After Berlusconi's victory in 2001, the gradual campaign against judges reached the point where it is not only openly acceptable to criticize judges for having carried out Mani pulite, but it has become increasingly difficult to broadcast opinions favorable to Milan's pool. This is an impressive 180° cultural turn from 1992, when no politician was believed and no judge was contested, in which the Berlusconi's power in media has undoubtedly played an important role. Even Umberto Bossi, whose Lega Nord once made a statement bringing and showing a hanging rope in a parliamentary session, has become highly critical of judges, even though there are still occasional frictions between Lega Nord and former Christian Democrat or Socialist allies in Berlusconi's coalition.
There are two "souls" to the judiciary problem. It is a social norm to distrust justice in Italy by large sectors of the population. This dates back decades. The Italian judiciary system has historically been slow and Byzantine, often condemned by the Hague and Human Rights organizations such as Amnesty International. It's however important to note that the fault lies primarily at the feet of parliament and politicians who are ultimately responsible for judiciary reform and law. Judges apply laws and legal norms, they don't make them. Yet they take the flack unjustly.
Berlusconi's strategy was to graft his personal problems, as well as those of his referents, onto pre-existing discontent. In a way it's a mimicry tactic that worked for a while.
