Berlusconi Ally Convicted of Mafia Ties

[Rose Siding]

ROME -- A close political ally of Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi was convicted of ties with the Sicilian Mafia on Saturday and sentenced to nine years in prison.

Marcello Dell'Utri was an executive in Berlusconi's business empire and is a senator in the premier's conservative Forza Italia party. During the seven-year trial in Palermo, Dell'Utri repeatedly denied any ties to the criminal organization.

Prosecutors accused him of acting as a link between the mob and the Milan business world. His lawyers said they planned to appeal the verdict, but a date had not been set. Dell'Utri was allowed to remain a senator until all appeals are exhausted.
...
The decision came a day after a court in Milan acquitted Berlusconi of corruption charges at the close of a 4 1/2-year trial. The billionaire premier had been accused of bribing judges in the 1980s. Though Berlusconi was effectively cleared, the verdict mentioned a money transfer that prosecutors alleged Berlusconi had used to pay off judges, saying the statute of limitations had run out on that charge.
...
While the acquittal for Berlusconi deprived the center-left opposition of fodder in the run-up to 2006 elections, the sentencing one day later of his close ally immediately sparked new complaints.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-italy-mafia,0,7825690.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[Fab1969]

1. That's why Berlusconi's party always gets the Majority of Sicilian vote

Voting in Sicily is deeply influenced by the Mafia, and since 1994 Berlusconi's party always gets the majority in Sicily.

Interestingly in the 80's Berlusconi employed as "stable boy" a guy who turned out to be a mafia boss in hiding. "He was great with horses"

F.

(just for the record I lived in Sicily for 24 years)

[struggle4progress]

2. kick for BFFE

:kick:

[PurityOfEssence]

3. The richest guy in Italy, who owns all the media and gets more

than just special treatment from the courts when he encounters any legal trouble, just happens to also run the country. Do you think he has any ties to organized crime?