Caroline Moorehead

The return of Cosa Nostra

issue 11 September 2004

When Silvio Berlusconi came to power for the second time in May 2001, in a landslide victory, Italy became unique among Western democracies: no other nation had at its head its richest citizen — the 35th richest man in the world — someone who also enjoyed a monopoly of the country’s private television broadcasting. More important, no other country had its prime minister on trial, accused of bribing judges, ruling over a coalition busy enacting special laws to protect himself and his friends. Drawing attention to these facts in the Economist not long afterwards, David Lane provoked fury in the Italian political and financial establishment, and talk among Italy’s EU partners, where his articles were widely read. In Berlusconi’s Shadow: Crime, Justice and the Pursuit of Power, Lane elaborates on his theme. His book — sober, precise, meticulously researched — is full of such extraordinary and disquieting facts and events that were it not for Lane’s long knowledge of Italy they would be hard to believe.

Born in Milan in 1936, Berlusconi rose rapidly from property speculator to tycoon to television mogul, by a combination of crafty stratagems and political deals, elbowed through by secret pressures, until he had complete dominance of private television and a tight grip on television advertising.

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