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French mobster cleared of cigarette swindle 

"Mad Jacky," one of the most notorious gang-leaders in the 1960s French underworld, was cleared in an appeal court Friday of taking part in a Russian mafia scam to manufacture contraband cigarettes.

Jacky Imbert, 74, better known by his gangland nickname "Jacky le Mat," was given his first ever conviction in December when a court in Marseille sent him to jail for four years for masterminding the operation.

But the appeal court in Aix-en-Provence found that the telephone tap evidence against him was unconvincing. He was due to be released from a nearby prison where he has been held since 2003.

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