Saturday, 28 April 2014. Publishing the motivations of a conviction related to the bunga-bunga parties, a Court in Bari defines Silvio Berlusconi's private life as “bewildering” and states that “beyond a formal appearance of elegant dinners” there was ”a thriving prostitution” orchestrated by Gianpaolo Tarantini for the benefit of the former Italian prime minister.
Gianpaolo Tarantini – a man linked to Mr Berlusconi's, for good and for bad – founded a real “recruitment agency” for women offering services consisting in “sexual performances”, according to the judge Ambrogio Marrone, linked to the so-called bunga-bunga parties held in the Arcore's villa of the Italian billionaire, or in his residence in Rome, Palazzo Grazioli.
Gianpaolo Tarantini (with his wife), the main supplier of women for Berlusconi
The payments for the above mentioned services were called alternatively “envelope”, “gift”, “cachet” or “token”, and were handed over to the girls directly by Silvio Berlusconi, usually on the day of the departure of the call girls, the day after the «sexual encounters, occurred the night before, with the women on duty».
Friday, 28 March 2014. According to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica Berlusconi's favourite night dancer Karima El Mahroug (aka Ruby the Heart Stealer) has started a new life, taking expensive holidays, developing a luxury resort in Mexico and investing in property in the Middle East. Where did she get the money from?
Ruby the Heart Stealer (real name Karima El-Mahroug) having pretty good time in Mexico (Playa
del Carmen's beach)
Now, in 2010 the prosecutors in charge with the sex scandal trial (the result of the so-called Rubygate investigation) intercepted a phone conversation when Ruby – talking to a friend – said that she had received €5 million from the billionaire (which is roughly £4.1m or $6.9). Later on the Moroccan erotic dancer (and call-girl, if you listen to Milan's judges), said that all that stuff (and other stuff she had been telling the judges) was just a made-up show off and she had been “talking crap”, and so on.
Thursday, 23 January 2014. Silvio Berlusconi – who has already been given a 7-year sentence – risks to get more as prosecutors investigate over accusations he and his lawyers corrupted witnesses of the sex scandal trial.
The investigations over the alleged prostitution ring set by Mr Berlusconi aren't finished yet, we are now in the so-called phase three - according to the news -, aka Rubygate ter or Rubygate 3.0 (the name originates from Ruby the Heartstealer, the nom de guerre – the real name is Karima El Mahroug - of the girl who apparently had sex with the politician when still a teenager).
Silvio Berlusconi faces yet another investigation linked to the bunga-bunga sex scandal
The two previous spells of the proceedings were pretty disastrous for the former prime minister and his friends... With the first episode of the sex scandal trial, Berlusconi won a 7-year sentence (child prostitution and abuse of office), with the second stint – the Ruby-bis - it was his protégé Nicole Minetti and one of his friends and employee Emilio Fede who received a conviction. 7 years apiece, details in our post (click here to read it).
Thursday, 2 January 2014. Silvio Berlusconi appeals against his conviction for paying for sex with a minor and abuse of office, nasty things he did when Prime Minister of Italy, according to judges.
Berlusconi just couldn't resist teenage Ruby's charm
Silvio Berlusconi was given a 7-year sentence in the end of June 2013 for having sex with a minor (the nightclub dancer and stripper Karima El Mahroug, better known as Ruby the Heartstealer, her stage name) and for abusing of his office as a prime minister, when he tried to cover the story that threaten to become public, as the young girl was stopped by the police. Berlusconi personally phoned the policemen, saying that they better release Ruby into the safe hands of show-girl-turned-into-politician Nicole Minetti (the attractive young woman will also get a 7-year sentence – later on – for procuring women for the former Italian prime minister's bunga-bunga parties in Villa San Martino), since it seemed she's the nephew of Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak.
Ruby the Heartstealer received from Silvio Berlusconi "money and jewellery" in exchange for sex, according to Milan's judges
Thursday, 21 November 2013. Milan's court publishes details of Berlusconi conviction, is bunga bunga parties and his exchange of money and jewellery for sex with under-age dancer Karima el Mahroug (aka Ruby the Heart Stealer).
The proceedings about the sex scandal that involved Silvio Berlusconi ended up with a seven-year sentence, appeal pending. It's no more on the news, as it happened last June, but now new details have been disclosed about the sex scandal, as the Milan's court published a 350-page document about testimonies, bunga bunga parties and – of course – lots of women. The former prime minister of Italy will also be banned from public office for life (if he fails to win the appeal to the sentence), a problem that adds up to Berlusconi's woes: on Wednesday the Senate will decide whether to expel him from the Italian parliament, in the wake of his conviction for tax fraud (no appeal pending, this one is definitive).
Saturday, 7 September 2013. Barbara Berlusconi, in an interview with Italian newspaper Il Messaggero, says that a lobby is trying do to her father in.
Barbara Berlusconi with her father Silvio
Barbara Berlusconi was at the business workshop in Cernobbio's beautiful Villa d'Este, when she was reached by a quite unusual interviewer, the (former?) confidante of her mother Veronica Lario (the interview was published by Rome's newspaper Il Messaggero), asking Barbara to comment the Silvio Berlusconi's legal woes and take a stance in the entangled situation of Italian politics. «The story of my father and of my family is not that of a handful of tax evaders. [...] The story of Silvio Berlusconi can not end in shame» she said, referring to the recent conviction of the media tycoon for tax fraud, «There are those who want to hunt my father from politics for their own interests.
Nicole Minetti in court (here you can find out-of-the-court photos of Nicole Minetti
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was the first to be convicted in connection with the infamous bunga-bunga parties, he has been sentenced to seven years, together with a lifetime ban on holding public office. Berlusconi's sentenced was based on charges of abuse of power (as a PM) and paying for sex a minor prostitute, namely the 17-year-old Moroccan nightclub dancer Karima El Mahroug (generally known as Ruby the Heartstealer). Berlusconi denies having had sex for money at all (with any woman in the world, for that matters: he does not need any money to lay females!), denies abuse of power charges (it was just a nice phone call to a police station, to ask agents to release Ruby the Heartstealer, saying that she was the granddaughter of
Monday, 8 July 2013. Italian online magazine Panorama.it mistakes the New Yorker's weekly satirical blog "The Borowitz Report" for a trustworthy source, as it divulges Silvio Berlusconi's intentions to run for NYC office.
As Andy Borowitz wrote on his blog “former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said today that he was considering running for office in New York City” the Berlusconi owned Panorama could not resist and reported the fake news as reliable, apparently.
That might have been the reason why Silvio Berlusconi had been practicing English, in the past.
The idea came from the news that Silvio Berlusconi could be banned from public office by a recent sentence coming from the Rubygate trial, a proceeding where the former prime minister was found guilty of abusing of child prostitution and his powers as prime minister (in both instances Moroccan nightclub dancer Karima El Mahroug – also known as Ruby the Heartstealer - was primarily involved, but many other women had been involved in the so-called bunga-bunga parties at Silvio's villa in Arcore).
Wednesday, 10 July 2013. A decision by the Court of Cassation – which sets for as early as 30 July Silvio Berlusconi's tax fraud appeal hearing – gets Italy's political life in turmoil ignited also by newspapers' aggressive headlines.
"State bandits"
“State bandits” reads Berlusconi's family newspaper Il Giornale (“The Newspaper”) today's headline with a list of evidence items (34 trials, 0 definitive sentences, and so on), showing how ballistic the former prime minister intends to go in his fighting the 20 Year's War against the Italian judiciary, which is guilty of having anticipated the appeal hearings, (allegedly) in order to avoid any risk of statute of limitations that might influence some of the charges in September.
Mr Berlusconi's entourage – amongst them the newspaper's editor Allesandro Sallusti - obviously counted on the fact that the media tycoon would by saved by the bell (namely the statue of limitation).
Fri, 28 June 2013. A minor branch of the sex scandal trial gravitating to stripper Karima El Mahroug approaches its end and new leaks about Mr Berlusconi's bunga-bunga nights might come to light, as well as other details about women, girls and others.
Mr Berlusconi's associate Lele Mora relaxing
The
main branch of the trail that followed the rubygate inquiry ended a
few days ago when the former prime minister of Italy Silvio
Berlusconi was sentenced to 7 years in prison (pending appeal, of
course) for child prostitution and abuse of power, but there is a secondary branch of the proceeding – dubbed
Ruby 2 or Ruby bis - where three persons are accused of pimping on
behalf of Mr Berlusconi,
The
three characters – for whom Prosecution demand a 7-year sentence to
each and everyone - are a model-politician, Nicole Minetti, a
journalist-politician, Emilio Fede, and a showbiz agent-bankrupt
manager-bisexual dope pusher, Lele Mora. They are accused of recruiting, testing and keep the females needed for the bunga-bunga parties.
Tue, 25 June 2013. As Silvio Berlusconi is sentenced to seven years in jail and ban from holding public office prison (for having had sex with a under-age prostitute and having tried to deceive a bunch of policemen about her identity, with a prank phone call) the Italian judiciary is keeping by five more judicial trials for the former PM of Italy. Not all of them involving women.
One of the rare occasions when Silvio Berlusconi showed up in court
Silvio Berlusconi has barely time to swallow the heavy sentence given by Milan's magistrates (they took seriously prosecutor's theory about Silvio being the head of a prostitution ring, didn't they?), that he will need a bit of luck and concentration to dodge the incoming threats from the judiciary, a gymkhana (since Silvio reckon it's a war, he might prefer to call a campaign) of proceedings starting already... tomorrow!
Wed, 19 June, 2013. Silvio Berlusconi risks of being booted out of politics for good, as he loses appeal to the constitutional court in relation with Mediaset tax fraud trial.
The so-called Mediaset trial has been lingering on for more than 10 years (Wikipedia provides quite an extensive picture over Berlusconi's trials and allegations, click here to check this out).
Will Silvio end up in handcuffs?
the list of
people involved is pretty long - a fair share of the Berlusconi
family is in it, like Silvio's children Marina Berlusconi and
Piersilvio Berlusconi – but it's the head of the family who has
more to lose, since he could end up banned from holding public
office, if things turn nasty.
Friday, 7 June, 2013. At the Ruby 2 trial Nicole Minetti denies having had “sex for money” and reveals that it was “true love” if she was hosted by Silvio Berlusconi at his villa(s), and reveals unprecedented “media aggression followed by a wave of scorn” against her.
Nicole Minetti in court
On 31 May prosecutors hinted that Nicole Minetti had being “performing sexual acts for money” in Silvio Berlusconi's villa(s), apparently with the former prime minister, during a trial – dubbed Ruby 2, from the name of the main character involved and because the Ruby #1 is the trial against Silvio himself – where Nicole is a defendant, together with Lele Mora and Emilio Fede.
Nicole Minetti is charged with “induction into prostitution”, as a organiser of bunga-bunga parties and recruiter of prostitutes (among them under-age belly dancer Karima El Mahroug aka Ruby the Heartstealer, nickname that dubbed the related proceedings). Proceedings are slowed down by many obstacles, Karima El Mahroug numerous lies didn't help much. but proceedings are always slow in Italy, aren't they? Prosecution asked for a 7-year sentence.
Friday, 31 May, 2013. During the closing arguments of the Ruby case, prosecutors asked for 7-year sentences for any of the Silvio Berlusconi 's friends involved in bunga-bunga parties and related sex scandal, for different reasons, as they illustrated.
Nicole Minetti seems to say: “Sex for money? Me?
Are you serious?”
Nicole Minetti, former regional councillor, showgirl and model (and - according to her - former girlfriend of Silvio Berlusconi), apart for having fulfilled tasks of “intermediation” in the fixing of the bunga-bunga parties, had an active role by “performing sexual acts for money”, according to prosecutor Antonio Sangermano, while women-connoisseurs “associates” Dario Gabriele “Lele” Mora and Emilio Fede “tested – or tasted - the pleasantness of the girls, checked their social-relational skills and then led into the circuit of the evenings” at Berlusconi's villa in Arcore.
They all deserve a reclusion of 7 years, according to the Public Prosecutor.
Fri, 24 May, 2013. Testifying as a witness at the a trial were three individuals are charged for favouring prostitution, Moroccan stripper Karima El Mahroug (aka Ruby the Heartstealer says she was “talking crap” when she gave away details of spicy parties at Silvio Berlusconi's villa."
Me a prostitute? If not a saint, I might be a nun!
Ruby Rubacuori (Italian for Heartstealer) appeared on the trial (which is already a news, she sometimes forget about it...) where former TV presenter (and Berlusconi's friend, at least before he got dramatically fired by Mediaset, in 2012) Emilio Fede, celebrity agent Lele Mora and Nicole Minetti, a former Lombardy local councillor, model and showgirl are accused of supplying prostitutes to Mr Berlusconi's so-called "bunga-bunga" festive evenings in his villa in Arcore. Nicole said she had been hanging around just because she was the one and only girlefriend of the media millionaire.
Sun, 12 May, 2013. Silvio Berlusconi's Mediaset broadcaster Canale 5 airs a two-hour documentary to demonstrate prosecutors sex-related charges against the former prime minister are groundless (at least to the public opinion), as a last act of a counteroffensive against the Italian judiciary.
All but chaste
“The twenty years' war” is the title of a two-hour documentary, that was aired on Sunday, the day before the prosecutor's closing arguments would be declared at the Rubygate sex scandal trial (the request would be a 6-year sentence), where Silvio Berlusconi is accused of abuse of power and having paid the then-minor Karima El-Mahroug (aka Ruby Heartstealer, Ruby Rubacuori in Italian) for sex.
Silvio Berlusconi's stand is that the dinners where young girls and women were invited (some of them were just kept at hand in the bunga-bunga army) were pretty “normal soirées” and that his guests “kept their cloths on”. Nicole Minetti was not an organiser (was she his grilfriend at that time, as she declared?). Prosecution thinks he has been running a prostitution ring. So far they have been finding it difficult to reconcile the two different positions.
Thu, 11 April, 2013. Francesco Chiesa Soprani, former agent of Silvio Berlusconi's protégé Naomi Letizia, says in an interview that the former prime minister had sex with the girl when she was under-age.
As
some of you might remember, Silvio Berlusconi's second wife Veronica Lario decided to reveal to the public that his husband was “a sick
man in need of help“ because of his “uncontrollable” yearning
for women (and – at the same time - decided to start separation
proceedings) when the former prime minister of Italy attended to
young model Noemi Letizia's 18th birthday party in Naples.
Though
the story was never forgot, nobody knew exactly until what extent the
relationship between a minor girl and a elderly man she called “papi”
(when Noemi got 18, Silvio was 73) was inappropriate.
Fri, 22 March, 2013. Silvio Berlusconi is portrayed as a driver of a Ford Figo who “leaves his worries behind”, symbolised by Ruby the Heartstealer, Francesca Pascale and Nicole Minetti tied up and gagged in the boot of the car.
The infamous advert created for Ford India,
with Karima-Ruby, Francesca and Nicole
A drawing appearing on the Ford Figo's ad by Ford India Ltd shows three curvaceous women – namely belly dancer Karima El Mahroug aka Ruby the Heart Breaker, Silvio Berlusconi's girlfriend Francesca Pascale and (former) sweetheart Nicole Minetti – hands a feet tied, muzzled, in the rear booth of a red car, whilst the former Italian prime minister is sitting in front of the vehicle, at the wheel, smiling and showing the V sign.
«Leave your worries behind with Figo's extra-large boot» reads the claim on the bottom of the page, obviously referring to Silvio's headaches about bunga-bunga parties, sex scandal trials, and other matters related to women.
Not exactly something that Berlusconi would find funny – we presume – and not exactly something in a good taste – we might say – considering the poor record of India in terms of behaviour of men towards women.
January 2013. Silvio Berlusconi keeps on discovering conspiracies planned by his enemies, in order to prevent him to deservedly get back to Italy's helm. And he keeps instigating his supporters to fight against this Communist plot.
Silvio revealed the umpteenth plot against him
Silvio Berlusconi, in the attempt to gain sympathy from the public before the general election set for 24-25 February 2013, is trying to portray himself in different ways, but mainly as a victim.
In his own view, Silvio is a victim of a series of conspiracies and plots, he has being disclosing day after day. In the past he informed Barack Obama and Angela Merket about this terrible conspiracy (did they care?). Behind those plots obviously hid some of his countless enemies.
Thursday,
December 20, 2012. Silvio Berlusconi-s owned gossip magazine attempts
to delegitimize a magistrate looking into sex-scandal trial by
denigrate her socks. It's not the first time they resort to this
extreme measure, Italian judges should pay more attention to the
colour of their socks, experts say.
Ilda Boccassini doing work
The
prosecutor in charge of the Rubygate – a case in which Silvio
Berlusconi is indicted for having given money to under-age Karima el
Mahroug (aka Ruby the Heart Stealer) – has appeared on a photo
shoot on Berlusconi's Mondadori-owned “Chi” weekly magazine, a
gossip newspaper.
Judge
Ilda Boccassini is an old enemy of Berlusconi's, since she took over
the place of Antonio Di Pietro, back in 1994, in the “Mani pulite”
(“Clean hands”) investigation.
Silvio and Ilda met up in several occasions, since.
Ilda Boccassini doing shopping
The
gossip weekly portrays the judge as she goes shopping in the centre
of Milan, adding captions in order to deride the magistrate. A list
of her cloths is published, where “multi-coloured striped wool
socks”, costing 21 euro, are exhibited and undrlined in order –
somehow – to belittle the judge. Another photo shows Ilda
Boccassini dropping the butt of a cigarette to the ground. Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera and Rai3 news service accused the media outlet of "hounding" the judge.
A similar technique was used by Canale5 broadcaster staff in 2009, when they hounded judge Raimondo Mesiano, who ordered to Silvio Berlusconi's Fininvest to pay 750 million euro (£612m) to Carlo De Benedetti's – arch-enemy of The Knight – CIR, as a compensation in the frame of the Lodo Mondadori, a battle between the two Italian entrepreneurs following the acquisition of publisher Arnoldo Mondadori Editore by Fininvest. Mr Mesiano was followed by the broadcaster's men, his turquoise-coloured socks were exposed as a major offence.
Ruby rebuilding her virginity with Chi's Alfonso Signorini
By the
way, the weekly magazine we started this post with is owned by
Arnoldo Mondadori Editore SpA (company chaired by Silvio's daughter,
Maria Elvira Berlusconi, commonly known as Marina Berlusconi). The paper is also
known for having published topless photos of Kate Middleton earlier
this year, and a picture of prnicess Diana, taken as she was dying,
after a car accident on 31 August 1997. The Director of “Chi”,
Alfonso Signorini, was in charge also when Mediaset (on Canale 5's Kalispéra TV show) tried to prove that Ruby the Heart Stealer was – in reality – a
kind of vocational nun, not a prostitute.
