Murder Charged in Tainted Wine Case

A prosecutor investigating the tainted wine that has killed 22 people filed murder charges Wednesday against seven defendants in the case.

Alberto Noboli, who had issued the original arrest warrants on charges of manslaughter, said he upgraded the charges because the defendants allegedly knew that the methyl alcohol added to the wine was potentially poisonous.

Named as defendants were Giovanni and Daniele Ciravegna, father and son wine merchants from Narzole in the Piedmont region, which marketed the largest amounts of tainted wine. Also charged were five others who supplied methyl alcohol to the firm.