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Berlusconi, the hitman and a call girl's memoirs
Bo Wilson23.11.09
Silvio Berlusconi is today facing new charges over claims that he had been the political protector of a Mafia boss and that a call girl was attacked and threatened after sleeping with him.
The Italian prime minister has been dogged by allegations about relationships with escorts since his wife demanded a divorce in May.
But he has now been accused of direct links with the Mafia. Convicted hitman Gaspare Spatuzza said Mr Berlusconi had been the political protector of Cosa Nostra godfather Giuseppe Graviano in the Nineties.
Mr Berlusconi's lawyer vehemently denied the allegation, while the premier, who has lost his immunity from prosecution on two counts of corruption, said yesterday during a trip to Saudi Arabia that he was "tired of being attacked on all sides". Spatuzza told magistrates that Graviano told him in 1994 that his protectors were Mr Berlusconi and the co-founder of the party Forza Italia, Marcello Dell'Utri.
Mr Berlusconi's lawyer, Niccolo Ghedini, said the allegations against his client were "baseless and can be in no way verified".
The pressure on Mr Berlusconi increased when excerpts of a book by call girl Patrizia D'Addario, 42, were published. In her memoirs, Gradisca, Presidente (Enjoy, President) she said that after spending the night with Mr Berlusconi at his residence in Rome, she received anonymous phone calls in which she was called a "whore and a bitch" and the caller threatened to "break your bones and rape your daughter".
She claimed her mother was assaulted and that she was almost run off the road in a deliberate attack.
Her book gives an account of her encounter with Mr Berlusconi on the night of the US election a year ago which she recorded and presented to magistrates.
Sections of the book, which also gave details of being taken with other women to his residence, Palazzo Grazioli in Rome, were published in Italian newspapers. Mr Berlusconi has faced questions about his private life since he attended the 18th birthday party of Noemi Letizia, a lingerie model, and gave her a gold necklace.
Reader views (2)
all men are polygamists but in the position that Berlusconi holds he should be more discreet'as he is a world figure ''
money usually buys power but ones name cannot be bought and when you lose it as he has money cannot buy his prestigio back -THIS IS A PITY AS HE IS VERSATILE AND LOVES TO LIVE AT LEAST HES NOT A HIPOCRITO
- Irene Freeman, Alentejo Portugal
She looks good for 42. Does she have a doctoral degree too?
- Peace Maker, Battersea
