has control over the entire organisation.
He was already due to serve several life sentences for murder.
Authorities have tried to close the net on him for years and arrested dozens of his relatives and aides.
Australian Associated Press