ISTANBUL, Nov 26 (AFP) - A Turkish prosecutor Friday demanded between 21 and 62 years in jail for a suspected mafia boss with purported links to state officials who was arrested last month in a major crackdown on the underworld, Anatolia news agency reported.
The indictment included charges against Sedat Peker, the alleged chieftain of a leading mafia gang based in Istanbul, and 70 other suspects, among them Peker's henchmen as well as police officers and lawyers accused of helping them.
Peker, 34, was charged with setting up and leading a criminal gang, abduction, extortion, falsification of documents and intimidation, Anatolia reported.
The prosecutor also demanded between six months and a year in jail for two senior police officers and three court clerks for "aiding and abetting a criminal gang."
Three lawyers, accused of being members of Peker's gang, risk between three and six years in prison, the agency said.
Peker is also at the center of allegations of match-fixing in the Turkish football league, for which a separate investigation is underway.
Peker and his brother reportedly contacted club managers in a bid to influence the line-up of squads and match results and the choice of referees for some key games.
Turkey has long been shaken by scandals involving ties between underground figures, politicians, public servants and the judiciary.
The catalyst was a 1996 road accident in which a fugitive organized crime boss and a senior police official were killed and a member of parliament was wounded when the car they were travelling in together crashed in northwestern Turkey.
Earlier this month, prosecutors charged a senior intelligence officer and a well-known football manager for helping Turkey's top mob leader, Alaattin Cakici, flee abroad with a false passport.
Cakici, widely believed to be protected by high-level officials for alleged favors he did to Turkish secret services in the past, was arrested in Austria and extradited to Turkey in October.
11/26/2004 19:46 GMT - AFP