Candid photo of Somali pirates by the US Navy.

ABC – One of the first men charged with piracy in the United States since the Civil War was sentenced to almost 34 years in federal prison in a New York courtroom Wednesday morning.

Prosecutors had asked Judge Loretta Preska to give Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse more than 30 years for his role in the failed hijacking of the Maersk Alabama, an American-flagged ship, off Somalia two years ago.