Berlusconi: prostitution thrived at his homes, his private life is “bewildering”, according to judge

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». 

Berlusconi faces new investigations in prostitution case (and he's not happy)

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). 

Has Silvio Berlusconi been running a “prostitution ring”?

Monday, 4 March, 2013. Silvio Berlusconi has been running a prostitution ring, according to prosecutors' final arguments in the last episode of the Rubygate sex scandal related proceedings.

Karima El-Mahroug, aka Ruby the Heart Stealer

Silvio Berlusconi is on trial – he managed to postpone the proceeding, due to the general elections, but now he is running out of excuses... -, since he is accused of soliciting an under-age prostitute (the Moroccan Karima el-Mahroug, also known as Ruby Rubacuori i.e. Ruby Heart Stealer) and for abuse of power, for having managed to free the aforementioned Ruby Heart Stealer from the strong arm of the law, and ushered her into the hands of Milan's municipality's councillor (party-organizer and part-time bikini-model) Nicole Minetti, by illicit means (amongst them he apparently said to the police that Karima-Ruby - apparently - was the granddaughter of Egypt's former dictator Hosni Mubarak).

Silvio Berlusconi heading to the court

By doing this, Silvio – who at the time was Italy's prime minister – recruited the Moroccan belly-dancer (and alleged call girl) into the bunga-bunga army, a bunch of young women - the bunga-bunga girls - to be used for entertainment during parties in his villa in Arcore. The women used to get a bed where to sleep, 2,500 euro a month ($3,250 or £2,160), plus gifts and presents in case of birthdays or name days.

The prosecutor – Antonio Sangermano – said that Karima El-Mahroug (who was 17, when first attended a so-called bunga-bunga party) was "an integral part" of a "complex prostitution ring". In the next days the prosecutors will publish the requested sentence, the defence will reply on 11 March, and on 18 March the trail will end with a verdict.

All this is hardly likely to help the difficult relationship between the former premier of Italy and the Italian Judiciary, which – according to Silvio Berlusconi – is «more dangerous than the Sicilian Mafia,».