New York - Two former New York police detectives who worked secretly for years as mafia hitmen were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Friday, ending a long-running criminal trial.

Dubbed the "Mafia Cops" by New York media, Stephen Caracappa, 67, and Louis Eppolito, 60, were sentenced for eight murders, as well as racketeering, drug distribution and money-laundering charges in a district court in Brooklyn.

The two detectives, now retired, moonlighted as hitmen for the Luchese crime family during the 1980s while they were members of the New York Police Department. They also routinely tipped off the mob on police investigations and the names of state witnesses in criminal trials.

Caracappa and Eppolito were first convicted of the charges in 2006, but the sentencing had been delayed by appeals until Friday.

"The sentences imposed today bring some measure of closure for the families of the victims of these defendants' unspeakable crimes and for the citizens of the city, whose trust these men betrayed," district attorney Benton Campbell said in a statement.