Half a Democracy

Japan privileged destination for looted art (In Italian)

2007-02-06T13:10:00.000+01:00

Here's an article from Venerdì (Repubblica) Feb. 2nd 2007

Article on Kung fu - from Phantarei (December 2006) In Italian

2007-02-06T13:03:00.000+01:00

RE DI ROMA

2006-11-28T18:39:00.000+01:00

Incredible left foot volley by Totti during Sampdoria- Roma in Genova.

Video of the goal at: here

Congo Article - in Italian

2006-11-24T15:41:00.000+01:00

The following article appeared on the Italian magazine Phantarei:

WONG FEI HUNG

2006-11-17T13:44:00.000+01:00

CAMPIONI DEL MONDO!!!!

2006-07-10T11:42:00.000+02:00

GRANDE E GROSSO - BYE BYE GERMANY

2006-07-05T14:19:00.000+02:00

THERE IS BUT ONE CAPTAIN - C'è solo un capitano...

2006-06-27T16:28:00.000+02:00

Piedi Puliti - clean feet

2006-05-30T15:07:00.000+02:00

the "triade"

It all begins with Luciano Moggi

Luciano Moggi, born in Monticiano, province of Siena, on July 10^th 1937 has been a controversial protagonist of Italian soccer in the last decade. He had been the collaborator of Italo Allodi (former soccer player and considered to be the first real soccer 'manager' in Italy) and administrator of several Italian clubs including Torino, Napoli, A.S. Roma, S.S. Lazio and finally Juventus.

In May 2006 his name appeared in the midst of an investigation on sports fraud.

In particular, on May 4^th 2006 the Torino tribunal revealed the contents of several telephone recordings in which Moggi was telling the 'referee designator' Pierluigi Pairetto, which referees should be designed for several soccer games, thus trying to pilot the Italian soccer championship in favor of Juventus. On May 11^th 2006, together with the other members of the Juventus council of administration Antonio Giraudo and Roberto Bettega (together with Moggi the three were baptized the “triade” by Italian media), Moggi resigned from his post of general director of Juventus. There are presently four Italian prosecutor's offices that are carrying out the investigation: Roma, Napoli, Torino and Parma.

The extent of the investigations

The clubs that are suspected of foul play are many, but the ones that are risking very serious sanctions and Juventus, Fiorentina, Lazio and Milan. Here are their positions:

Juventus: The club led by the 'triade' was piloting the entire championship by designating the referees that were more convenient to help Juventus and damage rival teams. The torino club was both in contact with the two persons in charge of designating the referees for the games (Paolo Bergamo and Pierluigi Pairetto) and with the referees themselves (who have been found to form a sort of delinquent organization led by Massimo De Sanctis and whose members included referees, linemen and administrators of the AIA (Associazione Arbitri Italiani) and CAN (Commissione Arbitri Nazionale)
Fiorentina: Diego Della Valle, patron of the Fiorentina soccer club, at first attempted to contrast the all powerful triade but later agreed to become their accomplice in exchange for some help to save Fiorentina from going into Serie B.
Lazio: Claudio Lotito, patron of the Lazio soccer club was a faithful accomplice of Moggi from the start.
Milan: Through the person responsible for relationships with referees, Leonardo Meani, the patron of Milan Adriano Galliani (also president of the Lega Nazionale Professionisti – also called Lega Calcio) was trying to fight the power of Juventus by using the same methods as Moggi.

Other clubs have lesser responsibilities. It is reasonable to believe that in one way or the other, the great majority of Italian clubs were part of the “Moggi system”.

The referees involved

Referees, linemen and administrators of referee associations who are under investigation:

Carmine Alvino (lineman); Duccio Baglioni (lineman); Paolo Bergamo (former referee designator); Paolo Bertini (referee); Enrico Ceniccola (lineman);Gabriele Contini (lineman); Massimo De Santis (referee); Paolo Dondarini (referee); Giuseppe Foschetti (lineman); Marco Gabriele (referee): Silvio Geminiani (lineman); Alessandro Griselli (lineman); Marco Ivaldi (lineman); Tullio Lanese (AIA president); Gennaro Mazzei (responsible for referees of the Toscana region); Domenico Messina (referee); Pierluigi Pairetto (former referee designator); Narciso Pisacreta (vice-commissioner of C.A.N. (Commissione Arbitri Nazionale)); Pasquale Rodomonti (referee); Claudio Puglisi (lineman); Salvatore Racalbuto (referee); Gianluca Rocchi (referee); Paolo Tagliavento (referee); Stefano Titomanlio (lineman)

Resignation of Franco Carraro and designation of Guido Rossi

On May 16^th, after the resignation of Franco Carraro (May 8^th) from the FIGC (Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio) presidency, the CONI (Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano) executive designated Guido Rossi commissioner of the soccer federation. His duty will be that of cleaning up the sports world from all the dirt that it had gathered in the past few years.

Who is Guido Rossi?

Guido Rossi, born in Milano on March 16^th, 1931 is a lawyer who graduated from the Pavia University and then obtained a master in law from Harvard University. He worked in Ivrea with Adriano Olivetti and taught law at the University of Pavia and the Bocconi University in Milano. He has been president of Consob (the agency in charge of vigilance over the stock market). He is then an independent senator, elected with the PCI (Partito Comunista Italiano) from 1987 to 1992. He has written many books, worked as a consultant for Montedison, Inps, he has been lawyer in Mediobanca and administration counsellor of Assicurazioni Generali. Lately he was designated by Carlo Azeglio Ciampi as head of Telecom Italia during its privatization. In the AntonVeneta affair, he was the lawyer of the Dutch bank Abn Amro. Guido Rossi is believed to be rigorous and impartial.

Borrelli back on track after tangentopoli

On May 23^rd Guido Rossi designated ex-tangentopoli magistrate Saverio Borrelli (now retired) head of the investigations office of FIGC. Saverio Borrelli was the chief of the 'pool' which carried out the investigation on 'mani pulite' (clean hands), the scandal that rocked the Italian political world in the 90's, virtually destroying the then all powerful Democrazia Cristiana party. Borrelli is hated by the right-wing and by Berlusconi because in their view he is a ruthless left-wing inquisitor.

Giustizia Sportiva

The prosecutions are not likely to reach a sentence anytime soon, but the real risk for the teams involved in the scandal is the 'sport's justice'. Guido Rossi, Saverio Borrelli and others are presently investigating and reading the telephone recordings (over 100,000 phone calls – Moggi was receiving over 400 phone calls each day on four different mobile phones). Sport's Justice says that if there is the 'direct responsibility' or 'objective responsibility' of a club in an attempted fraud, the club should be barred from its present standing and sent to an inferior tournament of the Italian championship. Also, points can be taken away in the present standing and past championship wins can be revoked, depending on the seriousness of the offense.

Direct responsibility means that one of the administrators of the team was acting directly to commit the fraud (Juventus, Lazio, Fiorentina), Objective responsibility means that one of the employees of the club was acting on behalf of the club's administration to commit the fraud (Milan).

The risks run by the teams

Juventus is the club that will probably be damaged the most. They should be barred from Serie A, sent to Serie B or C and their past 2 or 3 championship wins should be revoked. This would be a disaster because Juventus has already sold the rights to broadcast its games on Sky for hundreds of millions of euros. If the team were to go into Serie B the television channel Sky will probably want to renegotiate the deal and ask for most of the money to be returned. Also, Nike and Tamoil have paid millions to be the sponsors of the team, the two companies will probably want their money back as well. The same can be said, although to a lesser extent, for Fiorentina, Lazio and Milan, although Milan seems to be less exposed because there aren't – this far – any telephone recordings in which it's president Adriano Galliani speaks directly to referees.

GEA world

GEA world is a company that provided agents for many of the player and coaches who play in the Italian championship. GEA world was administered by the sons and daughters of well-known soccer and business personalities. It's administrators were Alessandro Moggi (son of Luciano), Andrea Cragnotti (son of Sergio Cragnotti, ex-president of Lazio), Chiara Geronzi (daughter of Cesare Geronzi, head of Capitalia, the banking group that finances Lazio and which has important relationships with Perugia, Parma and Roma), Francesca Tanzi (daughter of Callisto Tanzi, former patron of Parmalat and Parma soccer club), Riccardo Calleri (son of Gian Marco Calleri, former president of Lazio and Torino), Franco Zavaglia (former agent of Francesco Totti). The company also has illustrious employees, such as Giuseppe De Mita (son of Ciriaco De Mita, former secretary of Democrazia Cristiana), Davide Lippi (son of Marcello Lippi, former Juventus coach and present coach of the Italian national soccer team), Emiliano Zavaglia (son of Franco), etc.

GEA world is now under investigation for illegal competition through threats and violence and criminal organization aimed at committing fraud in sports. According to investigators, the company's administrators were in contact with their parents (administrators of several Serie A clubs) and were able to decide who would be sold to what team and for what price. The GEA world was allegedly controlling the destinies of over 300 players and 20 coaches in the Italian championship, thus becoming dominant in the soccer world.

Marcello Lippi and the Italian national team

Marcello Lippi is the former coach of Juventus and present coach of the Italian national team that will be playing in the Germany 2006 world cup. Lippi is also the father of Davide Lippi, one of the agents working for GEA world and now under investigation. According to some telephone recordings, Marcello Lippi would have been influenced in his decision on who would play in the Germany 2006 world cup by Luciano Moggi and his son (when a player plays in the national team his value increases exponentially and he can be sold for a lot of money even if he is not a very good player).

After checking the recordings – and in order not to damage the Italian team's rendition on the eve of the world cup – Guido Rossi decided to allow Lippi to coach the team throughout the world cup.

Cannavaro and Buffon, the betting scandal

Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus defender and captain of the national team) and Gianluigi Buffon (goalie of Juventus and of the national team) are presently under investigation for gambling (players are not allowed to gamble on games belonging to the same championship in which they are playing.

International reactions

Franz Beckenbauer, German world champion – both as a player and as a coach – and now president of the organizing committee of Germany 2006 was interviewed by RaiSport on May 20^th. He said: “Italy will pay in the field, during the world cup, the psychological results of the scandal that it is involved in”. The phrase almost seemed to be a threat and was answered on May 26^th by Gigi Riva, team manager of the Italian national team and former Italian soccer legend said: “I think that intelligent people with good sense in this moment will wait for the train to stop in order to understand what will stick. The situation is heavy, a real collapse: no one among us is trying to hide it. But it is bothering to hear so many former players who knew well the things of soccer speak out such negative judgments. It is easy to spit out judgments on others”.

Mafia vicotrious again in Sicily

2006-05-29T17:12:00.000+02:00

"mafia? It doesn't exit! Our problem is traffic"

Salvatore Cuffaro has won regional elections in Sicily and has been reconfirmed governor in the southern Italian island. It is a sorry day for democracy, but this here article was not written to commemorate the defeat of legality and democracy in Sicily. Quite the contrary: many foreign observers may take a look at the results of the Sicilian vote and come to the quick conclusion that Sicilians are all mafiosi. Why? Because they voted Salvatore Cuffaro again. Cuffaro is under investigation for ties with the mafia (the charges are based on some dreadfully heavy evidence). Cuffaro's Sicily is the Sicily of favors, the Sicily where one hand washes the other. It is the Sicily where nothing works when administered by the public sector and everything works when administered by privates - provided the structures are funded with public money and owned by men of honor (mafiosi). The challenger for regional elections was Rita Borsellino, sister of the magistrate Paolo Borsellino, who was blown up by a mafia bomb in 1993 after sending over 300 mafiosi to jail.

So the Sicilians voted for Cuffaro again, but it would be wrong to say that this happened because they are all mafiosi. That's just the way things work in Sicily. Mafia in Sicily is not just a criminal organization, it is a part of every fiber of the social fabric. It is a part of the clockwork that keeps everything working – although badly. If the Sicilians voted Cuffaro again they are not the ones to blame. We should blame the central government which didn't say anything to Cuffaro and to others who are suspected of belonging to the mob and allowed them to run again for office, generously dispensing support and smiles to these crooks.

2006-05-26T15:18:00.000+02:00

SHAKESPEAREAN fish swam the sea, far away from land;
Romantic fish swam in nets coming to the hand;
What are all those fish that lie gasping on the strand?

William Butler Yeats

2006-05-17T16:50:00.000+02:00

Ferdinando Imposimato

2006-05-17T15:57:00.000+02:00

Ferdinando Imposimato (Born in Maddaloni, province of Caserta on April 9, 1936) is a magistrate, a politician and occasionally a writer and journalist. He obtained his law degree in 1961 and was soon called to investigate on some of the most important cases of terrorism in Italy, such as the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro (1978), the attempted murder of Pope John Paul II by Ali Agca (1981), the murder of the vice-president of the Superior Council of Magistrates Vittorio Bachelet and of judges Riccardo Palma and Girolamo Tartaglione. He was also a main player in mafia, camorra and kidnapping investigations and trials. Because of his investigations, his brother was murdered by mafia in 1983.

He became a senator in 1987 with the Italian Communist Party, then in 1992 he moved to the lower house of Parliament with the DS (Democratici di Sinistra/left-wing democrats) party, only to return to the senate in 1994 as an independent within the DS parliamentary group: during all three legislatures he was a member of the anti-mafia commission.

He was honorary adjunct-president of the Supreme Cassation court. He wrote the books "Vaticano un affare di stato" and "corruzione ad alta velocità" in which he denounced the widespread corruption in public auctions and works.

After retirement, Imposimato continued to work privately on one of his cases, the disappearing of a young Vatican girl, Emanuela Orlandi, whom Imposimato says was kidnapped in order to blackmail Pope John Paul II. Imposimato became the personal lawyer of the Orlandi family and is continuing his investigation alone under the menacing shadow of cold war secret services and international intrigues.

Emanuela was only fifteen on June 22, 1983, when she disappeared. She was a Vatican citizen, the daughter of an employee of the prefecture of the Pontifical House (basically a mailman of the Vatican). On that day, while returning from music school, she was seen entering a dark colored car and was never seen again. According to Imposimato, the Vatican girl had been kidnapped by the Grey Wolves, a Turkish terrorist organization (the same that Ali Agca, would-be murdered of the Pope, belonged to). The decision to kidnap Emanuela had been allegedly taken by the Stasi (east German secret services) on behalf of the KGB, which was bothered by the Pope's recurrent visits to Poland and his calls for democracy in the Soviet satellite country.

Imposimato says that the girl - 23 years from her kidnapping - is still alive and probably staying in some Muslim community in Turkey. His goal is to finally find her and shed light on one of Italy's most disconcerting mysteries.

I happened to interview the man at the eve of Ali Agca's release from prison in Turkey. Agca was later returned to jail and is still locked up.

Interview with Ferdinando Imposimato – Dec 11th 2006

Q – Thursday Ali Agca should be released. Do you think that they will release him?

A – I think that he will be released because ... a very strange thing happened in Turkey. After the murder of Abdi Ipekci, which occurred in February 1979, Ali Agca was arrested and sentenced to death. He was imprisoned in the Kartal Maltepe jail in Turkey. It is to be noted that he was put in the same same cell with a Marxist terrorist named Attila Serpil. This is very significant because he was put in a cell with a Russian terrorist, so this shows that he was not a fascist. They never put terrorists with different ideologies in the same cell. Then he managed to escape in November 1979. And his escape was very strange. He left jail from the front door wearing a police uniform and when he left everyone saluted him. Then he sent the first message against the Pope. It was a letter which said: If the Pope comes to Turkey I will kill him. You see, in the trial he was sentenced to death, then, after several years, this death sentence was converted to a life in prison sentence, then, with the change in governments, the life sentence was turned into a 10 year sentence and then this 10 year sentence was reduced to 5 years. He entered Kartal Maltepe in 2000 and he will leave the jail now for sure.

Q – It's a sort of amnesty?

A – It is a partial pardon. Amnesty cancels the crime, while a pardon means that you cancel part of the sentence. It is a very grave fact because this terrorist committed not only murders but also other crimes and is – or was – a very dangerous individual. Also, he did not collaborate with justice because he alternated truths and lies. I know him very well, since 1982, I questioned him for years and then I met him again from 1997 on. Anyways, maybe it is better that you ask the questions and I will answer.

Q – Do you think that when he is released his life may be in danger?

A – Agca is in danger. Ali Agca was not a solitary terrorist, he was part of a group of terrorists – of killers – who defined themselves “terrorists without an ideology”. They were used by Bulgarian, Turkish secret services and by the KGB. And then maybe sometimes by the occidental secret services as well. He is very intelligent. He knows five languages very well. He was a very gifted university student, he knows how to speak, he writes well in English, in Italian, Turkish, German and he also knows French very well, so he is a educated, intelligent, cool and slick. He is not stupid, he knows Islamic terrorism, the terrorism of the gray wolves and also the secret agents that he met, who were diplomats from Bulgaria, the Soviet Union, the KGB. For example, one of the most famous Islamic terrorists which I didn't have the chance to meet was named Ahmud Kareem, who met Agca in Sophia in 1980 when the attempted murder of the Pope was being prepared. This Ahmud Kareem was the connection to Carlos, who was a great terrorist who was also....

Q – From Venezuela?

A – Yes...

Q – He is in France now?

A – This is 1980 we are talking about, he was in Sophia but he was protected and guided by the Stasi and he moved around all of Europe. He went to Hungaria, and – we found this out now from the Mitrokhin parliamentary commission – to Bulgaria, Germany, France and he used to work for Stasi, which was a branch of the KGB. Agca was in Bulgaria when Carlos was also there. So Agca knows a lot of things which seem incredible but which are true, because, in 23 years that I've known him I found out that many of the things he said during the first three years were true. Unfortunately, there was an efficient work of misinformation by the eastern press and by the occidental press as well, because there were many spies within the occidental press as well. It is very sad, but many journalists were paid by foreign secret services.

Q – the benedictine monk who died?

A – Not only him, but two living journalists as well, one is called Hans Jacob Steele and the other is called Huaschbush, they were accredited with the Vatican. So he is danger because he knows many things and he has a very good memory. Many of these people were never tried. Those who were tried and acquitted cannot be tried again, but there are many who were never tried and those people can be sentenced, you see, a crime punished with life in jail has no statute of limitations.

Q – So that's why he is in danger, because he knows these names...

A – Yes, he had a formidable knowledge of Islamic terrorism which he revealed in part. He revealed it gradually because he felt abandoned. Then, when they kidnapped Orlandi to ask for his release he began to act crazy, so the ravings started. But is was a lucid raving, not raving due to real craziness.

Q – I remember that he collaborated at first, and then he changed his mind after something happened...

A – there were two events. Actually there were three factors. So, in the beginning he started to collaborate, from May 1982 he started to collaborate seriously. First he gave the names of the gray wolves, then of the Bulgarian agents and then of KGB agents, including Kuzichkin, whom Ali Agca met in Iran in 1980 after his escape from jail. However, when he began to speak there was a wave of criticism against him. He was accused of being a fascist. He was a gray wolf, who were a fascist organization, but he was actually a KGB agent infiltrated within the gray wolves so that he may appear to be a fascist. Since he appeared to be a fascist, it was very hard to trace his connection to the KGB. It wasn't true that he was a fascist, he was an agent of the KGB. That's why they put him in a cell with a Marxist in Turkey.

Q – Is this the first or the second time he was jailed in Kartal?

A – Before his escape, when he was arrested for the murder of Abdi Ipekci, he was put in the same cell with Abdi Serpil, this is a very important fact. Serpil was a great terrorist of the DevSol network, which was a very strong terrorist organization in Turkey at the time. So Ali Agca told me, in a letter: I was an agent of the KGB infiltrated within the gray wolves because the gray wolves made everyone think of CIA. So if you heard gray wolves you would think it had to do with the right-wing, the CIA, the Mossad or another occidental secret service. This was told to me not only by Ali Agca but also by a Colonel of the Stasi secret services. He said: we tried to throw everyone off track and make Ali Agca appear to be a reactionary fascist but he actually was a leftist terrorist. Ali Agca was close to Sedat Sirri Kadem, who was another Marxist terrorist. They were close friends and classmates. He also would have taken part in the attempted murder of the Pope but he was never condemned. So we could say that he collaborated until 1983. Then he began to change after the kidnapping of Emanuela Orlandi because the girl was kidnapped by his accomplices to ask for his release and the release of the other gray wolves who were in jail. So he found out that they had not abandoned him. In the following months Agca was collaborating on and off and then a decisive event took place. In October 1983 two judges – who were actually two Bulgarian secret agents – went to see Agca in the Roman prison of Rebibbia. One of them was a double agent because he also worked for the KGB, his name is Stefan Markov Petkov and he was left by himself with Ali Agca as the other drew the Italian police away with an excuse. All this was told by Agca to me personally in 1997. For 20 years Agca told many lies, so I was interviewed by Corriere della Sera in 1997 and I said that he was a liar and that the truth was that he participated in a conspiracy. I said that the conspiracy was organized by the KGB and by the Bulgarians and that the girl had been kidnapped because of him. So he called me and I went to see him and he told me: you understood everything. And then he told me the story and I was able to confirm many of the things he told me. He also told me about the two Bulgarians who were actually secret agents, they were neither judges nor agents of the interior ministry. So one of them told Agca: we have kidnapped Emanuela Orlandi for you. But Emanuela Orlandi was kidnapped only after they attempted to kidnap that other girl, Angela Guggel, who was the daughter of the Pope's personal chamber aide.

Q – What year was the attempted kidnapping of Angela?

A – In 1982 they followed her. Angelo Guggel made a declaration that I have. They were warned since the day of the attempted murder of the Pope, or on the next day. Angela's father said: The French secret services told me that someone wants to kidnap a Vatican citizen. So he told his daughter to be very careful and she was. In 1982 she noticed that she was being followed by a Turkish-looking man. She told her father and the father removed her from school. So the kidnappers began to follow the daughter of the chief of Vatican Police Camillo Cibin, but he was also warned and removed his daughter from the school. However, nobody warned Ercole Orlandi, who used to live in the same building as Angelo Guggel. The girl was kidnapped on June 22nd, six days after the Pope went to Poland. The KGB didn't want the Pope to go back to Poland a second time because the Pope was calling the Polish people to rebel against communism. The Pope went to Poland on June 16th 1983 and returned on the 23rd, the day after the kidnapping of Orlandi, but when he came back he did not speak of Poland and his triumph there but he only spoke of Emanuela Orlandi, he made 8 public appeals for her liberation.

Q – Could the release of Ali Agca bring new revelations?

A – He wrote a letter to me in 1997 which I gave to the Orlandi family, he said in the letter: Emanuela Orlandi is alive and she lives in Turkey. I know him well and if he says so it means that it is true. He was informed by his brother Adnan Agca who would go and see him every month in jail. So he had a close connection with Turkey through his brother. So in this letter he said: If I am pardoned, if I will be released from Turkey I will help the Orlandi family to get their daughter back. Today he may act for the liberation of Emanuela Orlandi but I doubt that he would do so because he would expose his accomplices. The people who kidnapped the girl are also his accomplices in the attempted murder of the Pope. So he would expose them and put them at risk. They could be tried for kidnapping, which is a serious offense. So I hope that he will do something. As lawyer of the Orlandi family I will put pressure on the authorities and I will tell him that if he does not collaborate, the Italian magistrates will protest against the Turkish state and say that it is not a nation that fights terrorism. We will say that it is a nation which helps terrorists and this is a very serious thing. There is a person who tried to kill the Pope, kidnapped a child, killed a journalist. He cannot be freed and left to be free together with his accomplices. Only small crimes can be pardoned, not crimes such as this one. So we will put pressure on the Turkish state so that they will invite Ali Agca to collaborate.

Q – Yes, but if Emanuela Orlandi is alive, she spent 23 years with her kidnappers, so she probably knows everything about them. So it is very unlikely that she may be freed...

A – Yes, but he could reveal the name of the people who kidnapped her. We already know that she was at some point in the hands of Oral Celik. But Celik also disappeared. After the attempt on the Pope's life many of these people either disappeared or died a violent death.

Q – Wasn't Celik arrested in France in 1999?

A – That was 7 years ago.

Q – So when did he disappear?

A – In the last 3 years. Before then he always used to speak and now, nothing. He disappeared into thin air.

Q – You think that Emanuela is still in Turkey?

A – I think that the last place where she was taken is Turkey. When I spoke to several gray wolves during my research in Switzerland, Germany and France. I even interviewed Abdullah Chatli, who then also died a violent death. Everyone told me that the girl was taken to Germany first, then to France and then from there to Turkey, where she was living with one of the gray wolves who married her. She was alive for a long time and probably suffering from the Stockholm syndrome, so she must have fallen in love with her rapist. The same thing happened with many other people. I have been in charge of 60-65 kidnapping cases, including the Moro case, the Bulgari case and many girls fall in love with their kidnappers.

Q – When did Ali Agca say that Emanuela is alive?

A – In 1997. The last letter we have saying that she is alive is from 1997. But there were other people who said the same thing. Yalcin Ozbei also said that Emanuela was alive and in France with Oral Celik. The Italian, French and German police believed him and raided the place but the girl had been carried away moments before. She was alive, they did not kill her right away.

Q – Was this right after the kidnapping?

A – Not right away. About 3 years later.

Q – When was she taken to Turkey?

A – This letter was given to me in 1997 when he asked to meet me from the prison of Ancona because I had said those things in that interview with Corriere, that he was a liar.

Q – So the girl would have been taken to Turkey three years after the kidnapping?

A – Yes. We found elements...

Q – There are distinct elements that allow you to say that she was actually in France...

A – Yes. Anyways, it would make no sense to keep her alive for three years unless she became close to someone. So first she was taken to Bolzano from where she called a professor called Baum. Apparently she said: I am Emanuela Orlandi, help me because I was kidnapped and they want to kill me. Then they took her to Germany where there was a group of gray wolves including their chief, Ozbai was also there. Then they took her to France where there was Oral Celik and Chatli and from France she was taken to Turkey where she remained. I went to Turkey to look for her but I could not find her.

Q – Do you think that the transfer of Ali Agca from Italy to Turkey was the right thing to do?

A – This is a little complicated. You see, it was inevitable because he was sentenced to life in jail but he had spent 20 years in an Italian jail. Now Italian law says that a person who has kept a good conduct in jail for 20 years must be released. So if we had kept him here he would have been freed.

Q – So even if you are sentenced to life in prison, if you behave well after 20 years you may be released?

A – Yes. At first you may get partial freedom. And Agca got 20 years, not for a murder but for an attempted murder, so after 20 years he had to be released. So after 20 years they pardoned him in order to transfer him to a Turkish jail and keep him in prison. So this was an excuse to be able to keep him in jail longer. We knew that he had been sentenced in Turkey as well. If he were here he would have been released. We need to change the laws, it is not the fault of the judges. I didn't know all of these things, I found out just lately, during the last few days. I thought that it had been an act of weakness from Italian justice but it is not so. Because if the law says that he must be released after 20 years of good conduct in jail – because our constitution aims at reintegrating the criminal – so it isn't the judge who decides. It is the director of the prison who must free this person, it is not the fault of the Italian magistrates. He was kept in jail for 20 years.

Q – Lately I've heard a lot of talk about the burial of Enrico De Pedis (member of the 'banda della Magliana' criminal gang) in Sant'Apollinare (basilica in the center of Rome) lately. And sometimes it is connected to talk about Emanuela Orlandi, who was kidnapped more or less in the same place...

A – I am a little perplexed by this. This is a good question. This is what we are certain of: the people involved in the kidnapping of Emanuela Orlandi are the gray wolves, the Bulgarians and the KGB. And then a question: Is it possible that the members of the 'banda della Magliana' are also involved? I would say 'yes' because the gray wolves are drug dealers who had connections with other organizations for the distribution of heroin. The 'banda della Magliana' had a dominion over the distribution of drug. In the case of Emanuela Orlandi there are two young men, one called Mario and the other Pierluigi, who called by phone and speak Italian perfectly. So it is possible that they may have been members of the 'banda della Magliana'.

Q – These people made phone calls after the kidnapping?

A – Yes. The phone calls were made by three different individuals.

Q – One of them was nicknamed 'the American' by the press because of his accent.

A – Yes, however he wasn't American but Slav. We had an assessment carried out on the recordings.

Q – So you still have these recordings?

A – Yes, yes. The assessment was made by 22 multilingual experts of the Vatican. They said that this was a Slav who was probably of Bulgarian origin. He was called the “Amerikano” because he was trying to sound like an American, but the accent was surely Bulgarian. But before he called, there had been two Italian citizens, Pierluigi and Mario, who spoke perfect Italian, and they were Italian, we can tell.

Q – So there may have been some member of local organized crime who took part in the operation.

A – Yes. Even Luigi Scricciolo (UIL union member and CIA agent), who was connected to Ivan Dontchev – who was a Bulgarian and was connected with the attempted murder of the Pope – was an Italian. I have a particular investigative method. I am a mathematician of investigations, a scientist. This is what I think: If two things are connected then it can be true, if they aren't then it isn't. I don't go looking for things that aren't there. I am looking for these two Italians, Mario and Pierluigi and I may.... I am very good at this.

Q – So there is a possibility that these two cases may have been connected.

A – There is a person who told me that the 'banda della Magliana' was involved, but this person needs to give me some concrete evidence of this because to just say so is not enough. Think about it. In order to try to murder the Pope they did not use the Turkish mafia. Bekir Celenk had connections with the CIA, Celenk, the one who died and the one who financed the attempted murder of the Pope had connections with Jivkov but also with the CIA, he had money deposited in England and died a strange death in a Turkish prison after he was extradited from Bulgaria, did you know this?

Q – No, I didn't.

A – You see, the Italian magistrates issued an arrest warrant and requested the extradition of Bekir Celenk, who was one of the financiers and organizers of the attempted murder of the Pope. He wanted to collaborate, but Bulgaria gave him to Turkey instead, which had not requested his extradition. They gave him to the Turkish magistrates and the next day he died of a heart attack. Can you believe that?

Amatriciana Spy Story: Storax!!!

2006-05-09T12:21:00.000+02:00

In the morning of theFebruary 9^th a police operation carried out in Milano, Roma, Firenze, Padova and Novara brought to justice eleven private eyes, two marshals of the Financial police, one police inspector and two employees of the Italian telephone company Telecom Italia. Authorities also searched the office of Niccolò Accame, the spokesman of the former Lazio region governor and health minister Francesco Storace. The outcome of the operation was a mysterious and disquieting story of home-made espionnage and the formal notice of an investigation for criminal gang on the head of Francesco Storace, 47, recently elected senator of the Italian Republic with the right-wing party Alleanza Nazionale (National Alliance).

It all began a little over a year ago when a candidate in Storace's electoral list for the regional elections denounced the presence of forged signatures in the list presented by challenger Alessandra Mussolini (granddaughter of the historical fascist dictator). The Italian law required each candidate for the Lazio elections to gather a minimum of 3500 signatures in order to run for elections. Apparently someone had illegally broken into the computer archives of the Rome city government to retrieve useful informations on the signatories of Mussolini's list. Magistrates believe it was Mirko Maceri, director of the “Laziomatica” computer company owned by the Lazio region, then governed by Storace. Mussolini's reaction was immediate as she fingered Storace, calling him “Storhacker”, of attempting to sabotage her candidacy. The case seemed to have been closed and forgotten, but the judicial authority had been tipped off and new developments were to arise on February 9^th, 2006, when Milano magistrate Paolo Belsito ordered the row of arrests and the search of Accame's office.

Two of the individuals behind bars were Pierpaolo Pasqua and Gaspare Gallo, members of a private detective agency called Ssi that was working for Storace at the time. According to Storace, the Ssi had been contacted to find out whether his offices in the regional government's headquarters were bugged, but the investigators believe that they may have been hired for more “delicate” matters. In fact, Pasqua and Gallo were filmed by Italian Carabinieri (military police) while they were stationed in the street beneath the building that hosted the electoral committee of Piero Marrazzo, then-challenger and now newly elected Lazio governor. The two private eyes were sitting in a car and filming all individuals entering and leaving the building.

The three targets of the private-eyes had been playfully nicknamed “qui, quo and qua” (Disney's Hewey, Dewey and Lewey). One was Piero Marrazzo, the second Alessandra Mussolini and the third was Giovanna Melandri, who had been fingered as a possible challenger of Storace in the regional elections.

Here are some of the recordings that authorities gathered during their probe:

February 24^th 2005, 8:08pm, Niccolò Accame calls Pierpaolo Pasqua.

N: Hi it's Nicol how are we doing?

P: Saturday or Sunday we will be able to carry out the operation.

N: Do you need anything? Do you need me to tell you anything else or have you arrived where you wanted by yourself? Did you get a confirmation on that name I told you?

P: I'm getting all of the confirmations needed.

February 26^th, 7:01pm, Pierpaolo Pasqua tells Gaspare Gallo how to carry out operation “Qui”, referring to Alessandra Mussolini.

G: We need to get in at the right time and erase the things at the right time.

P: I told you that sooner or later they would ask us to do something dirty (zozzata).

March 3^rd, 4:33am, one day before the deadline for the presentation of the lists, Pasqua receives a phone call from an unidentified individual. The prosecution suspects that the man may be inside the offices of Alessandra Mussolini.

P: How many of them have you got?

U: I made 5 of them on 80 papers, then 400 papers with 5 repetitions.

P: Then it's 3200 of them that are not valid, perfect, they are sufficient.

March 5^th, 5:30pm, Pasqua and Gallo speak about how to anonymously denounce the “irregularities” of Mussolini's list.

P: Do you have a card (phone card) that's not treatable to anyone? I have to send a telegram and it must be anonymous.

G: I can even send an anonymous one from a bar.

P: For a telegram they will charge you and issue a bill.

G: Then what if I go to the post office and I don't give them my documents (ID)?

P: Of course they'll ask for your documents, if I go to a pony express (mail service) I'm afraid that I may not be on time and at any rate they'll want my documents. Damn it I don't know what to do. Everything was well done, the work was well done, everything was set up and now I don't know what to do. What if you steal someone's mobile phone?

G: Yes I can do that, I'll steal it from someone.

P: Do that and then let the person find it again.

G: It's quite complicated... what about an anonymous letter?

P: If I could send an envelope everything would be solved, but they would not receive it by tomorrow.

March 1^st, 10:06pm, Pasqua speaks to his wife about the end of “operation Qui” (Mussolini) and the beginning of “operation Quo” (Marrazzo):

P: Between today and after-tomorrow we will be done with Qui, then we must begin taking care of Quo and Qua.

C: But isn't it a little bit dangerous?

P: A little bit, if there is no danger...

C: Hopefully we won't have trouble.

P: No, provided they win again, because they have to win, because if they don't then we all go home...

C: Yes, but... if they don't win again who does? Marrazzo?

March 22^nd, 6:15pm, Gallo speaks to Marshal Franco Liguori (his accomplice) to find out the income of Marrazzo's wife (Roberta Sardoz)

F: Look, Sardo Rosarita doesn't seem to exist, I tried Sardo, Sardi, Rosa by itself, Rita by itself, in all imaginable and possible ways... do you have the social security number by any chance?

G: I don't have it here with me. But I checked it, it's correct.

F: Yes, correct, correct, but even Marrazzo in the end was Pietro and not Piero.

G: (reads the social security number)

F: So Serdoz Roberta has nothing to do with her... the birthday is the same 10.8.68.

G: This is the registration for a mobile phone, so what the fuck did they write... they retrieved it and probably wrote one thing for the other.

(ten minutes later Liguori sends an SMS message to Gallo), it reads: Wouldn't it have been easier if you just told me it was Marrazzo's wife?

Gallo's answer: I didn't know.

April 5^th, 10:39am, Marshal Liguori calls Gallo.

L: Listen, now that he's lost the elections is he still going to pay you?

G: Actually he's already paid me.

On March 10^th, after the recordings were partially published on national media, Storace resigned from his post as health minister.

“Even the simple suspicion – said Storace – that I may have set up a frameup against my political opponents saddens and outrages me. I feel that I have the right to know the truth as soon as possible, because nothing is more important to me than my personal and political honor. I can't wait until someone will decide to accuse me of even one single thing”. The invitation did not go unanswered: on March 30^th Storace was formally registered as investigated for participating in the violation of a computer network.

Meanwhile the suspects were turning into dreadful reality: The two Marshals confessed that they were spying Marrazzo, the Ssi technician confessed that he was acting as a mediator and paying the Marshalls 250 Euro for every bit of information they provided, the Telecom Italia operators also confessed. Gaspare Gallo confessed, but also said that those who commissioned the “job” were politicians close to Storace and not the ex-Minister himself. Apparently Gallo's clarifications did not convince magistrates, who are now probing Storace for allegedly setting up a criminal gang in the intent to discredit his challengers and be reconfirmed governor of the Lazio region.

Stefano Ricucci - Rise and fall of the man from Zagarolo

2006-05-09T10:32:00.000+02:00

Stefano Ricucci, born in Zagarolo, a small town in the outskirts of Rome on October 11, 1962 became the talk of the town last year when he raided the stock market to buy shares of RCS Mediagroup worth €650 million (about $810 million), hiking his stakes in the group to 20% from just 2% in a few weeks time. RCS Mediagroup controls Italy's leading daily newspaper Corriere della Sera, traditional loudspeaker of Italy's capitalist elite and the object of furious takeover battles since the beginning of the 1900's.

Ricucci's Magiste International holding, through which the upstart corporate raider attempted the takeover, is a dynamic and shapeless entity that originates in tax heavens like Guernsey island and Torola (British Virgin islands), Madeira and Luxemburg and then makes its way to Italy through an inextricable network of subsidiaries. The enormous amounts of cash used by Ricucci to rake up shares of RCS Mediagroup also have a doubtful origin: in 2002 the Italian government granted a near-to tax free (2,5%) return to illegally exported capitals stacked in fiscal havens by speculators. Many analysts believe that this may have allowed anonymous investors to make capitals available to Ricucci for the hike while shielding them from taxation in Italy.

However that was just the beginning. The former governor of the Bank of Italy gave Ricucci and other corporate raiders with less-than-immaculate curriculums green light to hike stakes in banks Antonveneta and BNL to prevent their takeover by foreign banks ABN Amro and BBVA (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria).

As the mixed interests of Italian political and economic elites caused a paralysis in the face of such illegal operations, the judicial power was forced to tackle the problem single handedly. Following the investigations carried out by magistrates, Ricucci was thrown in jail in April this year and charged with just about everything from stock manipulation to criminal bankruptcy. Ricucci's fellow raiders were also removed from their administrative posts and jailed in December 2005 . Also, the former governor of the bank of Italy Antonio Fazio was forced to resign after a long and embarrassing tug-of-war between his political backers and detractors.

Lack of competition and transparency in Italian economic institutions, banks and investors alike have caused a row of economic scandals in Italy during the last few years, including the collapse of food-giant Parmalat, which in 2004 was found to be responsible for a whopping €14 billion ($17.2 billion) accounting fraud. Magistrates have had to increasingly replace politicians in representing the interests of small investors, whom are often left alone to pay the consequences of illegal financial operations. Add to that recent legislations that have softened penalties for financial crime and one may get a glimpse of the fragility of the Italian economic scenario.

the "Squadra Mobile" of Palermo and Provenzano

2006-05-02T14:33:00.000+02:00

Boris Giuliano, head of the Palermo Squadra Mobile,
killed on July 21 1979 by mafioso Leoluca Bagarella

Interview with the chief of the “squadra mobile” of Palermo, Giuseppe Gualtieri – April 20^th 2006

Q – How many people work here with the squadra mobile?

A – 320 detectives.

Q – All of them work on mafia?

A – No, we are divided into 8 sections: the 1^st is organized crime, the 2^nd is immigrant criminality, the 3^rd is the homicide section, the 4^th is crimes against minors and sex crimes, the 5^th is anti-robberies, the 6^th is crimes against the public administration, the 7^th is narcotics, the 8^th is “catturandi”, the one which captures fugitives. Also, there is the very special “gruppo d'uomo” which, together with the “catturandi” was created to capture Provenzano.

Q – Gruppo d'uomo?

A – Yes, these are the 18 men who gave a vital contribution in the capture of Bernardo Provenzano.

Q – Is this group going to be dismantled now that you have Provenzano?

A – No, not yet, because we have some investigative confirmations to carry out on the material that was confiscated from Provenzano.

Q – When was the special group formed?

A – The special group was formed exactly in February 18^th 2005.

Q – Did you have any particular element that could allow you to form such a special group?

A – No, the group was formed because – since Provenzano is the head of Cosa Nostra – and he has been a fugitive for many years, it was necessary to have a group of persons that would dedicate their work exclusively on that matter. Exclusively Provenzano. For example, the “catturandi” squad also works on finding other fugitives, not only Provenzano. There are other fugitives that we are looking for. But for Provenzano we created a separate group. We took 18 members of the squadra mobile and 8 detectives of the central operative service, with a functionary of the central operative service who assisted me. So we created this group that has a connection with the center and people who know the territory well.

Q – Whose initiative was it?

A – It was the initiative of the then-questore of Palermo.

Q – Who was it?

A – It was questore Cirillo at the time.

Q – How long have you been here?

A – I've been here for a year, from March 2005. So right after the formation of the group. I was sent here and among my missions was that of capturing Provenzano.

Q – Special mission?

A – Yes, one of the mission goals was the capture of Bernardo Provenzano.

Q – Before working here, where did you work?

A – Before coming here I was the head of the Siderno police station, which is in Calabria, the police station of the cities that form the Locride region.

Q – Calabria...

A – Ndrangheta. I am an expert of ndrangheta.

Q – How many years have you been doing this job?

A – 22 years. I've been dealing with organized crime for 22 years.

Q – In Calabria...

A – Yes, prevalently in Calabria. I have worked in all the provinces of Calabria and in Sicily.

Q – How many years did you stay in Calabria for?

A – Apart from a brief interruption during which I was transferred to the central agency, you could say I was there for 18 years.

Q – How old are you?

A – 52.

Q – Almost half of your life you...

A – Yes, certainly.

Q – The police has always looked for Provenzano, why is it that you managed to catch him this time?

A – This is what happened: we finally hit the right track. For years we have sought Provenzano by trying to backtrack from his collaborators up. This time we worked the other way, we began to investigate from the top: from Corleone towards the bottom, so we managed to intercept their network, the famous messages, the pizzini, not as they left the hands of Provenzano but as they arrived to the place where we thought he could be hiding.

Q – Did it ever occur to you that Provenzano could be staying in Corleone, his home town?

A – All the great fugitives stay in their home-territory. It's a symbol.

Q – So it was normal for him to be there?

A – Perhaps he wasn't there all year. Perhaps he moved around. But Provenzano, just like all the other great mafia fugitives, doesn't leave his territory. I'm not speaking of the exact geographical spot of Corleone, but the territory comprising their “mandamento” (a geographical area controlled by the head of a mafia family). Provenzano belongs to the mafia “mandamento” of Corleone. The “mandamento” of Corleone is called by the mafia 'mandamento of monte mezzanio'. He had to be there. It is a symbolic thing.

Q – He had to be there in order to command the mafia.

A – All of the great fugitives, both of the mafia, ndrangheta and camorra were caught in their territory where they are undisturbed.

Q – Did you have a similar experience in Calabria?

A – Yes, in Calabria I captured several fugitives of the ndrangheta, all of them within their territory.

Q – The people of Corleone knew each other well?

A – The inhabitants of Corleone live a situation of fear, just like all the inhabitants of places where the mafia has existed for centuries. So those who did not collaborate with Provenzano would certainly not run the risk of losing their life to tell on him.

Q – So you didn't get any message from the people of Corleone to help you catch him?

A – No way. We had several anonymous messages when the identikit(simulated drawing of his face) of Provenzano was diffused, but all of them were clearly not serious.

Q – The telephone interceptions done by the Italian police are very famous. But Provenzano didn't use a cell phone, he just used paper messages. It must have been very difficult to...

A – He used paper messages for years. Provenzano doesn't use any kind of technology, he never used any. He controlled this very big and powerful criminal organization with the “pizzini” system.

Q – It is very strange...

A – It is strange but it is so safe that it allowed him to remain a fugitive for 43 years.

Q – Provenzano always used the pizzini?

A – Not only him but also other members of the mafia use the pizzini.

Q – So the system of “pizzini” is normal within the mafia?

A – It is a tradition of Sicilian mafia. Even when they are inside houses, the Sicilian mafia members will sometimes write notes to each other rather than speak. While listening to our microphones in the houses of other mafia members we could hear them writing but we couldn't hear them speak.

Q – How many typewriters did he have?

A – Two, one was electrical and the other was manual.

Q – What brands? Japanese?

A – No, Italian, the electric one was an electra... something, I don't remember, and then the other was an Olivetti.

Q – Very old ones?

A – No, not really. It was a portable one, a small one with small characters, like the ones used by journalists.

Q – Did he used to write by hand or ...

A – He wrote with the typewriter. He only used to write the messages by hand. Actually, on each “pizzino”, he would put an address. The address was a number: he assigned a number to each person that he wrote to and from whom he received mail. So he gave these people numbers. One of the jobs of our detectives now is to understand which people correspond to which numbers. So they must understand who Provenzano was writing to and who was writing to Provenzano.

Q – What about this (showing a reproduction of a pizzino by Repubblica)...

A – No, this is a code with no... it is a journalistic game. The content of Provenzano's messages was clear. It was not written in a cryptic way. What was not clear is who was supposed to receive the messages and who was sending the letters to him. Then naturally, since the contents of the messages were very synthetic, the person who received them knew exactly what the meaning of the contents were while somebody else would probably not understand it. But the messages were not coded messages. There is no “Provenzano code”.

Q – But you said that they followed the pizzini...

A – We've followed the pizzini for years. We carried out many operations and captured many allies of Provenzano who were carrying the pizzini, the problem is that every time we got close to Provenzano, the whole thing would be blocked and we never could get to him. Throughout the years we followed many pizzini. It is an ordinary communication system for the mafia. This time the pizzini were travelling together with clean clothes and gift that his family was sending to him. So by following this package in which there were clothes and gifts from his family we managed to understand the first postman. Basically the package would take four days to travel three kilometers, that's the distance between the house of his family and his hideout. During these four days the package would stop in four different houses. So the real difficulty we had was that I can find the first stop, but then I may not be able to find the second. You see, from the second house I would have to see the same package leave the house for the third, fourth house and then to Provenzano. That's why, even though we spent great sacrifices to catch him, we can say that we were lucky. We were lucky that the package was never changed from the first house to his hideout, we always recognized the same package until it stopped in “Contrada Cavalli”, so we knew he was there. Also, he never left the house, we observed the house for a month and he always remained inside. The only thing he did was open the door.

Q – So you were there for a month after he received the package?

A – Yes, until we had evidence that he was actually there. Then finally we decided: when the next package will arrive we will arrest him.

Q – That's when you saw his hand?

A – Yes, on April 11, 2006, the first time that he stuck his hand outside the door.

Q – I also heard that you used cameras...

A – We watched him with a camera from 1,5 km away. Or else they would have discovered us.

Q – What was inside this package?

A – Clean clothes, messages...

Q – From his wife?

A – Yes, she used to wash clothes for him. And sometimes she would send him some small good thing to eat. It depends. Once she even sent him a small TV, you could clearly see it from the packaging. The same Television that we found in his house. The package was transparent and you could tell that there was a TV inside.

Q – How long did Provenzano remain in the same house?

A – We can say that he was there for the past month for sure, but he could have been there for the past year as far as we know. We will find out more when the chemical and biological analysis in the house will yield results. If we find a biological residue of Provenzano dating six months back then we will say that he was in there for six months, if it will date a year back then we will say that he was certainly there for a year. Right now all we can say is that he was certainly there for a month because we were watching the house for a month.

Q – Was Provenzano in Marseilles or in Germany?

A – Yes, he went there to be operated for a prostate cancer... well, I don't know whether it was cancer... carcinoma I believe. Anyways yes, he went to Marseilles, we even found traces of the operation there.

Q – This was 2004?

A – 2003.

Q – They also said that his children knew German so well to make one think that the whole family may have spent time in Germany.

A – The children are... one of them already works and lives in Germany. The whole Provenzano family... the children are old enough, one of them is a professor, he teaches...

Q – So the fact that his children know German doesn't mean that Bernardo Provenzano may have stayed abroad.

A – No. I am absolutely sure that he didn't go abroad. He just went to Marseilles for health reasons.

Q – It seems like the image of the house is very poor and modest but in reality he was controlling huge amounts of money. How much money can be moved by Cosa Nostra?

A – It's impossible to know. Cosa Nostra has interests in America, Australia, Canada... it is not quantifiable. The second level of Cosa Nostra even has investments in the stock market. The important thing under the media point of view is that the head of the richest criminal organization in the world – an organization whose purpose is money and power – shows that he is the head of Cosa Nostra and that he does not need any material belongings. Provenzano demonstrates that his leadership is self indulging. The power he has is in itself comprehensive of every will and gratification. His affiliates, on the other hand, are billionaires, they have cars, villas, etc. But he lives only to give orders to Cosa Nostra and he gives up everything else.

Q – After Totò Riina was arrested, Provenzano controlled everything...

A – Yes, of course.

Q – Since 1993? By himself?

A – Yes, certainly.

Q – The boss of bosses for over 13 years...

A – Certainly.

Q – So obviously he had a lot of money.

A – If he wanted money, he could have as much as he wanted. But he chose to live this life...

Q – Do you think that he lived this way for a long time or just during the latest period?

A – No. Perhaps when he was younger he... but basically he always lived a life of loneliness and self indulging power.

Q – How much money did you find inside the house?

A – There were about 3 or 4 thousand euro total. Nothing really big. He kept that money in the case he would have to move quickly to a different location. If he needed to escape suddenly then he would use that money. But otherwise he didn't have any need for money.

Q – Over the past decade, how many properties were confiscated by the authorities from Cosa Nostra?

A – I have no idea. I live inside a house that was confiscated from the mafia. It was the house of Vito Ciancimino, the famous mafia boss. The properties confiscated are numberless, it is not possible for me to give you a number in billions. It is like a pit with no bottom. Every six months we have a new anti-mafia operation. We arrest a series of mafiosi. But then the mafia regenerates itself. So after about a year we confiscate billions in properties from the mafiosi.

Q – There is an article which says 6 billions...

A – Yes, that's journalistic stuff, it could be a lot more. If you want to write an economical article about this subject you would have to speak with my colleague. She works in the office for preventive measures and she may be able to give you an exact number, but the newspaper often say these things approximately.

Q – Where were you when Provenzano was captured?

A – I was there. I arrived there immediately.

Q – You were here in Palermo or...

A – No, not here. I was there in Corleone of course. I wouldn't have missed it for anything in the world.

Q – You saw the house of Provenzano?

A – Above all I saw Provenzano.

Q – Was he surprised?

A – Of course, he felt very safe there. He was surrounded by his old childhood friends. For him these people would have never betrayed him.

Q – How many policemen surrounded the house during the arrest?

A – Twenty-five.

Q – Was that enough?

A – Of course. If there were more they would have... you see, the difficulty of moving around in the territory of Corleone is that you don't have to be seen. Twenty-five were a lot.

Q – How were they dressed?

A – Normal, the Italian police operates without any particular...

Q – But were they wearing uniforms?

A - ... camouflage or civilian because before you get to the place you have to avoid being noticed. They were staying inside a van. A normal van.

Q – How many vehicles? Two? Three?

A – It was a van and a jeep.

Q – Only two vehicles?

A – Yes, the policemen were standing. There were no seats inside the van.

Q – Did he say anything when he was arrested?

A – Not really. The only thing he said was: “you don't realize what you just did”. Almost to mean that he was a regular old man and that it was a mistake.

Q – He tried to deny?

A – It is a ritual of the mafia, they always do that.

Q – How did you identify Provenzano? With the DNA?

A – We used the dactyloscopic fingerprints.

Q – You identified him from his fingerprints?

A – Yes.

Q – We heard talk of DNA testing...

A – Fingerprints are enough.

Q – But you took his prints after he was arrested. So up to the arrest you could not be sure that it was him. It could have been anybody...

A – Of course. We were sure because of the package.

Q – So you immediately took his prints. On the same day?

A – Of course. What if it were not him?

Q – In this article it says that he was taken on a helicopter...

A – He was taken from his house by car.

Q – And was he taken here to the questura?

A – Of course.

Q – Is it true that he said: “good work and congratulations...”

A – No, no. He didn't say a word.

Q – He was always silent?

A – He didn't say anything.

Q – Is he still silent?

A – Yes, today the magistrates went to question him and he chose to exercise his right to remain silent.

Q – This is a rule of the mafiosi?

A – Yes.

Q – Would Provenzano have any reason to reveal anything?

A – Provenzano knows all the secrets of Cosa Nostra, he is the head of Cosa Nostra.

Q – But he will never talk?

A – That's his problem. It is not impossible. We do not think that he may speak but everything is possible. Riina never repented but there are some who time by time begin to speak.

Q – Did Riina reveal any secret?

A – No. He was silent.

Q – I heard that when he arrived in the jail where the son of Riina was staying, the son of Riina would have yelled: “he's not a boss, he's a policeman”. Is that true?

A – That's what Repubblica said, but none of us were there, none of us knows whether its true or invented, I don't know...

Q – Is it true that he had five bibles in his house?

A – Yes, there were six actually.

Q – But he had these bibles because he was religious or... there is another story which says that the bibles were used to read the coded messages...

A – The bible is filled with underlinings. But it's the underlinings of somebody who studies the bible, not the underlinings of some kind of code or particular message. What really interests us is the numbers and addresses, what we need to find is a list saying: “Gualtieri, n.5, Nicola, n.3, Giovanni...” and so on. The bible has no reason to...

Q – But Provenzano was very religious?

A – That's what he wanted people to believe. But what his concept of religion is remains to be seen. Somebody who committed a yet-to-be-defined number of murders can be religious? I don't know.

Q – How many life sentences did he receive?

A – Fifteen... or something like that.

Q – But you said that Provenzano underlined some parts of the bible... do you remember what parts of the bible were underlined?

A – Every page was full of them, there are thousands. It was the book he read.

Q – Did he use some of these passages in his messages?

A – Yes, he sometimes put some of them in the messages to have an air of... he's a criminal, we don't have to... he is an anti-state.

Q – anti-state?

A – Yes, of course. We must not emphasize these aspects... all the bosses were very religious, they often went to church. It is an old mafia tradition because mafia must appear like the good part of society while the state must appear as the oppressive part of society. Sicily, just like Calabria and the rest of southern Italy were invaded by the Piemontesi, so they always felt that the state was an invader and that the local society was healthy and autonomous, etc.

Q – Do you have any example of any messages where he used the bible?

A - “May God accompany you” and things like that. Very generic phrases, nothing that could really make one think: “what did he want to say by that?”. It was just to show his image of father of the... family.

Q – I read that the main difference between Cosa Nostra and the other criminal organizations, such as ndrangheta is that Cosa Nostra has a pyramidal structure with one unique boss at the top while the other organizations work like federations. Once the chief is in jail, what will happen to the structure?

A – There will be a dialog among the parts. This is a very old organization which has lasted for a long time. Since it lasted for a long time it has some mechanisms to regenerate itself. So Cosa Nostra already has a system to designate a new chief without a particular struggle. Of course there can be a struggle for the leadership but it is a pathological event. Usually Cosa Nostra is already organized to designate a new boss when the old one is not there anymore.

...

Q – This is Giuliano?

A – Yes, Boris Giuliano. We have a small gallery of all the people of the squadra mobile who were killed. This is Giuliano... each has his history under the photograph.

Q – How many are they?

A – Nine, all of them killed by the mafia.

Provenzano the boss of bosses?

2006-04-24T12:31:00.000+02:00

They say he is the boss of bosses and now he's in jail. They say that it's a great victory for the state in the fight against organized crime. They say he was still in charge, although he was living in a barn with prostate cancer. Well, looks are often deceiving but even more often they aren't.
Bernardo Provenzano looked like a boss at the end of his career. He looked like a retired boss and not the head of Cosa Nostra, like the magistrates said.
Usually, when people like Provenzano are caught it is because their protections have ceased. This could be the case with Provenzano and there are two clear hints that point at this conclusion. Firstly, he was staying 3 km. from Corleone, his home town, just a few thousand souls and everybody knows everybody else. His family was sending him food, clean clothes, a tv set, etc. Does that look like the hideout of the 43-year fugitive boss of bosses? Evidently his capture was the result of a negotiation between the parts. Secondly, Provenzano was captured hours after the results of the 2006 Italian political elections were made public. Coincidence? Perhaps, but perhaps not!
I went to speak to the head of the Palermo "Squadra Mobile", responsible for the operation and his statements contradicted those of his colleagues: he said the bibles found in the house were six, not five. He said that the little "pizzini" (messages) found in the house were not coded messages, he said that they observed Provenzano for a month before capturing him.
The impression I got was that the authorities are purposely making up confusing details to create an aura of legend around operation "Provenzano".
When Totò Riina, the other boss of bosses, was arrested in 1993, authorities told journalists a version of his capture which was completely fake, only to reveal details of the real operations years later, perhaps that's what is happening this time as well. Hopefully the reason for this is just security and not some kind of new way to deal with the new mafia by treating it like a "political" counterpart.

Berlusconi out of control

2006-04-13T14:16:00.000+02:00

Babies will wail and toss things when they are not satisfied. They will shout and cry and grab and become extremely aggressive. Why? Because babies always get what they want. They think everything is due to them until they grow up and learn that things must be achieved through actions. Berlusconi is just like a baby. He lost elections in Italy by a handful of votes but he doesn't accpet defeat, he never has. If he lost, it means the other guy cheated. If he is rejected, it means you are an asshole... or at least a communist. He is willing to stall the life of an entire country - millions of people - just because he won't give up power to anybody else: it's his and he wants to keep it... for good. Well, it's a good lesson to all Italians, before you vote for someone, look him/her in the eyes and try to get a reading of the person, if those eyes dash nervously from side to side like his do, forget about it and cast your vote elsewhere.

The new governing coalition in Italy: fingers crossed

2006-04-12T11:43:00.000+02:00

Unione:

Camera:

Ulivo (220)

Rifondazione Comunista (41)

U.D.Eur Popolari (10)

Comunisti Italiani (16)

Fed dei Verdi (15)

SVP – Südtiroler Volkspartei (4)

Di Pietro – Italia dei Valori (16)

La Rosa nel Pugno (18)

Senato:

Democratici di Sinistra (62)

DL La Margherita (39)

L'Unione Prodi (4)

Rifondazione Comunista (27)

U.D.Eur Popolari (3)

Insieme con L'Unione – Verdi, PCI, Consumatori Uniti (11)

Di Pietro – Italia dei Valori (4)

L'Unione SVP (3)

Aut.Lib. Democratie (1)

L'Ulivo (1)

SVP (1)

Codacons – Lista Consumatori (1)

SVP (another member of the Sudtiroler Volkspartei elected outside of Trentino) (1)

Associazione Italiani in Sud America (independent) (1)

Orientation of each party:

Democratici di Sinistra: reformed ex-communist party members

DL La Margherita: center-left party formed by ex-Democrazia Cristiana members and others; based on the idea of the US democratic party but with strong religious connotations (an alternative to UDC within the center-left).

U.D.Eur Popolari (Unione Democratici per l'Europa): Catholic democrats and secular reformists. The party's program is inspired by the Christian religious principles and social doctrine.

Verdi, PDCI, PRC: more extreme left-wing fractions of the coalition.

Di Pietro – Italia dei Valori: reformist party whose program is based on legality and justice.

Rosa nel Pugno (Radicals, SDI): Radical liberal party.

Main contradictions:

Religion: Margherita and UDEur are very conservative in the religious field. They are against Pacs (although they have agreed to introduce them for the time being) and think that the Church should give political advice to its followers (Ruini, etc.) On the other hand, parties like Rosa nel Pugno, Verdi, PDCI, PRC and part of the DS are secular, in favor of Pacs and believe that the Church should not be involved in politics.
Infrastructures: Some of the parties in the coalition (Verdi, PRC, PDCI) are against great infrastructural works that can damage the environment such as the TAV (high speed train), which may be vital to the economic growth of the country.
Foreign Policy: Some parties (Verdi, PRC, PDCI and part of the DS) are in favor of an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. Some of these (Verdi, PRC, PDCI) even want to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and the Balkans. The DS are somewhere in the middle, while Prodi, Margherita, Rosa nel Pugno believe that such withdrawal should happen in accordance with the needs of the Iraqi authorities.
Taxes: While the Ulivo, Margherita, Rosa nel Pugno, Italia dei Valori and Udeur agree that tax reforms are needed and would be willing to enact unpopular measures in order to cure the country's economy, it is very unlikely that parties such as PRC, PDCI and Verdi would agree on anything that may damage the lower classes in any way. While PRC, PDCI and Verdi would like to cancel the “legge Biagi” (reform of the labor market which introduces new forms of flexible contracts), the DS, Margherita and the others believe that flexibility is needed and that the “legge Biagi” should be kept and slightly modified. Also, the more extreme left-wing parties (PRC, PDCI, Verdi) will probably like to help the Unions more than Confindustria, while the other parties of the coalition understand that both workers and businesses must be helped at this time.

Italy: a country split in half

2006-04-10T23:55:00.000+02:00

The aggressive and uncivilized tones of the electoral campaign have split Italy in half like an axe. I've been sitting in my office looking at the exit polls, projections (all wrong) and results of the balloting. Conclusion: the country is ungovernable. There can be no German 'great coalition' nor another election (it would probably yield the same result again). The right says that the left cannot govern, the left says that they should be allowed to govern even with a slight margin in the parliament.
This is the problem, let's see if I can make this clearer than it is for me: The lower house of parliament is elected with a purely proportional method with a 'majority prize' that would ensure a 55% majority. The senate, however, is elected on a regional basis, with 'majority prizes' that would ensure 55% in each region separately. This is the catch: in the senate there can be a minority that gets more seats in parliament because some regions represent more seats than others.
Add to that the fact that the electoral system was changed months before the vote and you get the idea: somebody did his best to fuck up the entire scene. Well done! The country needs economic, social, political reforms and somebody tried to stall the situation rather than give up power. Well, that's just swell for us Italians, we should really be proud of our political class!
Perhaps the only alternative is anarchy, at least there would be some change.

Italians are 'assholes': thank you Berlusconi!

2006-04-05T12:38:00.000+02:00

Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi, in a desperate final attempt to save his position, has called whoever will not vote for him a 'coglione', which literally means 'testicle' but could be translated into 'moron' or 'asshole'. This crude epiteph was not issued during a private meeting between Berlusconi and his plummer, but during a meeting with the Italian association of commerce. The fact that "our" prime minister has the nerve to insult roughly half the nation is due to the uneasiness felt during his inexorable downfall to the level occupied by the rest of us mortals.
I hope these 30 or so million assholes will have enough sense to vote somebody else this weekend.

Interview with Gavino Ledda, writer of “Padre Padrone” (Siligo)

2006-03-30T14:59:00.000+02:00

This is an interview with writer Gavino Ledda, who wrote the book: "Padre Padrone, my father, my master". He began working as a sheep herder in rugged Sardegna at the age of 6 or 7 under the strict rule of his father. When he reached 20 he began to make up for the years of school he had missed and finally published a book which sold millions of copies all over the world. Overall he is a wonderfully interesting character.

Day 1.

Q – Is it true that you are active in the preservation of the Sardinian dialect?

A – I think that I am a heir of the Sardinian oral tradition. Sardinian is a very beautiful language, but it's never been written in...almost never. From the beginning of the 1900's we had the fortune that a German linguist came to Sardinia and made a dictionary for all of it's people: Italian – Sardinian. I should have kept teaching Sardinian, but you could say that the vocation to writing prevailed. This necessity to write incited me to found a school where I can teach Sardinian, but a particular one, a multidimensional. Einstein was very right.

Q – So now you work more as a linguist rather than as a novelist?

A – Well, actually both. My new works will be in two languages, Sardinian and Italian, both of them written by using my multidimensional method. The two languages face to face in the book. Two new languages. This way we'll have a Sardinian language for the year 3000 and an Italian one for that year (for the future).

Q – When will your next work be published?

A – Probably by next year, in the next Spring.

.. Shows the school outside ...

A – What my new mode of expression attempts to do is to give a new dimension to a word, in this case the dimension is time, by inserting another word within the first word to give it the impression of action, to make the word more dynamic.

Day 2.

Q – My first question is ... why did you come back to Siligo?

A – You could say that I never left. My heart never left. And I think that it's a common characteristic for all men to stay with their heart where they were born, where they grew up. However, if you want to study, as I say in my book, I had two paths that I could follow. One was emigration, in Germany, Netherlands, Belgium. The other was the army. I couldn't become a Carabiniere because I was too short. You have to be 1,60 meters. I tried to stretch my neck but I couldn't make it. So I became a Sergeant in the army and for those years I was away. The book “padre padrone” is a part of my life, an autobiography. I went in the army, starting from scratch, for four years. I had a lot of free time in the army and I could study. Many of my fellow soldiers had studied and had a degree, and they taught me. I grew up with the school of friendship. When my four years in the army were over I made a choice: to get a degree in ancient Greek and other ancient languages, and ancient philology. All of the languages pertaining to the indo-European, ancient ones. Basically all of the languages of the occident. I can't speak them very well but I can understand them when I read them. Only Albanian, Basque don't belong to that group. I was at the university in Rome and for that time I was away from home again. Then I became an assistant of Romantic linguistics and Sardinian. However, the art of writing did not match well we the academic life. I understood that if I was to be a writer I had to come back here and become a shepherd of sounds, of music, just as I had been a Shepherd of sheep. Only a pastor of sounds could invent this new mode of expression. I call it an expressive mode.

Read this, to understand the difference between modality and language:

Alex: “Modalità (mode): The study of the systematic behavior of man's communications in all of it's modes. The most important one is that of listening and speaking which constitutes the object of the fundamental study of linguistics. The study of the visual mode (expressions of the face and gestures of the body) is in general called “cinesca”. The study of the tactile mode (physical interactions which allow for physical contact is called the “prossenica”. The term semiotic can be used also to indicate the study of the systems of signs and symbols in general. In this case, blah, blah, blah...

A – So there are several modes. Mine belongs to the “listening and speaking” mode. What is different about this mode of mine are small adverbial “particles” which are inserted within a noun. So it becomes a mix between an adverb and a noun. You've always heard that nouns are nouns, verbs are verbs, and so on. So I took the adverb and joined it with the noun or the verb. To make it easier I can make this comparison: Just as Einstein joined the spatial dimensions with time, so I try to give the dimension of time to the language. This has always been done with math, but never with poetry. The poet has never been able to penetrate the space-time continuum. I know it's hard to understand. I'm happy to be working on this but for the moment only a few of my students and myself understand it. It's born from the unpredictability of man -

A - Siligo is important because it's the country where I wrote "padre padrone". Baddevrusta, if man will not loose his head, will become a literary park because it is the stage of "padre padrone".

Q - Has the life of the shepherd changed since the time you were one?

A - It's changed because in the sheepfold, Ciccinatto would plow with the wooden plow, perhaps only the bottom part was made of iron. I lived through all this, you could almost say that I lived at the same time as Ciccinatto.

Q - Who is he?

A - He is a famous Roman dictator who fought a great battle in Rome.

Q - So you mean that in your time you still used the ancient method for plowing the fields?

A - Yes, you could say that.

Q - Here (hands me a book) read, there is no shame in not knowing things, you cannot know everything.

Alex: "Roman Patrician who received the title of dictator of Rome while he was attending to the plowing of his field. After winning an important battle for the city of Rome he went back to plowing his field. A symbol of the simplicity of customs.

Q - Did you use a modern machine after that.

A - Then the iron plow came along. The first iron plow in Siligo is from 1917, but it was for the very few. Most had the wooden one. I was lucky because my father had the iron one. The iron plow, however, did not change life much. What really changed everything was the engine. The engine got here very little. In America it was used much earlier. Back to the end of the 1800's. Up until 1964-65 I used to help my father harvest the grain by hand, with the scythe. Even the first reapers (machine to cut grain) didn't work on slanted pieces of land, so you had to do it by hand. Only now can they harvest the grain with the reaper on a slanted surface. Now they can almost reap on the mountain. The same thing happened for the shepherd. The two major Mediterranean faces, agriculture and sheep-herding, have both changed thanks to the engine. The problem is with chemistry. The chemical substances to grow agricultural products looked like a miracle at first, but it's actually a poison. It's better to go back to the biological. I like to tell you this, and this will be in the new book. The man forces earth to produce more than it is able to. Nature permits this and so the it's also nature's fault. It allowed man to reach 6 or 7 billion. So the earth is the great mother, and it says: "I can give you this much, if you want more I'll give you more, but it will be poison". This is a great tragedy, one that I would like to write. So now the earth is telling man, I hear her: "You're telling me to produce poison. I can produce beautiful things in the form, but I have to fill them with poison. So we need to slow down. The Japanese are already aware of this and they try to do something about it. If man conquers space, then he can keep increasing in number. But he can't force nature to produce more than nature is able to produce naturally. So the change in Sardinian sheep-herding reflects this. The milk is not how it used to be. Neither are the fruits. There is that percentage of poison inside. Bread used to be sweeter than sugar. Today it's not like that any more. In order to be able to taste these sweet flavors again, I go to my botanical garden and plant garlic, onions and even grain, once a year I can still taste something similar to the bread of my childhood. You see, the vegetables need to be caressed in order to grow up good. However, even if I produce all this in my own land, and I caress the plants like when I was a child, the sky has changed and I can't do anything about it. The sky was ruined by men. The land is also poisoned. Yet this manual cultivation brings back memories of the sweetness of the bread of my childhood.

Q - Was there a change in the mentality of the shepherd?

A - They don't really realize what we were talking about. The young ones that go to school learn about smog and pollution. I hope that in the future we will be able to find a remedy, but I think that the remedy must come from above.

Q - What do you mean by "above"? Perhaps from the higher social classes?

A - Yes, and from the government. Unfortunately man is selfish. There has to be something which restrict this selfishness, we have to have laws, even laws which limit the indiscriminate use of science. There is already a tendency to control these things. So the shepherd, even though he milks the sheep Homerically, he will get the poison from the sky. The island of Sardinia is privileged in this sense. But we need a remedy, someone who checks. I'm pessimistic.

Q - I believe that the culture of the shepherd is the key to the culture of Sardegna. What change will the change in the shepherd's culture bring to the Sardinian culture in general?

A - The horse, the donkey and the ox were replaced by the engine. This is ok, but what is not ok is the excessive use of the engine. So the mind of the shepherd has changed, and it's ok. You must learn Leonardo and even Einstein, poetry, etc. But I think that the anguish that exists in the soul of the young people derives from the poison in the earth and in the sky. So the young people feel this voice of the earth and so they are sick. I know many anguished people in the new generation. So there is drugs, alcohol and other things. So I think that the solution is to purify the earth and the sky, thus curing the children, animals and vegetables as well. In Vallevustra yesterday we saw vegetables which are still healthy. Maybe the poison has not reached the valley yet. But if you see Lombardia and other regions of Italy you will realize that the farmland is poisoned. The cities are even more poisonous. There is much smog in Cagliari and Sassari. So the young shepherd feel less anguish than the young people who live in the city. All of these things I'm saying because I want to stress the fact that if we cure the sky and the earth, we can cure all of existence, and man is able to do this. It's very difficult, because you must give up selfishness. This is my poetry.

Q - What do you think about the commercial development and the development of tourism in Sardegna? What do you think regular people think of this development?

A - That's why I was saying that before. We are lucky that the Sardinian sky and earth is less polluted than elsewhere. But the development of tourism in Sardegna is something that happened in a selfish and consumeristic fashion. They have this mentality of working for 2 months and they want to make enough money for the entire year. And the prices are high, way too high. And then there isn’t a union between the production of food and the consumer. That’s way we speak of Sardinian tourism, let’s go to Sardegna. Sardegna is just lucky that the sea is still beautiful and the air is still quite clean, but the bread is not sweet like when I used to be a child, and neither is the cheese or the tomatoes, vegetables, grapes, and neither is the lamb, it is still good, but not as good as when I was a child. And then the tendency of tourism is a consumerist one, starting with the chain of hotels all the way to all of those other things inherent to tourism in general. The most beautiful and efficient things could be the means of transportation, the airplanes and ships should be efficient and everything. Yet how is it that in the plane ... I recently went to Brazil and the food was extra-terrestrial ... I did not eat. I knew it because I had been to Australia before, so I brought a piece of cheese with me, a piece of sheep cheese, so when the flight attendant walked by I would take out my piece of pecorino and they would laugh. I am convinced that the airplane companies could do it if they wanted to, they could serve good food, the porchetta. Why couldn’t they bring the porchetta on the plane? I would have put two “porchettari” (stands that sell the porchetta) at Fiumicino. I don’t understand why it’s not possible, it must be a matter of organization. Have you seen the sandwiches at the airport? They’re disgusting. Not only because they are from two days ago. This is just an example, and from the example comes the truth. The only good thing left is maybe mineral water, but I’m not so sure.

Q – But what about the common Sardinian, who is still a farmer or a shepherd, what does he think of this tourism boom?

A – The wealth here belongs to the people from Milan or the United States, it doesn’t belong to the Sardinians, so the regular Sardinian says: “who cares about these people that come here”. On the other hand, if the cheese of the Sardinian shepherd were to go directly from his “nuraghe” to the table of the hotels, everyone would be happy. And the food would be biological. Nobody has been able to do that yet: to say, in a three or five star hotel, only biological food here. This would be nice, and if it costs 100 Eur more I don’t care, I can always choose. But I should at least have a choice. There is a lack of interest for the shepherd and those that produce food from the earth. There is a violent industry of food and of agricultural products which doesn’t look at the small shepherd or farmer anymore. So man doesn’t know how to administer himself. There is the triumph of selfishness, and I think it’s a global tendency. I hope that what we are saying makes people think and that at least a small portion of biological products can reach the big chain of hotels and wide distribution chains, even to the airplane. I would like to see on the Boeing going from Rome to Tokyo: “only biological products on this plane”. That would be nice. I would be happy to pay 20 Eur more for such a thing, and I wouldn’t have to bring my own cheese from here.

Q – I think that your father was a little bit too much. How do you think that an ideal father should be?

A – But now I came to rethink of the behavior of my father and I re-evaluated it. Considering the products that he used to produce and comparing them with the products that another father could produce, perhaps one that is less “padrone” than he was, I think that my father’s bread was sweet, and so was his milk, his oil and everything else. I am, of course, using the word “sweet” in a general sense. The only sour thing were the beatings. So I grew up healthy and very intelligent. I think that he has a great merit in this and in the passing on of love. He grew me up with all these sweet things. Of course, the sky was sweet back then and so was the earth, now all of this is poisoned. The father of today, as an educator, is more relational. But the products are not. So, on my father’s table everything was sweet. On today’s father’s table the father is sweet and the rest is sour. It’s an enigma, you’re inspiring me my next work. I like this enigma of the table, the “padre padrone” at the table with all these sweet things and then the new table with poisoned products and a sweet father. What I prefer is a balance between the two.

Q – Tell me more about your idea of the current relationship between the father and son in general.

A – We could say that if I can give my advice ... I’m very surprised because nowadays the father is an almost non-existent figure. It’s not a good thing. The father must exist. I know all of the animals and insects because since the time I was 5 I lived among them. I can say that I know them, I am a student of Darwin. All of the animals are paternal or maternal. That means education, strictness, even sweetness ... a balance between them. Nowadays the father doesn’t exist anymore. He is too sweet with the children and they grow up bad. The role of the father that nature taught us does not exist anymore, and the same thing happens with the mother. They are both too sweet and with too little salt.

Q – What about your own relationship with your father. When did it improve?

A – Our relationship got better. You see, my father, within his Homeric horizons, was right. Yet there was another dawn coming which he couldn’t see and I could. There was the need to learn Leonardo (to study. science, etc.), and that’s what he didn’t understand. Yet there was a need to learn Leonardo even more than the Americans themselves understood. To ask of science more than what nature can provide for is wrong. I had the fortune of learning Leonardo, that means Pythagoras, Einstein, physics and the word, yet it’s the dosage, the measurement that’s important. And it is something that only the animals can teach us. The animals are some kind of balance, and they can tell you everything. This is the truth. So, as an author, as Gavino, I say to man: Listen to nature because it’s the only thing we have. So back to the father, it is important to be a real father until the end. Until the child has grown up, because the school we have nowadays is not fatherly and motherly at the same time like nature is. So the father and mother are of fundamental importance, just like the animals teach us. So school which tries to replace the family cannot succeed. Yet is canceled the role of the father. So I tell today’s father: Don’t be a “padre padrone”, but never forget the real role of the father.

Q – The tendency to cancel the father is somewhat of a global trend nowadays.

A – Yes. And it’s not a good thing. The young people grow up bad. I am convinced that this lacking balance of the sky and the earth is the cause for all the bad balance in man. When science came to the earth, it caused a bad balance, an anguish within our youth. This has created a moral unbalance as well. Gays, for example, are also a product of this. When I was small there were very few gays, even among the animals. Nowadays in Chicago there are more gay people than strait people, and this is the fault of man, who has poisoned the sky and the earth as well. We eat this poison and so... but we can go back. I have nothing against homosexuals, it’s not their fault and it’s not the “padre padrone’s” fault. When there was the war I was very young and I remember very little. I was maybe 3 or 4 years old. I know that the Americans did a great thing for Europe. They freed us from two madmen who were ruining all of humanity, and I thank them. Yet I would like to tell them: Please try to heal the sky. I do what I can with poetry, but poetry does very little in this respect. Poetry can just say things.

Q – You are writing about this poisoning of the earth and the sky. When do you think this work will be completed?

A – On this theme specifically? Never. This may be included in other works of mine.

Q – So now you get along well with your father?

A – Yes. My father wanted absolute obedience when I was staying in his house. He is like an animal: until you stay in the nest, I am the eagle. When you leave the nest, you become an eagle yourself. It’s a parable.

Q – One of the things that I was really curious about is this: the shepherd never trust each other. Is that still the case?

A – A little bit less than before, but there is still some miserable person around. You could say that since the etymology of this behavior (to steal) comes from within the human soul, this tendency to steal, which might have been a chicken or a sheep, has developed and now you can find it in the big cities like New York, where it’s the banks that steal millions and so on. Inflation, and so on. Giant bandits but still bandits. Three thousand years ago Al Capone would have stolen a chicken. Nothing is created or destroyed, but is only transformed. It’s by Lavoisier. It’s the same thing with people’s behavior. This is one of the greatest assumptions of mankind.

Q – Apart from the school, what are you working on right now as far as your writing is concerned?

A – My next work will be out either in Autumn or next Spring. Battoraghe is already both a school and a publishing company.

Q – But what about your next work. What is it?

A – It is a new version of “padre padrone” with an appendix where I will speak of all these things. I want to start with padre padrone because millions of people read it. I count a lot on this book to help me in this feat: to adjourn human expression like Einstein’s theory adjourned science. If I come out with a new version of padre padrone every year, I can put a little bit of this in every one of these new versions. I would like to publish “padre padrone 2004” and then 2005, 2006, and so on, hopefully I can live as long as my father, he is 97. He is still clear of mind. If you want to know him I can introduce you. He loves me now, everything worked out fine. Now he is “padre padrone” with my mother. Well, actually, he is ok for about 15 minutes, and then he starts being “padre padrone” with me as well.

Q – How about with film. Are you done with films?

A – I hope now. I would like to film another version of “padre padrone” in Sardinian, possibly with expressions from my new language mode as well. The actors should all be Sardinian and speak Sardinian because it is the only romantic language which never had it’s popular dignity. So I think that now I have this duty. It’s a healthy duty, mind you, I’m Italian.

Q – So you are not a separatist?

A – No. No. But Sardinian should be known as well. So I’m not done with cinema because I must do “padre padrone” again. I’ll have to invert the roles. I will be my father, and then I have to find someone to play me as a child. I must also find a wife, for the movie. Of course, if I find one in real life it is even better. That’s the thing that’s missing in my life. I studied too much and now I’m left without a wife, but now I’m looking for one. Not just for company, I need a small Gavino, just like the emperor. It would be very nice to make “padre padrone” from the inside, because the Taviani brothers made the movie from the outside. Now I need a wife, even maybe an African wife.

A - Hard to find one that speaks Sardinian.

Q - (laughs) I can always do the translation. I really like African women, sometimes they are more beautiful than Italian ones. They are close to the earth. They also have a motherly relationship which we have all but lost.

Onorevoli!!!

2006-03-18T10:21:00.000+01:00

I suggest that anyone passing by this blog check out the banner to the right of the posts called "onorevoli wanted". This link could be quite illuminating for anyone seeking to understand the value of democracy in Italy. You will see the list of Italian parliament members that have received a final sentence from Italian courts on counts of anything going from bribes to theft and beyond. There are 23 of them!!! Many of them are candidates this time around as well!!! It's a damn disgrace that a country going through recession has no way of getting out of the impasse because it is controlled by crooks. To make it worse, the present government (Berlusconi) have tampered with electoral procedures to adopt what we call "blocked lists". This means that there will be no preference votes, only votes for the parties, not for the candidates, who have been chosen by the parties without consulting the electors. Democracy is slipping through our fingers here. What do we do now?

Elections in April!!!

2006-03-08T10:49:00.000+01:00

Italian general elections will take place on April 9-10th. Halfademocracy will patiently wait for the result. Berlusconi go home!!!
Support the radicals at www.radicali.it

Fallujah: my buddy willie pete

2005-10-31T15:50:00.000+01:00

US 'used chemical weapons' in Fallujah, Italian state broadcaster RAI claims.

One year after the US assault on Fallujah, the stronghold of Iraq's Sunni triangle, the Italian state broadcaster RAI disclosed new and powerful evidence on the use of chemical weapons by the US army during the strike. The claims were denied by the Pentagon.

The RAI documentary entitled 'Fallujah: the hidden massacre', which was aired Monday morning on Italian television and that can be downloaded in English, Italian and Arab languages from the Rainews24 website shows evidence of the extensive use of white phosphorus against the population of Fallujah by the US army. White phosphorus, also called 'willie pete' in military jargon, is a chemical substance fired in the air during military operations to illuminate enemy targets. Film footage provided by military sources to the Italian broadcaster shows helicopters dropping showers of white phosphorus on entire neighborhoods during the US strike in Fallujah. Also, the film includes extensive photographic documentation depicting the effects of the white phosphorus on both military and civilian targets, whose bodies were melted to the bone while their clothes remained intact. Many of the victims in the photographs were civilians who were burned alive by the chemical while sleeping, praying or while taking cover.

The footage is coupled with witness accounts from Iraq war veterans Jeff Englehart and Garett Reppenhagen, who claim to have heard – on the US military radio speakers – warnings to take cover before 'willie pete' was dropped and to have seen the results of the chemical agent on the population. When asked whether chemical weapons were used in Fallujah, Englehart said: “From the US military, yeah, absolutely. White phosphorus. Possibly napalm may or may not have been used; I do not know. I do know that white phosphorus was used, which is definitely, without a shadow of a doubt, a chemical weapon”. Englehart then explained the effects of white phosphorus when dropped on people: “The gases from the warhead of the white phosphorus will disperse in a cloud. And when it makes contact with the skin, then it's absolutely irreversible damage, burning the flesh to the bone .... If you breathe it, it will blister your throat and your lungs until you suffocate, and then it will burn you from the inside. It basically reacts to skin, oxygen and water”. Englehart says that he saw the effects of the white phosphorus in Fallujah: “Burned bodies. I mean, it burned children, and it burned women. White phosphorus kills indiscriminately. It's a cloud that will within, in most cases, 150 meters of impact will disperse and it will burn every human being or animal”.

Biologist Mohamad Tareq al-Deraji, a resident of Falluja who helped in post-battle relief efforts said to RAI that after the strike he immediately noticed something was amiss. "After the battle, we found that people who were exposed to the rain of fire but who survived had bizarre wounds on their bodies", he said. "Their bodies were burned, but their clothes were still intact. It's a chemical that targets human flesh”.

The use of napalm and similar incendiary weapons on people have been banned by a UN convention in 1980. Although the United Sates refused to sign the convention, they did agree to sign a treaty against the use of such weapons in 1997. The Pentagon denied earlier allegations about the use of any outlawed weapons in Iraq.

The film 'Fallujah: the hidden massacre' is likely to further strain the relationship between the Italian government and Washington after Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and the Italian defense minister Antonio Martino suggested that the withdrawal of Italian troops from Iraq will soon be getting underway. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's staunch allegiance to the Bush administration has been cooling as Italian general elections – scheduled for April 2006 – draw near.

The Rainews24 documentary can be downloaded at the following Internet address:

http://www.rainews24.rai.it/ran24/inchiesta/

Italian judicial reform plan seen unlikely to fix problems

2005-07-21T11:01:00.000+02:00

A plan to reform the Italian judicial system was scheduled to face final approval in the Italian Parliament on Monday. Magistrates were opposed to the reform, saying it would undermine their independence from political power and make Italian justice even slower.

The reform does not tackle the problem of lengthy judicial processes and overly complicated legislation, but it could shelter political power from the danger posed to it by a bold judicial system.

On Thursday, for the third time since Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi came to office in June 2001, thousands of Italian magistrates went on strike to protest the reform. Ciro Riviezzo, the chairman of the Association of Italian magistrates (ANM), said the reform was "wrong, irrational and in many ways unconstitutional."

Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi refused to sign the legislation into law last year, arguing it was "manifestly unconstitutional." But in the Italian system, the president can only refuse to sign once and must sign if the same legislation passes the Parliament a second time.

Berlusconi has called strongly for reform of the judicial system and with two of his former aides, has faced trials that he said were inspired by political motivations.

If adopted by the Parliament, the reform will separate the career paths of prosecutors and judges, both termed magistrates in Italy. Currently, judges can act as prosecuting attorneys or preside over trials.

The reform would concentrate all major judicial and administrative power in the hands of the Republic's prosecutor, who would be the only magistrate allowed to speak to the media about proceedings. According to magistrates, this would make it easy for politicians to influence the system.

The main problem with this reform is that while magistrates are subject to veiled political control, no real problems that afflict Italian justice have been tackled. Italian trials are among the longest proceedings anywhere. Defendants are often released because the statute of limitations has run out and the accused sometimes never reach trial.

(Jul. 19, 2005)

President Ciampi: the last Italian patriot

2005-07-06T11:46:00.000+02:00

July 6th

The danger of building a coalition of extremist parties by trying to exalt their moderate components is that these parties may revert to extremism as soon as the need to be moderate ceases. It is the case of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's coalition which, in order to have a strong enough majority, accepted to take in the anti-Italian and anti-European separatist Northern League. The sensation that their time at the helm is coming to an end and the will to underline their blackmailing power with regards to Berlusconi have pushed the Northern League parliamentarians to contest the Italian president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi in the EU parliament during his July 5^th speech. Sadly enough, this proved to Italians that their politicians seldom represent them, let alone respect them.

In his speech at the Strasbourg European parliament, Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi praised the benefits of the common European currency, which shelters member nations from high interest rates and sudden market swings. As soon as the word “Euro” was heard, members of the Northern League pulled out their separatist Padania (far-northern part of Italy) flags and began shouting “enough with the Euro, free Padania”. European Parliament President Josep Borrell had the League members escorted outside as they continued to shout offensive statements against Italy and Italians that are better not repeated in print.

The Northern League party was born to protect the interests of the peninsula's far northern regions, main beneficiaries of the post-war Marshall plan funding and thus the most industrialized part of the country. Yet today, with the coming down of borders within the EU, the League's interests are at stake. The small, privileged part of the country where the League was founded can no longer follow an isolationist policy and is bound to slowly adapt itself to European standards: that is why the Euro became the main target of the League's attacks. Attacking the president - who represents Italian national unity - in front of European parliamentarians seemed to the Northern League like the best way to be heard, even if it meant offending all Italians and causing a dangerous rift in Italian-European relationships.

Italian President Ciampi, showing a sense of responsibility that the Northern League obviously lacks, said that “interruptions in parliament are normal”. Yet the League's behavior, which in most of Italy is seen as “picturesque” and ridiculous, is regarded much more seriously abroad: the heads of the European Union and parliament asked Ciampi whether it is true that a governing party wants out of the Euro. Ciampi played down the incident, underlining that the choices of Italy are “not debatable”.

Berlusconi's response, on the other hand, was not as responsible: he condemned the League's attack but didn't act in any way to prevent them from doing the same in the future. The reason for his hesitation is clear: the strategy adopted in view of next year's general elections is to finger the Euro as being responsible for the country's economic woes and to finger opposition leader Romano Prodi as being responsible for the Euro. Ciampi is also a staunch supporter of the common currency, but it is too dangerous for Berlusconi to attack him. The Italian president has the highest appreciation ratings among politicians and is considered an Italian patriot, a species that is all but extinct.

Berlusconi's troubles can only get worse. The Northern League is not the only party trying to abandon the sinking ship of the center-right. Violent lacerations within right-wing party Alleanza Nazionale are tearing it apart, while the centrist UDC party has demanded primaries to design the next candidate Prime Minister, thus putting Berlusconi's candidacy on the line.

Once again, the egotistical power-hungry behavior of Italian political parties and their riotousness have given Italians a reason to be ashamed. Fortunately there are still men like President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, who greeted the League's protest with a faint smile, proving that political savvy and sense of state in Italy have skipped – at least - a generation.

CIA “extraordinary rendition” in Italy: the government should have known.

2005-07-04T17:00:00.000+02:00

July 4^th 2005

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi requested “full respect” of Italy's sovereignty after the presumed kidnapping of an Egyptian citizen by CIA agents in Italy. Such a request was long overdue: the Italian government looked the other way for over two years, until Milan magistrates issued arrest warrants for 13 US agents involved in the operation. The kidnapping occurred in 2003 and was immediately reported by the most influential Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera. The nonchalance of CIA agents involved in the “extraordinary rendition” suggests that Italian secret services – and consequentially the government - were informed.

Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, aka Abu Omar, Egyptian cleric of a Milan mosque was granted political asylum by the Italian government, probably as a way to monitor his activity: he was being investigated by Italian authorities for links to international terrorism. Yet on February 17^th 2003, while walking from his house to the mosque, Abu Omar was forced into the back of a windowless van that carried him off. According to Italian authorities Abu Omar's abduction was an “extraordinary rendition”: the sad practice of kidnapping suspect terrorists in order to transfer them to countries where their human rights can be violated. Italian authorities identified the kidnappers because of their reckless use of luxury hotels, car rentals and locally acquired cellular phones: hardly the conduct of someone concerned with secrecy. They also identified the airplane used to transfer Abu Omar from the US military base in Aviano, northern Italy to the Ramstein base in Germany and finally to Egypt, where the abducted would have undergone inhumane treatment. Abu Omar called his wife from Egypt in April 2004, saying that he had been tortured in an Egyptian prison and couldn't walk or hear correctly anymore. The phone call, intercepted by Italian authorities, was the last trace left by Abu Omar, who has now completely vanished.

Last month, Milan judge Chiara Nobili issued arrest warrants for 13 CIA officers and operatives, including the self-proclaimed US consul in Milan Robert Seldon Lady, all of them involved in the kidnapping. The warrants were later extended to the rest of Europe through Eurojust, the EU network of national judicial authorities. The accused will find it hard to travel to Europe now, but it is unlikely that any of them will ever stand trial – let alone be sentenced – for the crimes committed while in Italy.

Unfortunately, US foreign policy still seems to be operating within a cold-war logic where allied countries are just a battleground for the lonely US fight against terrorism. Even in the case of allied countries like Italy, which provided unconditional support for the Bush administration's war on terror. According to Milan prosecutor Armando Spataro, not only did the CIA kidnap a suspect terrorist eyed by Italian police, but they also attempted to hinder Italian investigations by suggesting to anti-terrorism officers that Abu Omar had fled to Bosnia.

As far as international relations between Italy and the US are concerned, nothing has changed. As with Nicola Calipari, the Italian secret service agent killed by US “friendly” fire in Iraq during a rescue operation, Italy will be content with a veiled apology and a public mention of Italy's support in Iraq, Afghanistan and the likes. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi summoned the US Ambassador in Italy Mel Sembler to clarify the situation. The decision to do so was clearly a product of the growing media attention triggered by the unprecedented initiative taken by Milan magistrates.

Italian daily La Repubblica quoted the former head of the CIA's Osama bin Laden unit, Michael Scheuer as saying that authorization for the operation had been given by the head of Italy's secret service SISMI, Nicolò Pollari.

Scheuer's statement, if true, opens the way to two scenarios, both of them quite worrisome: Either the Italian secret services decided not to inform the government or the government knew and lied. Either way, a precedent like Abu Omar's case puts every citizen of a democratic country in danger of having his/her rights violated in the name of a higher cause.

Italy's capitalism without capitals is hard to defend

2005-06-22T01:12:00.000+02:00

June 22, 2005

The workings of Italian post-war finance have been somewhat peculiar: while owning just a few shares each, investors formed pacts with other investors to obtain the controlling majority of a company. Then they injected their managers in the company's executive and took control at a very low cost. Recent takeover battles, however, have revealed the limits of this system and may represent the symptoms of a sea change in the country's power balance. At any rate, this dated system will either change or fold when faced with real competition.

Piazzetta (square) Enrico Cuccia, Milano, has been Italy's financial decision-making bastion since the end of the second world war. At it's heart is Mediobanca, an investment bank with offices in the 17^th century Visconti-Ajmi palace. Since it's founding, in 1944, Mediobanca has been the crossroad for investors, businesses, politicians, public, private companies and big money in general. After the death - in the year 2000 - of Italian finance patriarch Enrico Cuccia (who gave the name to the square) the remaining elite of Italian capitalism made gentleman's agreements among themselves in order to obtain controlling majorities in Mediobanca, RCS Mediagroup – which in turn controls the leading Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera – and Assicurazioni Generali, the most prestigious Italian insurance company, recently very active on the vast Chinese market. They formed what Italians call the “northern galaxy”: an apparently impregnable bastion of elitist finance.

These privileged few were untouchable: their family-run manufacturing businesses like car-maker Fiat, tire-producer Pirelli, together with Unicredit and Capitalia banks ran Italian economy single-handedly through their stronghold in Milano. Idolized entrepreneurs like the late head of Fiat Gianni Agnelli gave work to tens of thousands of Italians in their production plants turning the small peninsula into the world's 6^th top industrialized nation. Yet busy as they were snuggling with political power, they never called for market transparency or stricter regulations: they never thought they'd be needing them. Now this lack of foresight may cost them dearly.

A group of upstart corporate raiders backed up by anonymous financiers is besieging the Milan-based capitalist bastion. Ex-dentist Stefano Ricucci – made rich by the 1990's property bubble – has bought shares of RCS Mediagroup worth €650 million (about $810 million), hiking his stakes in the group to 20% from 2% in just a few weeks time, thus becoming the group's leading shareholder. The gentleman's agreement that controls RCS still owns about 58% of shares, although it is unclear whether a bid for the company would see the pact hold or fold. Meanwhile, market watchdog CONSOB revealed that Ricucci's fellow property tycoons Danilo Coppola, Luigi Zunino and others have already raked in about 5% of Mediobanca, making it's shares shoot sky-high. Indiscretions in the local media suggest that a major financing for these operations would be provided by the London branch of the Deutsche Bank. To make things worse, in 2002 the Italian government granted a near-to tax free (2,5%) return to illegally exported capitals stacked in fiscal havens by speculators to avoid taxation. Italian daily La Repubblica hinted that these capitals may be the same ones used by Ricucci and his partners to buy part of RCS and other company shares, but that is really beyond the point. What leaps to the eye is that the system devised by the then-uncontested capitalist powers appears to have grown shaky. The kind of capitalism it was supposed to protect has been softened by the lack of alternatives to itself.

Oppressive as it was, the “northern galaxy” guaranteed stability and influenced political power, preventing Italy from becoming a land of milk and honey for corporate raiders. Now the tables are turned and the bastion is besieged: Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, president of Fiat, Ferrari and head of the Italian manufacturers federation (Confindustria), feeling the heat, called for more clarity about rules on corporate control and shareholder's rights. He also asked the government to slash corporate tax (IRAP) and reduce labor costs to make industries more competitive.

The “northern galaxy” is not the only financial bastion being besieged. Ricucci and his friends - presumably with the blessing of the Italian central bank governor Antonio Fazio - were given green light to hike stakes in banks Antonveneta and BNL to prevent their takeover by foreign banks.

About a decade ago, the traditional Italian capitalist powers prevailed over their political counterpart and managed to subdue it. Their profits increased, yet this newfound security prevented them from making Italy into a fully liberal economy and bringing it's productivity up to speed with foreign competitors. The unwholesome embrace of banks with industry makes Italy's market dangerously unbalanced. To put it in the words of Enrico Cuccia himself, it is a “capitalism without capitals” that becomes very hard to defend when barriers are knocked down and competitors hop in.

Italian right, heir to fascists, takes moderate turn

2005-06-22T01:10:00.000+02:00

The future of the Italian right, heir of Mussolini's fascist party, lies in the center. Only a more moderate stance can overcome the distrust of average Italians for the right-wing and appeal to larger portions of the electorate. The leader of right-wing party Alleanza Nazionale (National Alliance) Gianfranco Fini, fully aware of this, is trying to steer his party clear of nationalistic nostalgia. Yet Fini's behavior is seen by the more extreme party members as an ideological betrayal, causing lacerations within the right. The recent result of a referendum on artificial insemination, which saw Fini siding with liberals and radicals against the Vatican and Fini's more conservative fellow right-wingers finally lit the fuse. Yet Fini's goals could be more far-seeing than his lieutenants may think.

A showdown within Alleanza Nazionale has been imminent since 1995, when during the party's national assembly--Fini began to take steps in reforming the illiberal, racist and antisemitic aspects of the Italian right wing. All of these aspects were the legacy of the fascist party and the MSI (Movimento Sociale Italiano Italian Social Movement), in which a young Fini served as secretary. In 1995, in the central Italian town of Fiuggi, Fini changed the party's name from MSI to Alleanza Nazionale and questioned some of it's extremist principles in what was later called the "turning point of Fiuggi" Since then Fini has done much for the party's requalification--in October 2003, he said that immigrants who live, work and pay taxes in Italy should at least be allowed to vote in local elections. A month later, Fini surprised the public opinion by going to Jerusalem's Yad V'Shem Holocaust Memorial while wearing a kippah on his head and saying Italy's fascist regime and 1938 racial laws against Jews were "infamous" and part of that era's "absolute evil." Yet it was not until this month's referendum that his closest lieutenants threw the mask and confronted him.

Fini said abstention in the referendum as the Vatican demanded of its followers would hardly be an "instructive" choice, lifting a storm among the extreme fringes of his party that were eager to question his moral aptness to lead the Italian right wing. A good portion of the right wing advocates clericalism and is in line with the more intransigent choices of the Catholic Church and Vatican city-state. Italy's minister for agricultural policies and vice president of Alleanza Nazionale Gianni Alemanno resigned from his office in Fini's party immediately after the vote on the referendum, saying that Fini's choice to give party members "freedom of conscience" was a terrible mistake. Deputy Publio Fiori, vice president of the lower house of the parliament and member of Alleanza Nazionale added: "There is an absolute incompatibility between Fini's opinions and the values of the party. So either he leaves or we will announce the death of Alleanza Nazionale."

Many other members of the right-wing party shared Fiori's and Alemanno's views, yet none of them actually had the courage to openly call for Fini to resign.

While explaining that he is not even thinking of resigning, Fini added that all conflicting views would be reconciled at the July national assembly of Alleanza Nazionale.

Fini's detractors accuse him of refuting his roots and winking the eye at the moderate establishment. They say that he is abandoning his party and convictions in return for a seat among the powerful and attempting to please all currents in order to be eligible to replace Berlusconi as leader of a future governing coalition. Italian extreme left- and right-wing leaders traditionally took refuge in their parties and gave up ambitions to govern in exchange for the consensus of a feeble percentage of Cold War nostalgics. Yet the world around them is changing and the polarizing attractive of Berlusconi's "moderate" center-right Forza Italia party is running out of steam.

In the end, Fini's moderate drift may tear Alleanza Nazionale--like the MSI fascist party before it--into different currents and scatter right-wing votes. Fini could have easily been the uncontested leader of the Italian right wing, yet he chose to leave the beaten path. He may not succeed in the end, but his choice to trigger a painful debate within the Italian right may allow the party to fill in for the soon-to-be vacant moderate center-right spot.

All things considered, by putting himself on the line, he gave his party a chance for a brighter future, proving to be closer to the nationalist ideals of the Italian right-wing than his riotous and power-hungry lieutenants.

Berlusconi's days may be numbered

2005-06-21T15:53:00.000+02:00

Berlusconi's days may be numbered

| 2005-05-14 |

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's coalition is gradually crumbling as each local election result deals it a further blow. It now seems unlikely that Italian voters will grant Berlusconi another mandate in the May 2006 general elections, even if his government were to reach them without being toppled.

Berlusconi's coalition, the Casa delle Liberta (house of liberties), suffered another defeat in the latest local elections. Results from the May 8-9 vote showed support for Berlusconi had decreased drastically on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, where the media tycoon owns several lavish villas. The coalition also was defeated in mayoral ballots in the far northern regions of Trentino and Valle d'Aosta. These losses added to the embarrassing defeat in the April 3-4 local elections, when Berlusconi's coalition lost all but two of the 13 regions up for grabs.

After the April elections, despite complaints from his allies and opposition, Berlusconi resigned and reshuffled his Cabinet in a tactical bid to strengthen his fractious coalition. The reshuffle came under fire immediately for being practically a photocopy of the previous executive.

Berlusconi's government, the longest lasting in the history of the Italian republic, has suffered from a sluggish economy and from its own mistakes--a high dose of arrogant favoritism for its members, the unpopular deployment of Italian troops to Iraq and undue concessions to the small, but demanding, separatist Northern League Party, which demands more autonomy for the rich northern Italian regions.

Inflation coupled with recession has produced a sharp decrease in the purchasing power of Italians, especially those in the middle class. Their discontent has been magnified by the national statistics institute's inflation estimates, which amount to about half the inflation seen by private institutes and consumer associations.

Laws aimed at boosting the prime minister's private business and sheltering him from judgment in court proceedings also have sparked criticism of Berlusconi's center-right coalition. The la Repubblica daily has asserted that since his triumphant entry into politics in 1994, Berlusconi's assets have tripled in value. Several laws passed by the governing majority, including a fiscal pardon, have allowed Berlusconi's Fininvest company to save paying hundreds of millions of euros in taxes.

In addition, regulations clearly aimed at sheltering Berlusconi and his partners from trial have tarnished his reputation, making him unpopular with voters. Such regulations include the curbing of punishment for crimes such as fraudulent accounting, shortening the statute of limitations and weakening the judicial power of magistrates, whom Berlusconi has tagged "communist red robes."

Berlusconi's decision to deploy about 3,000 Italian troops in Iraq also was a political blunder, considering the moderate level of Italian economic interest in Iraq and the highly unfavorable public opinion at home.

Last, undue concessions to the small Northern League, which caused the fall of Berlusconi's 1994 government, have cooled enthusiasm for the center-right coalition in the poorer and less developed southern part of the peninsula. The Northern League hinted they might withdraw their support for the government if federalist reform of the Constitution is not approved, thus causing a clash between members of the coalition--Berlusconi's Forza Italia Party, the nationalist, formerly fascist Alleanza Nazionale Party and the Christian-Democrat UDC Party.

The April defeat caused turmoil within the coalition, so much so that both Alleanza Nazionale and UDC demanded a complete turnaround in policy. However, once again, the Northern League's threat to leave the coalition prevented Berlusconi from making such a change.

It seems highly unlikely that Berlusconi will run in the upcoming May 2006 elections with the same team and political structure in place now. He has hinted he might prefer to succeed Carlo Azeglio Ciampi as president and find a less compromised figure for the post of prime minister.

Even then, Ciampi's mandate expires after the May 2006 elections and his successor will be elected by a new parliament, which will probably be dominated by Romano Prodi's center-left coalition.

Italy's moral dilemma: artificial insemination

2005-06-16T11:42:00.000+02:00

June 9th, 2005

Like in 1978, when a popular referendum sanctioned the right to abortion, today Italy is riven by a referendum aimed at repealing restrictions on artificial insemination and embryonic research. The new regulations are among the most restrictive – both in terms of procreation and embryonic research – in the world. The June 12, 13 referendum asks Italians whether they want to repeal significant parts of this restrictive law. The Catholic Church, through Cardinal Ruini and Pope Benedetto 16^th, agrees with the law and demands that Catholics avoid voting altogether, arguing that embryos – often destroyed in the artificial insemination and research process – are to be protected. Yet should the Vatican meddle with the approval of laws or referendums concerning the citizens of a lay state? If so, should parliament decide for everyone or should each individual and doctor's conscience guide the choices of couples undergoing treatment?

In February 2004, after years of heated debate, Italian parliament approved law n.40 concerning regulations on artificial insemination for couples with fertility problems and for those affected by genetically transmitted diseases. The strong Catholic influence on Italian society guided parliamentarians into approving one of the most restrictive regulations on the planet. The law introduced the treatment of the “conceived” (embryo) as a juridic entity with the same rights as the “conceiver” (parents). Among the most questionable aspects of the law are the following regulations: the prohibition to freeze embryos for research or to allow for embryo selection if the parents are immune carriers of genetically-transmitted diseases; the limit of three embryos that can be produced, thus reducing chances of a successful implant; the prohibition to carry out analysis on the embryo to verify it's healthiness before it is implanted in the woman's womb; the prohibition to use gametes (sperm or egg) from outside donors if one of the parents is downright sterile.

Yet it all boils down to the following moral dilemma: is an embryo to be considered alive just like a full-grown individual? The Catholic Church says so and invites Catholics to leave the law as it is. The following paradox leaps immediately to the eye: if the embryo has the same rights as a full-grown individual, shouldn't abortion – which is carried out on a fetus – also be prohibited? The supporters of the Church's view say that abortion is not being questioned, but fail to explain why. In 1978 the Church put up a fierce fight against the abortion referendum promoted by the Radical party. Also, the Vatican still objects that abortion is equivalent to murder.

The Catholic Church is generally accepted as a moral guide for Catholic individuals, yet some argue – especially the Radicals and left-wing parties – that this time the Vatican has overstepped the boundaries of it's competence and invaded the Italian republic's political scene by suggesting that Italians boycott the only direct instance of democracy they have: the referendum. With the 1929 Lateran treaty, the Vatican agreed that they would no longer interfere in Italy's sovereignty and political decisions. But is this a political or a moral decision? On the political front, the center-right is prevalently lined up with the Church and the center-left and Radicals are lined up opposite to them. Yet there are some significant exceptions: Gianfranco Fini, head of the right-wing Alleanza Nazionale party, said he will vote for repealing the law. On the other hand, the center-left Margherita party leader Francesco Rutelli admitted that he will abstain, just like the Church demanded. These cross-field stances suggest that the issue is not so much a political one as it is a moral one, leading to the conclusion that the Church's interference is legitimate.

Yet the implications of such a choice also reach beyond the moral dilemma. A very high percentage of Italian and European scientists – including Nobel prize winner and Italian senator for life Rita Levi-Montalcini – signed an appeal to repeal restrictions, arguing that they would be the death of scientific advancement in the field of embryonic stem-cell research, bringing Italy back to a scientific “medieval age”. This consideration, added to the fact that many Italian couples have sought artificial insemination abroad since the passing of the law, leads to one last question: should decisions on moral issues be taken by a handful of parliamentarians on behalf of each individual conscience? Perhaps not.

Italy: economy

2005-06-16T00:34:00.000+02:00

May 26^th 2005

May 2005 Eurostat and OECD economic estimates confirm Italy's worrisome situation and reveal a counter-trend compared to other industrialized countries bar Portugal and Greece: as the rest of EU economies crawl, Italy's backtracks due to inadequate economic policies that lack measures to pull the country out of recession.

Revised figures from Eurostat – the European statistics agency – show that Italy's budget deficit topped EU limits both in 2003 and 2004, posting a deficit of 3.1% of GDP for both years. Hypothetically, this would be allowed by the revised European growth and stability pact, were it not for the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) forecasts that report an upcoming 2005 deficit of 4.4% and a 2006 deficit of a striking 5%, far beyond the slightly flexible 3% set by the EU.

The European economic and monetary affairs commissioner Joaquin Almunia said he will present a report on Italy's public accounts to the commission on July 7^th and to Ecofin (the finance ministers of EU member states) on July 12^th. Such a report is the first step in launching disciplinary action against Italy for breaching the growth and stability pact. Sanctions may include the paying of a non-interest bearing deposit that will be converted to a fine if the excessive deficit is not corrected within two years and a tighter control on the nation's public spending.

The center-right government headed by media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi, a self-professed Margaret Thatcher-style liberal, has not managed to enact any of the radical economic policies needed to bring about structural change in Italian economy. In order to keep deficit from soaring, the government has systematically – and unsuccessfully – enacted a number of one-off measures such as securitization, sale of public assets and pardons for tax evasion and abusive construction.

In another questionable initiative, the Italian government granted a near-to-tax free (2,5%) return to illegally exported capitals stacked in foreign countries by speculators to avoid taxation.

OECD suggested that the government be more realistic about the negotiation of salaries and bring competition into protected sectors such as banking and insurance. Yet another anomaly lies in the radically different fiscal treatment between salaries and financial income produced by speculation - which neither increases productivity nor creates new jobs. According to OECD statistics, the Italian employee is burdened with a tax wedge – percentage of gross earnings given up in tax – close to 47%: one of the highest among industrialized nations (about 30% in the UK and 24% in Japan). Financial income taxes, on the other hand, are as low as 12.5% (EU average is 20%), thus unloading the cost of straightening up economy on manufacturing companies and the workers thereof.

Italian manufacturers' federation head Luca Cordero di Montezemolo said that government must slash corporate income tax (IRAP) and reduce labor costs as of this year. Yet presently Italy's economy could hardly stand such tax cuts.

Meanwhile, due to failed negotiations on public workers' salary raises, the main labor unions CGIL, CISL and UIL have announced alternating general strikes in all public sectors throughout June.

However, political debate from both governing majority and opposition remains self-centered and aimed at finding new party structures that could appeal to estranged Italian voters. Domenico Siniscalco, the Italian economy and finance minister, while meeting with his German counterpart Hans Eichel in Berlin, quoted John F. Kennedy and called for more sacrifice from Italian citizens: “Ask not what your country can do for you – he said – ask what you can do for your country”. All the while, Italians may be asking themselves how much more they must do for their country before it actually does something in return.