Italy's highest court on Thursday upheld acquittal verdicts in a major mafia trial based on allegations that the state had colluded with Sicilian mobsters after a deadly wave of bombings in the 1990s.
The ruling, which is definitive and cannot be appealed, marks the final chapter of a case that drew widespread attention over the last decade as it involved former high-ranking state officials, police, mob bosses and politicians.
Prosecutors alleged that state representatives had negotiated with the mob following a string of mafia bombs and assassinations, including those of prominent anti-mafia magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.
