Mafia boss boasted of Berlusconi help

Mob chief Giuseppe Graviano in 1994 praised Berlusconi and one of future prime minister's allies.

A Mafia boss praised Silvio Berlusconi and boasted that the mob owed everything to political backers like Italy's current leader, a turncoat mobster witness told a court Friday.

Mob chief Giuseppe Graviano in 1994 praised Berlusconi and one of future prime minister's allies, Senator Marcello Dell'Utri, for aiding the gang, according to testimony from an ex-Mafia gangster.

The crime boss said he - got everything thanks to the reliability of these people - before giving the names of the premier and Dell'Utri, the turncoat Gaspare Spatuzza told the Turin court at the long-awaited hearing.

Graviano said the Sicilian Mafia had - the country in their hands - thanks to the help they received and that - everyone was profiting including those who are in prison - Spatuzza said.

The alleged comments came after the Mafia launched attacks in Florence, Rome and Milan in 1993, which killed 10 people and injured dozens.

According to previous legal submissions from Spatuzza, Berlusconi and Dell'Utri were trusted political contacts of Graviano at the time of the attacks.

The year after, in 1994, Berlusconi and Dell'Utri created the political party Forza Italia and Berlusconi was swept to power.

The turncoat's allegations came at the appeal hearing of Dell'Utri, who is challenging a nine-year jail sentence handed down for Mafia association.

Both Berlusconi and Dell'Utri have vehemently denied ties to the Mafia.

Cosa Nostra is a Mafia terrorist organsiation

Spatuzza on Friday told the court the 1993 attacks were "abnormal" for the Mafia.

- Cosa Nostra (the Sicilian Mafia) is a Mafia terrorist organsiation - Spatuzza said, cited by news agency ANSA.

- I define it as such because after '92, we pushed our action a bit too far, into territory that did not belong to us. -

Dell'Utri was at the hearing as the former Mafia man gave evidence from behind a screen to prevent him from being seen. There was a heavy police presence at the court.

Italian media, citing government sources, reported that Berlusconi was "calm and optimistic" Friday as he met with government ministers.

The premier at the weekend denounced press reports of his alleged links to the crime gang as - the most unbelievable, vile attack - he had suffered in recent years.

Separately on Friday in Milan, a corruption trial in which Berlusconi is accused was adjourned until January 15, ANSA reported.

The court accepted that the premier could not attend the hearing as he was in a meeting of government ministers, the agency said.

The prime minister faces allegations that he paid his British former tax lawyer, David Mills, 600,000 dollars (400,000 euros) to give false evidence in two trials in the 1990s.

Mills, who was tried separately, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail over the case in February.