"Chin" chinned

A New York mafia gangster, who used to run the city's most powerful organised crime syndicate, has been jailed for twelve years on murder and racketeering charges, despite pleas that he's suffering from serious mental illness.

The gangster, Vincent "Chin" Gigante, was first arrested in 1990, but managed to delay his trial and sentencing by claiming to suffer from dementia and Alzheimers disease.

He was frequently seen wandering the streets of New York in his dressing gown, muttering loudly to himself.

But after police videoed Mr Gigante behaving normally when he thought he was not being watched, the judge decided his illness was a total fake.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service