An Italian court has found a close political ally and business associate of
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi guilty of colluding with the Mafia, and sentenced him to nine years in prison.
The verdict came less than 24 hours after Berlusconi escaped conviction in a major corruption trial in Italy's financial capital Milan.
Marcello Dell'Utri, a senator in Berlusconi's Forza Italia party and a former chairman of the prime minister's advertising firm Publitalia, had been accused of acting as a link between the mob and Italy's business and political elite.
