sentences:  Some of the investigations and crimes had begun in the 1970s but a bulk of the charges related to the Second Mafia War.Many of the defendants, such as Riina and Provenzano, were convicted "in absentia" as they were still fugitives at the time of the trial.The trial was significant as several Mafiosi on the losing side of the war, like Salvatore Contorno and Tommaso Buscetta, took the stand and testified against their former fellow Mafiosi, known as "pentiti".