The ringleader of a mafia gang whose criminal tentacles reached into almost every department of Rome's City Hall was sentenced to 20 years in prison by an Italian court on Thursday.

Massimo Carminati, 59, a convicted gangster with a history of involvement with violent far-right groups, had been accused along with 45 others of operating a mafia-style network that used extortion, fraud and theft to divert millions of euros destined for public services into their own pockets.