Berlusconi's legacy

Notes on contemporary Italy...

 "Io l'unico boss virile" (Silvio Berlusconi)

     

A young Berlusconi with his first wife, Carla

     On March 14, 2010, The Sunday Times reported that the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi had sought protection from the mafia in 1974, a period when Italy was plagued by high-profile kidnappings. In exchange for safety, Berlusconi gave his word to mafia boss Stefano Bontade that he was “at his disposal for anything.”  Covering these findings, the Sunday Times  takes a close look at the curious links between Berlusconi and the mafia, specifically his relationship with Vittorio Mangano, who served a sentence for drug trafficking and was found guilty of a double murder. Mangano, if you can imagine, was hired to drive Berlusconi’s children to school, was  put in place by Bontade to protect Berlusconi. This move signaled the mafia clans that Berlusconi was under the direct protection of the mafia. 
   Crucial questions persist. Was Berlusconi’s first political party, Forza Italia, which won the 1994 election, supported by the mafia? Or is Berlusconi, now 74 and no longer the prime minister, correct in stating that he is the victim of a conspiracy orchestrated by left-wing judges? Is he speaking the truth when he claims that no Italian government had done more than his to combat the mafia?  
    During my stays in Palermo over the last two years, the streets 

are calm, but you can feel the weight of a traumatic past. 

I happened to walk into this protest last March in front of the Teatro Massimo between demonstrators and police to prevent the presentation of the 'Nessun

Dolore book to the Mondadori Molticenter. See: http://www.demotix.com/news/640090/demonstration-against-palermo-mondadori-and-casa-pound

Anti-mafia activists and students continue to commemorate the martyrs who died during the summer of  1992, leading anti-mafia campaigns,  designing anti-mafia curriculum, agriturissimo businesses and educating citizens to become  ‘critical consumers.’