Mani pulite
Encyclopedia
Mani pulite was a nationwide Italian
judicial investigation into political corruption
held in the 1990s. Mani pulite led to the demise of the so-called First Republic, resulting in the disappearance of many parties. Some politician
s and industry leader
s committed suicide
after their crime
s were exposed. The corruption system that was uncovered by these investigations was usually referred to as Tangentopoli
, or "bribesville".
had Mario Chiesa
, a member of the Italian Socialist Party
, arrested for accepting a bribe from a Milan cleaning firm. The PSI
distanced themselves from Chiesa. Bettino Craxi
called Mario Chiesa mariuolo, or "villain", a "wild splinter" of the otherwise clean Italian Socialist Party
. Upset over this treatment by his former colleagues, Chiesa began to give information about corruption implicating his colleagues. It was the start of the Mani pulite (clean hands) investigation. News of political corruption began spreading in the press.
(DC) party lost many votes, but its coalition prior to the elections managed to keep a small majority, while opposition parties gained votes. However the largest opposition party Italian Communist Party
split after the fall of the Soviet Union
and there was no opposition leadership. Many votes went to Lega Nord, a party that was not inclined to alliances at the time. The resulting parliament was therefore weak and difficult to bring to an agreement, and new elections arrived as soon as 1994.
During April 1992, many industrial figures and politicians, especially from the majority parties but also from the opposition, were arrested on charges of corruption. While the investigations started in Milan, they quickly spread from town to town, as more and more politicians confessed. A grotesque situation occurred when a Socialist politician immediately confessed all his crimes to two Carabinieri
who had come to his house, only to later discover they had come to deliver a mere traffic violation fine.
Fundamental to this exponential expansion was the general attitude of the main politicians to drop support for minor politicians who got caught; this made many of them feel betrayed, and they often implicated many other politicians, who in turn would implicate even more.
On May 23, 1992, judge Giovanni Falcone
, one of the main architects of the Maxi Trial
against the Mafia
in the mid 1980s, was murdered with his wife and three bodyguards by a bomb located underneath the road at Capaci
on the route from Palermo
airport to the city. A few months later, his colleague Paolo Borsellino
was assassinated with a car bomb
in via d'Amelio. Mafia boss Salvatore Riina
was arrested in 1993 and along with Giovanni Brusca
(the man who pushed the button of the remote control that set the Capaci bomb off – arrested in 1996) and others, received life sentences for both murders.
On September 2, 1992, the socialist politician Sergio Moroni, charged with corruption, committed suicide. He left a letter pleading guilty, declaring that crimes were not for his personal gain but for the party's benefit, and accused the financing system of all parties. His daughter, Chiara Moroni
, is today a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies
in Silvio Berlusconi
's party Forza Italia
.
, leader of the Italian Socialist Party
, was officially accused of corruption. After many other politicians were accused and jailed, Craxi eventually resigned.
On March 5, 1993, the Italian government of Giuliano Amato
and his justice minister Giovanni Conso
tried to find a solution with a decree, which allowed criminal charges for several bribery-related crimes to be replaced by administrative charges instead; according to Italian popular opinion at the time, that would have resulted in a de facto
amnesty for most corruption charges. Amid public outrage and nationwide rallies, the Italian president of the Republic Oscar Luigi Scalfaro
refused to sign the decree, deeming it unconstitutional. The following week, a US$250 million affair involving Eni
, the government-controlled national energy company, was revealed. The stream of accusation, jailing and confessions continued.
On March 25, 1993, the Italian parliament changed the municipal electoral law in favor of a majoritarian system. Later, on April 18, the public overwhelmingly backed the abrogation of the existing proportional representation
parliamentary electoral law in a referendum (a mixed system
was introduced that August), causing Amato to resign three days later. Still shocked by the recent events, the Parliament was unable to produce a new government. Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
, former governor of the national bank, was appointed head of the government and appointed a technical government without political influences. In the meantime, the investigation of Craxi was blocked by the parliament. Several members of the government, having been in office just three days, resigned in protest; among them were Francesco Rutelli, Minister of the Environment
and Vincenzo Visco
, Minister of Finance
. In new local elections on June 6, 1993, DC lost half of its votes once again; the Socialist Party virtually disappeared. Instead Lega Nord, a protest movement with some ideological elements ranging from xenophobia
and racism
to independence from the rest of Italy and a general loathing of the political system, became the strongest political force in Northern Italy. The left-wing opposition was approaching majority, but still lacked unity and leadership.
Eventually, all four parties in government in 1992 disappeared, at different times in different ways: the Christian Democracy
, the Italian Socialist Party
, the Italian Socialist Democratic Party, and the Italian Liberal Party. The Democratic Party of the Left
, the Italian Republican Party
and the Movimento Sociale Italiano were the only surviving national parties; the Republican party is the only one that has maintained its name since.
president, Gabriele Cagliari, committed suicide in jail. His wife later gave back $3 million of illegal funds.
Meanwhile, the trial of Sergio Cusani began. Mr. Cusani was accused of crimes connected to a joint venture between Eni
and Montedison, named Enimont. It was broadcast on national television, and was a sort of showcase of the old politics being brought to their responsibilities. While Cusani himself was not a major figure, the connection of his crimes to the Enimont affair called in all the nation's major politicians as witnesses.
A high note was reached in the Cusani trial when former head of government Arnaldo Forlani
, answering a question, simply said "I don't remember"; he also happened to be very nervous and did not notice that sweat was accumulating on his lips, and that image was by many considered symbolic of the people's disgust for the corruption system. Bettino Craxi
, instead, admitted that his party received $93 million of illegal funds. His defense was that "everyone was doing this" anyway.
Even the Lega Nord was brought in the trial; secretary Umberto Bossi
and former treasurer Alessandro Patelli were convicted for receiving 200 million lire of illegal funding (approx. $100,000 at the time).
A bribe to the Italian Communist Party
was alleged, but it was not established who had committed the offence. A number of Milanese members of the Democratic Party of the Left
were charged with corruption during their time as members of the PCI but they were acquitted. As prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro
stated, "Penal responsibility is personal. I cannot bring here a person with first name Communist and last name Party".
The Enimont trial itself was carried out after the Cusani trial, with much less public interest.
corporation admitted corruption with a letter to a newspaper.
In 1994, Silvio Berlusconi
entered politics by storm and won the elections. Many think that this move was to preserve his many industries from possible corruption charges. This suspicion was reinforced on February 11, when Silvio Berlusconi
's brother, Paolo, admitted to corruption crimes. On July 13, 1994, the Berlusconi
government made a new law to avoid jail time for most corruption crimes.
The law was carefully timed as Italy had defeated Bulgaria
in the 1994 Football World Cup's semifinals, and it is likely that the government expected to exploit an eventual victory to pass the law under silence in a football
-crazy country. However, as Roberto Baggio
shot high the last penalty against Brazil
, and the news was showing images of hated, corrupt politicians getting out of jail, the public opinion became enraged; the images of Francesco De Lorenzo, former minister of Health, were especially striking, since the general public perceived stealing money from hospitals an especially hateful act.
Just a few days before, the arrested policemen had been talking about corruption in the Fininvest
media industry, the biggest Berlusconi family property. Most of the Mani pulite investigation pool declared that they would respect the state's laws, but they could not work in a situation where duty and conscience were to conflict: they requested therefore to be reassigned to other duties.
Since the government could not afford to be seen as an adversary of the popular judge pool, the decree was hastily revoked and marked a "misunderstanding"; minister for internal affairs Roberto Maroni
from Lega Nord maintained that he had not even had the occasion of reading it. While the minister of Justice was Alfredo Biondi
, allegations that Cesare Previti
, a lawyer from Berlusconi's company Fininvest, had written it, are at least credible.
On July 28, Berlusconi's brother was again arrested and immediately released.
. The battle ended without winners: on December 6, Di Pietro resigned. Two weeks later, the Berlusconi government resigned before a critical confidence vote in the Parliament, which was clearly going to be in Berlusconi's disfavour.
During 1995, many investigations were started against Antonio Di Pietro
, who was years later cleared of all charges, while Silvio Berlusconi
incurred other charges of corruption. It was later found that the main prosecutor of Antonio Di Pietro
in these times, Fabio Salamone from Brescia
, was the brother of a man that Antonio Di Pietro
himself had prosecuted, and who was sentenced to 18 months of jail for various corruption charges. It took however some time before the authorities realized this and ordered Salamone to other duties even though his investigations had taken a completely different direction: Paolo Berlusconi
(Silvio's brother) and Cesare Previti
(former minister) were accused of a conspiracy against Di Pietro but the prosecutor who later replaced Salamone asked for their acquittance and so did the court.
After being cleared, Antonio Di Pietro
started a political career, a thing he had previously excluded on the grounds that he did not want to exploit the popularity gained doing what he perceived to be just his duty. His movement is named Italia dei Valori ("Italy of values").
In 1998, Cesare Previti
, former manager of Fininvest
and then sitting in parliament after the Berlusconi government, avoided jailing thanks to parliament intervention, even though Berlusconi and his allies were in the opposition. Bettino Craxi
accumulated several years of jailing in definitive convictions and had to escape to Tunisia
, where he remained until his death on January 19, 2000.
) either ignored the pleas of the judiciary system for more funding to buy equipment, or passed laws that made the painstakingly slow Italian trials even slower and subject to earlier prescription.
Furthermore, the intricate nature of Italian laws allowed cunning lawyers to use many delaying tactics: an instructive example was a prosecution of Silvio Berlusconi
, where he was accused of misappropriation of funds of his own company, Fininvest
, in order to prepare black funds that could have been used for bribes or other illegitimate purposes; on the last possible day, a lawyer from Fininvest
appeared in court and complained that his company had not been formally notified of the trial. While this trial was well publicized in the media (and also in Fininvest
's media themselves), the formality forced the trial to be restarted from scratch, and Berlusconi was finally acquitted by expiration of statutory terms. Being acquitted in this first trial, he could later benefit from a general reduction of terms for other trials, which in turn expired earlier with a domino effect
.
After Silvio Berlusconi
's victory in 2001, the gradual campaign against judges reached the point where it is not only openly acceptable to criticize judges for having carried out Mani pulite, but it has become increasingly difficult to broadcast opinions favorable to Milan's pool. This is an impressive 180° cultural turn from 1992, when no politician was believed and no judge was contested, in which the Berlusconi's power in media has undoubtedly played an important role. Even Umberto Bossi
, whose Lega Nord once made a statement bringing and showing a hanging rope in a parliamentary session, has become highly critical of judges, even though there are still occasional frictions between Lega Nord and former Christian Democrat or Socialist allies in Berlusconi's coalition.
's liposuction.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
judicial investigation into political corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
held in the 1990s. Mani pulite led to the demise of the so-called First Republic, resulting in the disappearance of many parties. Some politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
s and industry leader
Leadership
Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task". Other in-depth definitions of leadership have also emerged.-Theories:...
s committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
after their crime
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
s were exposed. The corruption system that was uncovered by these investigations was usually referred to as Tangentopoli
Tangentopoli
Tangentopoli is a term which was coined to describe pervasive corruption in the Italian political system exposed in the 1992-6 Mani Pulite investigations, as well as the resulting scandal, which led to the collapse of the hitherto dominant Christian Democracy party and its allies.-Popular distrust...
, or "bribesville".
Mario Chiesa, the "villain"
Tangentopoli began on February 17, 1992, when judge Antonio Di PietroAntonio Di Pietro
Antonio Di Pietro is an Italian politician. He was a Member of the European Parliament, an Italian Senator, and Minister of the Prodi Government...
had Mario Chiesa
Mario Chiesa
Mario Chiesa was an Italian politician and member of the Italian Socialist Party. In 1992 Chiesa was arrested on charges of corruption, leading to the mani pulite trials, and eventually to a restructuring of Italian politics. In 2009 he was arrested again, under charges related to waste treatment...
, a member of the Italian Socialist Party
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...
, arrested for accepting a bribe from a Milan cleaning firm. The PSI
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...
distanced themselves from Chiesa. Bettino Craxi
Bettino Craxi
Benedetto Craxi was an Italian politician, head of the Italian Socialist Party from 1976 to 1993, the first socialist President of the Council of Ministers of Italy from 1983 to 1987.-Political career:...
called Mario Chiesa mariuolo, or "villain", a "wild splinter" of the otherwise clean Italian Socialist Party
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...
. Upset over this treatment by his former colleagues, Chiesa began to give information about corruption implicating his colleagues. It was the start of the Mani pulite (clean hands) investigation. News of political corruption began spreading in the press.
Extension of anti-corruption investigations
In the 1992 elections, the Christian DemocracyChristian Democracy (Italy)
Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....
(DC) party lost many votes, but its coalition prior to the elections managed to keep a small majority, while opposition parties gained votes. However the largest opposition party Italian Communist Party
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party . Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played...
split after the fall of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and there was no opposition leadership. Many votes went to Lega Nord, a party that was not inclined to alliances at the time. The resulting parliament was therefore weak and difficult to bring to an agreement, and new elections arrived as soon as 1994.
During April 1992, many industrial figures and politicians, especially from the majority parties but also from the opposition, were arrested on charges of corruption. While the investigations started in Milan, they quickly spread from town to town, as more and more politicians confessed. A grotesque situation occurred when a Socialist politician immediately confessed all his crimes to two Carabinieri
Carabinieri
The Carabinieri is the national gendarmerie of Italy, policing both military and civilian populations, and is a branch of the armed forces.-Early history:...
who had come to his house, only to later discover they had come to deliver a mere traffic violation fine.
Fundamental to this exponential expansion was the general attitude of the main politicians to drop support for minor politicians who got caught; this made many of them feel betrayed, and they often implicated many other politicians, who in turn would implicate even more.
On May 23, 1992, judge Giovanni Falcone
Giovanni Falcone
Giovanni Falcone was an Sicilian/Italian prosecuting magistrate born in Palermo, Sicily. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, he spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the power of the Mafia in Sicily...
, one of the main architects of the Maxi Trial
Maxi Trial
The Maxi Trial was a criminal trial that took place in Sicily during the mid-1980s that saw hundreds of defendants on trial convicted for a multitude of crimes relating to Mafia activities, based primarily on testimony given in as evidence from a former boss turned informant...
against the Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
in the mid 1980s, was murdered with his wife and three bodyguards by a bomb located underneath the road at Capaci
Capaci
Capaci is a town and comune in the Province of Palermo in Sicily, Italy.In 2004 the commune was inhabited by 10,129 people, with the density of 1,688.2 people per square kilometer....
on the route from Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
airport to the city. A few months later, his colleague Paolo Borsellino
Paolo Borsellino
Paolo Borsellino was an Italian anti-Mafia magistrate who was killed by a Mafia car bomb in Palermo, less than two months after his fellow anti-Mafia magistrate Giovanni Falcone had been assassinated....
was assassinated with a car bomb
Car bomb
A car bomb, or truck bomb also known as a Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device , is an improvised explosive device placed in a car or other vehicle and then detonated. It is commonly used as a weapon of assassination, terrorism, or guerrilla warfare, to kill the occupants of the vehicle,...
in via d'Amelio. Mafia boss Salvatore Riina
Salvatore Riina
Salvatore "Totò" Riina is a member of the Sicilian Mafia who became the most powerful member of the criminal organization in the early 1980s. Fellow mobsters nicknamed him The Beast due to his violent nature, or sometimes The Short One due to his diminutive stature...
was arrested in 1993 and along with Giovanni Brusca
Giovanni Brusca
Giovanni Brusca is a former member of the Sicilian Mafia. He murdered the anti-Mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone in 1992 and once stated that he had committed between 100 and 200 murders but was unable to remember the exact number...
(the man who pushed the button of the remote control that set the Capaci bomb off – arrested in 1996) and others, received life sentences for both murders.
On September 2, 1992, the socialist politician Sergio Moroni, charged with corruption, committed suicide. He left a letter pleading guilty, declaring that crimes were not for his personal gain but for the party's benefit, and accused the financing system of all parties. His daughter, Chiara Moroni
Chiara Moroni
Chiara Moroni is an Italian politician, daughter of Sergio Moroni, a Socialist politician who killed himself during Tangentopoli...
, is today a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies
Italian Chamber of Deputies
The Italian Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Parliament of Italy. It has 630 seats, a plurality of which is controlled presently by liberal-conservative party People of Freedom. Twelve deputies represent Italian citizens outside of Italy. Deputies meet in the Palazzo Montecitorio. A...
in Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
's party Forza Italia
Forza Italia
Forza Italia was a liberal-conservative, Christian democratic, and liberal political party in Italy, with a large social democratic minority, that was led by Silvio Berlusconi, four times Prime Minister of Italy....
.
Effect on national politics
In the local December elections, DC lost half of their votes. The day after that, Bettino CraxiBettino Craxi
Benedetto Craxi was an Italian politician, head of the Italian Socialist Party from 1976 to 1993, the first socialist President of the Council of Ministers of Italy from 1983 to 1987.-Political career:...
, leader of the Italian Socialist Party
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...
, was officially accused of corruption. After many other politicians were accused and jailed, Craxi eventually resigned.
On March 5, 1993, the Italian government of Giuliano Amato
Giuliano Amato
Giuliano Amato is an Italian politician. He was Prime Minister of Italy twice, first from 1992 to 1993 and then from 2000 to 2001. He was more recently Vice President of the Convention on the Future of Europe that drafted the new European Constitution and headed the Amato Group. He is commonly...
and his justice minister Giovanni Conso
Giovanni Conso
Giovanni Conso has served on the Constitutional Court of Italy for nine years beginning in 1982, and has served as President of the Accademia dei Lincei since 1989.-References:...
tried to find a solution with a decree, which allowed criminal charges for several bribery-related crimes to be replaced by administrative charges instead; according to Italian popular opinion at the time, that would have resulted in a de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
amnesty for most corruption charges. Amid public outrage and nationwide rallies, the Italian president of the Republic Oscar Luigi Scalfaro
Oscar Luigi Scalfaro
Oscar Luigi Scalfaro , Italian politician and magistrate, was the ninth President of the Italian Republic from 1992 to 1999, and is currently a senator for life...
refused to sign the decree, deeming it unconstitutional. The following week, a US$250 million affair involving Eni
Eni
Eni S.p.A. is an Italian multinational oil and gas company, present in 70 countries, and currently Italy's largest industrial company with a market capitalization of 87.7 billion euros , as of July 24, 2008...
, the government-controlled national energy company, was revealed. The stream of accusation, jailing and confessions continued.
On March 25, 1993, the Italian parliament changed the municipal electoral law in favor of a majoritarian system. Later, on April 18, the public overwhelmingly backed the abrogation of the existing proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
parliamentary electoral law in a referendum (a mixed system
Mixed member proportional representation
Mixed-member proportional representation, also termed mixed-member proportional voting and commonly abbreviated to MMP, is a voting system originally used to elect representatives to the German Bundestag, and nowadays adopted by numerous legislatures around the world...
was introduced that August), causing Amato to resign three days later. Still shocked by the recent events, the Parliament was unable to produce a new government. Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
dr. Carlo Azeglio Ciampi is an Italian politician and banker. He was the 73rd Prime Minister of Italy from 1993 to 1994 and was the tenth President of the Italian Republic from 1999 to 2006...
, former governor of the national bank, was appointed head of the government and appointed a technical government without political influences. In the meantime, the investigation of Craxi was blocked by the parliament. Several members of the government, having been in office just three days, resigned in protest; among them were Francesco Rutelli, Minister of the Environment
Minister of the environment
An environment minister is a cabinet position in charged with protecting the natural environment and promoting wildlife conservation...
and Vincenzo Visco
Vincenzo Visco
Vincenzo Alfonso Visco is an Italian politician and economist who has served as a government minister.He gained an MSc in Economics at the University of York in 1969 and was awarded an honorary degree in 2004....
, Minister of Finance
Finance
"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...
. In new local elections on June 6, 1993, DC lost half of its votes once again; the Socialist Party virtually disappeared. Instead Lega Nord, a protest movement with some ideological elements ranging from xenophobia
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
and racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
to independence from the rest of Italy and a general loathing of the political system, became the strongest political force in Northern Italy. The left-wing opposition was approaching majority, but still lacked unity and leadership.
Eventually, all four parties in government in 1992 disappeared, at different times in different ways: the Christian Democracy
Christian Democracy (Italy)
Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....
, the Italian Socialist Party
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...
, the Italian Socialist Democratic Party, and the Italian Liberal Party. The Democratic Party of the Left
Democratic Party of the Left
The Democratic Party of the Left was a post-communist, democratic socialist political party in Italy.-History:...
, the Italian Republican Party
Italian Republican Party
The Italian Republican Party is a liberal political party in Italy.The PRI is party with old roots that originally took a left-wing position, claiming descent from the political position of Giuseppe Mazzini...
and the Movimento Sociale Italiano were the only surviving national parties; the Republican party is the only one that has maintained its name since.
The Cusani trial
On July 20, 1993, the former EniEni
Eni S.p.A. is an Italian multinational oil and gas company, present in 70 countries, and currently Italy's largest industrial company with a market capitalization of 87.7 billion euros , as of July 24, 2008...
president, Gabriele Cagliari, committed suicide in jail. His wife later gave back $3 million of illegal funds.
Meanwhile, the trial of Sergio Cusani began. Mr. Cusani was accused of crimes connected to a joint venture between Eni
Eni
Eni S.p.A. is an Italian multinational oil and gas company, present in 70 countries, and currently Italy's largest industrial company with a market capitalization of 87.7 billion euros , as of July 24, 2008...
and Montedison, named Enimont. It was broadcast on national television, and was a sort of showcase of the old politics being brought to their responsibilities. While Cusani himself was not a major figure, the connection of his crimes to the Enimont affair called in all the nation's major politicians as witnesses.
A high note was reached in the Cusani trial when former head of government Arnaldo Forlani
Arnaldo Forlani
This article is about the Italian legislator. For the similar name used as an alias by terrorist Ramzi Yousef for Philippine Airlines Flight 434, see Ramzi Yousef....
, answering a question, simply said "I don't remember"; he also happened to be very nervous and did not notice that sweat was accumulating on his lips, and that image was by many considered symbolic of the people's disgust for the corruption system. Bettino Craxi
Bettino Craxi
Benedetto Craxi was an Italian politician, head of the Italian Socialist Party from 1976 to 1993, the first socialist President of the Council of Ministers of Italy from 1983 to 1987.-Political career:...
, instead, admitted that his party received $93 million of illegal funds. His defense was that "everyone was doing this" anyway.
Even the Lega Nord was brought in the trial; secretary Umberto Bossi
Umberto Bossi
Umberto Bossi is an Italian politician, leader of the Northern League, a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy. He is married to Manuela Marrone and has four sons ....
and former treasurer Alessandro Patelli were convicted for receiving 200 million lire of illegal funding (approx. $100,000 at the time).
A bribe to the Italian Communist Party
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party . Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played...
was alleged, but it was not established who had committed the offence. A number of Milanese members of the Democratic Party of the Left
Democratic Party of the Left
The Democratic Party of the Left was a post-communist, democratic socialist political party in Italy.-History:...
were charged with corruption during their time as members of the PCI but they were acquitted. As prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro
Antonio Di Pietro
Antonio Di Pietro is an Italian politician. He was a Member of the European Parliament, an Italian Senator, and Minister of the Prodi Government...
stated, "Penal responsibility is personal. I cannot bring here a person with first name Communist and last name Party".
The Enimont trial itself was carried out after the Cusani trial, with much less public interest.
Investigations on other fronts
In the meantime, the investigation expanded outside the political range: on September 2, 1993, the Milan judge Diego Curtò was arrested. On April 21, 1994, 80 financial policemen and 300 industry personalities were charged with corruption. A few days later, the secretary of the large FiatFiat
FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...
corporation admitted corruption with a letter to a newspaper.
In 1994, Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
entered politics by storm and won the elections. Many think that this move was to preserve his many industries from possible corruption charges. This suspicion was reinforced on February 11, when Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
's brother, Paolo, admitted to corruption crimes. On July 13, 1994, the Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
government made a new law to avoid jail time for most corruption crimes.
The law was carefully timed as Italy had defeated Bulgaria
Bulgaria national football team
The FIFA Bulgaria national football team is an association football team fielded by the Bulgarian Football Union, a member association of UEFA. The team's home ground is Vasil Levski in Sofia and Luboslav Penev is in charge manager after replacement of Lothar Matthäus...
in the 1994 Football World Cup's semifinals, and it is likely that the government expected to exploit an eventual victory to pass the law under silence in a football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
-crazy country. However, as Roberto Baggio
Roberto Baggio
Roberto Baggio is a retired Italian footballer. Widely regarded as one of the finest footballers of his generation, Baggio won both the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA World Player of the Year in 1993. He is the only Italian player ever to score in three World Cups. He is also one of the top 5 all-time...
shot high the last penalty against Brazil
Brazil national football team
The Brazil national football team represents Brazil in international men's football and is controlled by the Brazilian Football Confederation , the governing body for football in Brazil. They are a member of the International Federation of Association Football since 1923 and also a member of the...
, and the news was showing images of hated, corrupt politicians getting out of jail, the public opinion became enraged; the images of Francesco De Lorenzo, former minister of Health, were especially striking, since the general public perceived stealing money from hospitals an especially hateful act.
Just a few days before, the arrested policemen had been talking about corruption in the Fininvest
Fininvest
Fininvest is a financial holding company controlled by Silvio Berlusconi's family and managed by Silvio Berlusconi's eldest daughter Marina Berlusconi.-Structure:...
media industry, the biggest Berlusconi family property. Most of the Mani pulite investigation pool declared that they would respect the state's laws, but they could not work in a situation where duty and conscience were to conflict: they requested therefore to be reassigned to other duties.
Since the government could not afford to be seen as an adversary of the popular judge pool, the decree was hastily revoked and marked a "misunderstanding"; minister for internal affairs Roberto Maroni
Roberto Maroni
Roberto Maroni is an Italian politician from Varese. He is a member of the Northern League political movement. Since 1992 he is a Member of the Chamber of Duputies of the Italian Republic, always elected in Lombardy's districts and costituencies...
from Lega Nord maintained that he had not even had the occasion of reading it. While the minister of Justice was Alfredo Biondi
Alfredo Biondi
Alfredo Biondi is an Italian politician and lawyer. In 1994 he served as Minister of Justice of the Italian Republic during the first cabinet chaired by Silvio Berlusconi.-Biography:...
, allegations that Cesare Previti
Cesare Previti
Cesare Previti is a former Italian politician.-Biography:Born in Reggio Calabria, he grew up in Rome, where he started practicing law. In 1971 he became acquainted with Silvio Berlusconi, the construction magnate, later to be media mogul and Prime Minister of Italy...
, a lawyer from Berlusconi's company Fininvest, had written it, are at least credible.
On July 28, Berlusconi's brother was again arrested and immediately released.
Escalating conflict between Silvio Berlusconi and Antonio Di Pietro
What began then is what has been described by many as the "Berlusconi-Di Pietro battle". While Berlusconi's industries were being investigated, "inspectors" were sent from the government to the Milanese judges' office to look for formal irregularities. No irregularity were ever found, but this tactic, coupled with Berlusconi's firm grip on the information system, helped spread what is described in other environments as FUDFear, uncertainty and doubt
Fear, uncertainty and doubt, frequently abbreviated as FUD, is a tactic used in sales, marketing, public relations, politics and propaganda....
. The battle ended without winners: on December 6, Di Pietro resigned. Two weeks later, the Berlusconi government resigned before a critical confidence vote in the Parliament, which was clearly going to be in Berlusconi's disfavour.
During 1995, many investigations were started against Antonio Di Pietro
Antonio Di Pietro
Antonio Di Pietro is an Italian politician. He was a Member of the European Parliament, an Italian Senator, and Minister of the Prodi Government...
, who was years later cleared of all charges, while Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
incurred other charges of corruption. It was later found that the main prosecutor of Antonio Di Pietro
Antonio Di Pietro
Antonio Di Pietro is an Italian politician. He was a Member of the European Parliament, an Italian Senator, and Minister of the Prodi Government...
in these times, Fabio Salamone from Brescia
Brescia
Brescia is a city and comune in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, between the Mella and the Naviglio, with a population of around 197,000. It is the second largest city in Lombardy, after the capital, Milan...
, was the brother of a man that Antonio Di Pietro
Antonio Di Pietro
Antonio Di Pietro is an Italian politician. He was a Member of the European Parliament, an Italian Senator, and Minister of the Prodi Government...
himself had prosecuted, and who was sentenced to 18 months of jail for various corruption charges. It took however some time before the authorities realized this and ordered Salamone to other duties even though his investigations had taken a completely different direction: Paolo Berlusconi
Paolo Berlusconi
Paolo Berlusconi is the younger brother of Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. He is editor of the newspaper Il Giornale and the head of the investment group Paolo Berlusconi Finanzaria...
(Silvio's brother) and Cesare Previti
Cesare Previti
Cesare Previti is a former Italian politician.-Biography:Born in Reggio Calabria, he grew up in Rome, where he started practicing law. In 1971 he became acquainted with Silvio Berlusconi, the construction magnate, later to be media mogul and Prime Minister of Italy...
(former minister) were accused of a conspiracy against Di Pietro but the prosecutor who later replaced Salamone asked for their acquittance and so did the court.
After being cleared, Antonio Di Pietro
Antonio Di Pietro
Antonio Di Pietro is an Italian politician. He was a Member of the European Parliament, an Italian Senator, and Minister of the Prodi Government...
started a political career, a thing he had previously excluded on the grounds that he did not want to exploit the popularity gained doing what he perceived to be just his duty. His movement is named Italia dei Valori ("Italy of values").
In 1998, Cesare Previti
Cesare Previti
Cesare Previti is a former Italian politician.-Biography:Born in Reggio Calabria, he grew up in Rome, where he started practicing law. In 1971 he became acquainted with Silvio Berlusconi, the construction magnate, later to be media mogul and Prime Minister of Italy...
, former manager of Fininvest
Fininvest
Fininvest is a financial holding company controlled by Silvio Berlusconi's family and managed by Silvio Berlusconi's eldest daughter Marina Berlusconi.-Structure:...
and then sitting in parliament after the Berlusconi government, avoided jailing thanks to parliament intervention, even though Berlusconi and his allies were in the opposition. Bettino Craxi
Bettino Craxi
Benedetto Craxi was an Italian politician, head of the Italian Socialist Party from 1976 to 1993, the first socialist President of the Council of Ministers of Italy from 1983 to 1987.-Political career:...
accumulated several years of jailing in definitive convictions and had to escape to Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
, where he remained until his death on January 19, 2000.
Statutory term strategy
After 1994, the danger of trials being cancelled due to the expiration of statutory terms was becoming very real. This was clear to the judges and to the politicians, and the latter ones (with no distinction between Berlusconi's coalition and the Olive Tree, especially under the leadership of Massimo D'AlemaMassimo D'Alema
Massimo D'Alema is an Italian politician. He is also a journalist and a former national secretary of the Democratic Party of the Left...
) either ignored the pleas of the judiciary system for more funding to buy equipment, or passed laws that made the painstakingly slow Italian trials even slower and subject to earlier prescription.
Furthermore, the intricate nature of Italian laws allowed cunning lawyers to use many delaying tactics: an instructive example was a prosecution of Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
, where he was accused of misappropriation of funds of his own company, Fininvest
Fininvest
Fininvest is a financial holding company controlled by Silvio Berlusconi's family and managed by Silvio Berlusconi's eldest daughter Marina Berlusconi.-Structure:...
, in order to prepare black funds that could have been used for bribes or other illegitimate purposes; on the last possible day, a lawyer from Fininvest
Fininvest
Fininvest is a financial holding company controlled by Silvio Berlusconi's family and managed by Silvio Berlusconi's eldest daughter Marina Berlusconi.-Structure:...
appeared in court and complained that his company had not been formally notified of the trial. While this trial was well publicized in the media (and also in Fininvest
Fininvest
Fininvest is a financial holding company controlled by Silvio Berlusconi's family and managed by Silvio Berlusconi's eldest daughter Marina Berlusconi.-Structure:...
's media themselves), the formality forced the trial to be restarted from scratch, and Berlusconi was finally acquitted by expiration of statutory terms. Being acquitted in this first trial, he could later benefit from a general reduction of terms for other trials, which in turn expired earlier with a domino effect
Domino effect
The domino effect is a chain reaction that occurs when a small change causes a similar change nearby, which then will cause another similar change, and so on in linear sequence. The term is best known as a mechanical effect, and is used as an analogy to a falling row of dominoes...
.
After Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
's victory in 2001, the gradual campaign against judges reached the point where it is not only openly acceptable to criticize judges for having carried out Mani pulite, but it has become increasingly difficult to broadcast opinions favorable to Milan's pool. This is an impressive 180° cultural turn from 1992, when no politician was believed and no judge was contested, in which the Berlusconi's power in media has undoubtedly played an important role. Even Umberto Bossi
Umberto Bossi
Umberto Bossi is an Italian politician, leader of the Northern League, a party seeking autonomy or independence for Northern Italy. He is married to Manuela Marrone and has four sons ....
, whose Lega Nord once made a statement bringing and showing a hanging rope in a parliamentary session, has become highly critical of judges, even though there are still occasional frictions between Lega Nord and former Christian Democrat or Socialist allies in Berlusconi's coalition.
In Modern Culture
Prior to the investigation, an artist named Gianni Motti created a piece of artwork, named "mani pulite" based on the scandal. "Mani pulite" (clean hands) was claimed to have been created out of the fat from Silvio BerlusconiSilvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
's liposuction.