Carlino jailed in connection to Pantani death

Fabio Carlino has been jailed for four an a half years after being found guilty of dealing drugs and contributing to the death of former Tour de France winner Marco Pantani, the Pantani family's lawyer has announced. In addition to the jailing of the former disco manager, the Pantani family will receive 300,000 euro in damages.

The Italian cyclist had won the Giro d'Italia in 1998, the same year as his Tour win. Pantani was found dead in an Italian hotel room on February 14, 2004 having overdosed on cocaine.

Despite the closure that comes with the court's decision to jail Carlino, Pantani's mother Tonina is still searching for answers about her son's death. "There's still a lot of mystery surrounding Marco's death," she declared to La Gazzetta dello Sport. "First of all what happened between February 9, when my son bought the cocaine, and February 14, [when] he died of a lung and brain oedema. In those five days other people and other substances were probably involved.

"Why did they take out his heart during the autopsy, why didn't they take fingerprints and what about the marks on his body?" she queried.

The court's decision comes a day after news that the prosecutor of Forlì (Emilia-Romagna) would open a new investigation into the death of 'Il Pirata' based up on the supposed betting that occurred in the final stages of the 1999 Giro d'Italia.

"That is the end of the matter for now," family lawyer Danilo Mastrocinque told Reuters after the verdict was handed down. "We will see about the future."