An Italian court sentenced four members of the Naples mafia to life in prison for the murder in 2008 of seven people including six African immigrants in one of the bloodiest crimes in the country for years.

The Camorra boss suspected of being the mastermind behind the massacre, Giuseppe Setola, and three of his henchmen were given the maximum sentences while a fifth defendant who did not take part in the murders but a shooting was sentenced to 23 years in prison, ANSA news agency said.

Setola had pleaded not guilty before the court near Naples. He had been sentenced to another life sentence three weeks ago for the murder of an Italian businessman.

Camorra killers murdered the six African immigrants and the seventh person in the southern town of Castel Volturno on September 18, 2008. The motive behind the killings has remained sketchy but drug trafficking was seen as a possibility.