Rome, Apr 17 (IANS/AKI): Italian police have issued eight arrest warrants over the 1992 slaying of anti-mafia magistrate Giovanni Falcone, his wife and three bodyguards.

Testimony from two mafia turncoats, Gaspare Spatuzza and Fabio Tranchina, formed part of the evidence that led to the eight arrest warrants for suspects including Sicilian mafia boss Salvo Madonia and Palermo fisherman Cosimo D'Amato.

Investigators believe D'Amato obtained the explosive used in the bombing on the motorway near Capaci town in May 1992 and also for mafia bombings in Rome, Milan and Florence.

However, all eight men issued arrest warrants are already behind bars.

The new probe has shed further light on the role played in Falcone's killing by the Sicilian mafia's Palermo-based Brancaccio clan, led by Giuseppe Graviano, according to investigators.

Falcone's murder was followed two months later by the assassination of his friend and fellow anti-mafia prosecutor Paolo Borsellino in July 1992.

The same year, the mafia killed 22 people in blasts at national monuments in Florence and Rome.

Jailed mafia boss Salvatore Riina is serving a life sentence for sanctioning the murders of Borsellino and Falcone, who are both considered national heroes.

Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano also got life and over a dozen other Sicilian mafia members were also jailed.