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Welcome to European Tribune. It's gone a bit quiet around here these days, but it's still going.
by de Gondi
Sun May 24th, 2009 at 02:06:44 PM EST
La Repubblica published today a lengthy investigation into Berlusconi's affair with Noemi Letizia. In previous articles La Repubblica had investigated Berlusconi's numerous assertions concerning his presence at Noemi's 18th birthday party, concluding that they were largely false or misleading. La Repubblica pressed the point with a multimedia campaign that summarized the obscure points of the affair in ten questions.
The media campaign found sympathetic ears in the English press, accustomed to plurality and a degree of independence uncommon by Italian standards. The Times ran several articles as well as an editorial calling Berlusconi to account for both the Noemi affair and the motivations for the guilty verdict in the Mills' case. The Guardian followed suit yesterday in an editorial. Today The Observer also called Mr. Berlusconi to account, concluding however that la Repubblica may have to wait a long time for answers. Today la Repubblica claims to have answered five of the questions on their own merit.
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Rather than affront his responsibilities towards the public and the institutions, Berlusconi has resorted to distractive space-grabbing, character assassination, insults, false allegations. Yesterday, Saturday, he gave twelve interviews in which he continued his attacks against parliament, calling for a popular petition which would cull "millions" of signatures. Berlusconi has in the past gathered "millions" of signatures in record breaking time, sometimes a matter of hours- hardly any verifiable beyond a few thousand followers. Berlusconi further asserted that the opposition was not necessary to make "reforms" and that those who vote for the left do so out of envy. Berlusconi has yet to inform the public what constitutes envy of his person or circumstances.
His well-known tactics (a modern improvement on Joe McCarthy's adroit manipulation of the press) serve to distract attention from the core issues: If Mills has been condemned for taking bribes from Berlusconi, what is Berlusconi's legal and ethical position? Veronica Lario has asked for divorce on the grounds that her husband frequents minors (plural). She added that she has sought to help him but considers that he is sick.
In today's scoop Giuseppe D'Avanzo and Conchita Sannino reveal Noemi's past relation with a young Neapolitan, Gino Flaminio, and their breakup due to Noemi's personality change once she began to hang out with Berlusconi. In the interview (both in print edition and in video) Gino Flaminio tells how Berlusconi discovered Noemi through the good offices of Emilio Fede and eventually began to invite her to visit him, culminating in a near-ten day bash over the recent New Year's holidays, Noemi with another thirty to forty young women. Following Noemi's stay in Berlusconi's Sardinia villa Gino Flaminio broke up with Noemi. He described his relation at that point as being like Britney Spears fiancée to a neighbourhood butcher.
| Gino, 22 anni, operaio, una passione per la kickboxing, è stato per sedici mesi (dal 28 agosto del 2007 al 10 gennaio del 2009) l'"amore" di Noemi Letizia, la minorenne di cui il premier ha voluto festeggiare il diciottesimo anno in un ristorante di Casoria, il 26 aprile. Gino e Noemi si sono divisi, per quel breve, intenso, felice periodo le ore, i sogni, il fiato, le promesse. "Quando non dormivo da lei a Portici - è capitato una ventina di volte - o quando lei non dormiva qui da me, il sabato che non lavoravo mi tiravo su alle sei del mattino per portarle la colazione a letto; poi l'accompagnavo a scuola e ci tornavo poi per riportarla indietro con la mia Yamaha. Lei qualche volta veniva a prendermi in fabbrica, la sera, quando poteva". | | Gino, 22 years old, worker, a passion for kickboxing, was Noemi Letizia's "love" for sixteen months (from August 28, 2007, to January 10,2009). Noemi is the minor whose 18th birthday last April 26th was celebrated by Berlusconi in a restaurant in Casoria. Gino and Noemi shared for a brief, intense, happy period their time, dreams, breath and promises. "When I didn't sleep at her house at Portici- about twenty times- or when she slept here at my place, Saturdays when I was off work I would get up at six in the morning to make her breakfast in bed. Then I'd take her to school and bring her back on my Yamaha. Sometimes she would come to pick me up at the factory when she could." | | Gino Flaminio è in grado di dire quando e come Silvio Berlusconi è entrato nella vita di Noemi. Come quel "miracolo" (così Gino definisce l'inatteso irrompere del premier) ha cambiato - di Noemi - la vita, i desideri, le ambizioni e più tangibilmente anche il corpo, il volto, le labbra, gli zigomi; in una parola, dice Gino, "i valori". Il ragazzo può raccontare come quell'ospite inaspettato dal nome così importante che faceva paura anche soltanto a pronunciarlo nel piccolo mondo di gente che duramente si fatica la giornata e un piatto caldo, ha deviato anche la sua di vita. Quieto come chi si è ormai pacificato con quanto è avvenuto, Gino ricorda: "Mi è stato quasi subito chiaro che tra me e la mia memi non poteva andare avanti. Era come pretendere che Britney Spears stesse con il macellaio giù all'angolo...". | | Gino Flaminio can tell us when and how Silvio Berlusconi entered Noemi's life. How that "miracle" (this is how Gino defines the sudden the premier's advent) changed, in Noemi, her life, desires, ambitions and more tangibly also her body, face, lips, cheeks; in a word, Gino says, "values." The young man can tell how this unexpected guest- with a name so important to instil fear only to pronounce it in this small world of folks who work hard every day for a hot plate- changed the course of his life. Calm as someone who had long since come to terms with past events, Gino remembers, "It was almost immediately clear to me that the story between me and "Memi" wouldn't last. It's like pretending that Britney Spears stays with the local butcher..." |
Berlusconi has repeatedly asserted that he knew Noemi through his friendship with her father. Beyond the complicity of Benedetto Elio Letizia, her father, no proof has emerged that Berlusconi ever knew the family. To the contrary every single assertion has been debunked in the press.
Gino decidedly contradicts Berlusconi's repeatedly corrected versions.
| "I genitori di Noemi non c'entrano niente. Il legame era proprio con lei. È nato tra Berlusconi e Noemi. Mai Noemi mi ha detto che lui, papi Silvio parlava di politica con suo padre, Elio. Non mi risulta proprio. Mai, assolutamente. Vi dico come è cominciata questa storia e dovete sapere che almeno per l'inizio - perché poi quattro, cinque volte ho ascoltato anch'io le telefonate - vi dirò quel che mi ha raccontato Noemi. Il rapporto tra Noemi e il presidente comincia più o meno intorno all'ottobre 2008. Noemi mi ha raccontato di aver fatto alcune foto per un "book" di moda. Lo aveva consegnato a un'agenzia romana, importante - no, il nome non me lo ricordo - di quelle che fanno lavorare le modelle, le ballerine, insomma le agenzie a cui si devono rivolgere le ragazze che vogliono fare spettacolo. Noemi mi dice che, in quell'agenzia di Roma, va Emilio Fede e si porta via questi "book", mica soltanto quello di Noemi. Non lo so, forse gli servono per i casting delle meteorine. Il fatto è - ripeto, è quello che mi dice Noemi - che, proprio quel giorno, Emilio Fede è a pranzo o a cena - non me lo ricordo - da Berlusconi. Finisce che Fede dimentica quelle foto sul tavolo del presidente. È così che Berlusconi chiama Noemi. Quattro, cinque mesi dopo che il "book" era nelle mani dell'agenzia, dice Noemi. È stato un miracolo, dico sempre. Dunque, dice Noemi che Berlusconi la chiama al telefono. Proprio lui, direttamente. Nessuna segretaria. Nessun centralino. Lui, direttamente. Era pomeriggio, le cinque o le sei del pomeriggio, Noemi stava studiando. Berlusconi le dice che ha visto le foto; le dice che è stato colpito dal suo "viso angelico", dalla sua "purezza"; le dice che deve conservarsi così com'è, "pura". Questa fu la prima telefonata, io non c'ero e vi sto dicendo quel che poi mi riferì Noemi, ma le credo. Le cose andarono così perché in altre occasioni io c'ero e Noemi, così per gioco o per convincermi che davvero parlava con Berlusconi, m'allungava il cellulare all'orecchio e anch'io sentii dalla sua voce quella cosa della "purezza", della "faccia d'angelo". E poi, una volta, ha aggiunto un'altra cosa del tipo: "Sei una ragazza divina". Berlusconi, all'inizio, non ha detto a Noemi chi era. In quella prima telefonata, le ha fatto tante domande: quanti anni hai, cosa ti piacerebbe fare, che cosa fanno tua madre e tuo padre? Studi? Che scuola fai? Una lunga telefonata. Ma normale, tranquilla. E poi, quando Noemi si è decisa a chiedergli: "Scusi, ma con tutte queste domande, lei chi è?", lui prima le ha risposto: "Se te lo dico, non ci credi". E poi: "Ma non si sente chi sono?". | | "Noemi's parents have nothing to do with it. The relation was directly with her. It started between Berlusconi and Noemi. Noemi never told me that Papi Silvio discussed politics with her father, Elio. I've never heard about it. Absolutely never. I'll tell you how it started and you've got to understand that in the beginning- because later I listened in on their calls four or five times - I'll tell you what Noemi said. The relation between Noemi and the president began more or less around October 2008. Noemi told me she had done some pictures for a fashion book. She had taken it to a Roman agency, an important one- I don't remember the name- that gets work for models, ballerinas, in short, the sort of agency where girls go to get into show business. Noemi told me that Emilio Fede goes to that Rome agency and takes the books away, not only Noemi's of course. I don't know, I guess for casting his "meteorinas." The fact is- I'm repeating what Noemi told me- just on that day Emilio Fede had dinner or lunch- I don't remember- with Berlusconi. In the end Fede forgot her pictures on the president's table. And that's how Berlusconi called up Noemi. Four or five months after the book had been in the agency's hands, Noemi said. It was a miracle, I always say. So, Berlusconi calls Noemi up. Him, directly. No secretary. It was afternoon, five or six o'clock. Noemi was studying. Berlusconi says he'd seen her pictures. He says he was struck by her "angelic face," by her "purity." He says that she must stay like this, "pure." That was the first telephone call. I wasn't there but Noemi told me and I believe her. That's how things went because on other occasions I was with her, and just to show for play and convince me that she really was talking to Berlusconi, she'd let me listen and I heard his voice saying these things about "purity" and "angelic face." And then once he added something like, "You're a divine girl." In the beginning Berlusconi wouldn't say who he was. In the first call he asked a lot of questions: How old are you? What do you like to do? What do your mother and father do? Do you study? What school do you go to? A long call. Normal, easy-going. And then when Noemi decided to ask him who he was, "Excuse me, but who are you?" He answered first, "If I tell you, you won't believe it." And he added: "Can't you hear who I am?" | | Quando Noemi me lo raccontò, vi dico la verità, io non ci credevo. Poi, quando ho sentito le altre telefonate e ho potuto ascoltare la sua voce, proprio la sua, di Berlusconi, come potevo non crederci? Noemi mi diceva che era sempre il presidente a chiamarla. Poi, non so se chiamava anche di suo, non me lo diceva e io non lo so. Lei al telefono lo chiamava papi tranquillamente. Anche davanti a me. Magari stavamo insieme, Noemi rispondeva, diceva papi e io capivo che si trattava del presidente. Quando ho assistito ad alcune telefonate tra Berlusconi e Noemi, ho pensato che fosse un rapporto come tra padre e figlia. Una sera, Emilio Fede e Berlusconi - insieme - hanno chiamato Noemi. Lo so perché ero accanto a lei, in auto. Ora non saprei dire perché il presidente le ha passato Emilio Fede, non lo so. Pensai che Fede dovesse preparare dei "provini" per le meteorine, quelle robe lì". (Ieri, a tarda sera, durante Studio Aperto, Fede ha affermato di aver conosciuto la nonna di Noemi. Repubblica ha chiesto a Gino se, in qualche occasione, Noemi avesse fatto cenno a questa circostanza. "Mai, assolutamente", è stata la risposta del ragazzo). | | When Noemi told me this, believe me, I didn't believe her. But when I heard the other calls and I could hear his voice, his, Berlusconi's, how couldn't I believe it? Noemi told me that it was he who always called. I don't know if she also called him. She didn't tell me and I don't know. On the phone she always called him Papi. Even in front of me. Maybe we were together, Noemi answered, said "Papi" and I understood it was the president. When I listened in on some of the calls between Berlusconi and Noemi I figured it was a father-daughter relation. One evening, Emilio Fede and Berlusconi- together- called Noemi. I know because we were together in the car. Now I don't know why Berlusconi passed her Emilio Fede, I don't know. I guess Fede had to prepare some auditions for his "meteorinas," that sort of thing. (Last night, very late, during Studio Aperto, Fede declared that he knew Noemi's grandmother. Repubblica asked Gino if, in any occasion, Noemi had referred to this circumstance. "Never, absolutely," was the young man's reply.) |
| "Ho cominciato a distaccarmi da Noemi già a dicembre. Però la cosa che proprio non ho mandato giù è stata la lunga vacanza di Capodanno in Sardegna, nella villa di lui. Noemi me lo disse a dicembre che papi l'aveva invitata là. Mi disse: "Posso portare un'amica, un'amica qualunque, non gli importa. Ci saranno altre ragazze". E lei si è portata Roberta. E poi è rimasta con Roberta per tutto il periodo. Io le ho fatto capire che non mi faceva piacere, ma lei da quell'orecchio non ci sentiva. Così è partita verso il 26-27 dicembre ed è ritornata verso il 4-5 gennaio. Quando è tornata mi ha raccontato tante cose. Che Berlusconi l'aveva trattata bene, a lei e alle amiche. Hanno scherzato, hanno riso... C'erano tante ragazze. Tra trenta e quaranta. Le ragazze alloggiavano in questi bungalow che stavano nel parco. E nel bungalow di Noemi erano in quattro: oltre a lei e a Roberta, c'erano le "gemelline", ma voi sapete chi sono queste "gemelline"? Penso anche che lei mi abbia detto tante bugie. Lei dice che Berlusconi era stato con loro solo la notte di Capodanno. Vi dico la verità, io non ci credo. Sono successe cose troppo strane. Io chiamavo Noemi sul cellulare e non mi rispondeva mai. Provavo e riprovavo, poi alla fine mi arrendevo e chiamavo Roberta, la sua amica, e diventavo pazzo quando Roberta mi diceva: no, non te la posso passare, è di là - di là dove? - o sta mangiando: e allora?, dicevo io, ma non c'era risposta. Per quella vacanza di fine anno, i genitori accompagnarono Noemi a Roma. Noemi e Roberta si fermarono prima in una villa lì, come mi dissero poi, e fecero in tempo a vedere davanti a quella villa tanta gente - giornalisti, fotografi? - , poi le misero sull'aereo privato del presidente insieme alle altre ragazze, per quello che mi ha detto Noemi... | | I started distancing myself from Noemi in December. What I couldn't take was the long New Year vacation in Sardinia in his villa. Noemi told me in December that Papi had invited her there. She said: "I can bring a friend, any friend, it doesn't matter. There will be other girls." So she took Roberta. And she stayed with Roberta the whole time. I let on that I didn't like it, but she couldn't hear out of that ear. So she left around December 26-27 and came back on January 4-5. When she came back she told me a lot of things. That Berlusconi had treated them very nicely, her and friends. They had joked and laughed... "There were so many girls. Between thirty and forty. The girls stayed in a bungalow in the park. In Noemi's bungalow there were four: besides her and Roberta, there were "the twins," but who know who these "twins" were? I think she told me a bunch of lies. She said Berlusconi had been with them on New Year's Eve. I'll tell you, I don't believe it. Too many strange things. I would call Noemi on her cell phone and she never answered. I tried and tried again. Then I gave up and called Roberta, her friend, and I went crazy when Roberta told me, -No, I can't talk to her, she's not there. -Where? -She's eating. -So what? I said, but there was no answer. For that vacation her parents took her to Rome. Noemi and Roberta stayed in a villa there, as they later said. They made it in time to see a lot of people in the villa- reporters, photographers?- then they took a flight on the president's private jet together with other girls, according to what Noemi told me... | | Al ritorno, Noemi non è stata più la mia Noemi, la mia alicella (acciuga, ndr), la ragazza semplice che amavo, la ragazza che non si vergognava di venirmi a prendere alla sera al capannone. A gennaio ci siamo lasciati. Eravamo andati insieme, prima di Natale, a prenotare per la sua festa di compleanno il ristorante "Villa Santa Chiara" a Casoria, la "sala Miami" - lo avevo suggerito io - e già ci si aspettava una "sorpresa" di Berlusconi, ma nessuno credeva che la sorpresa fosse proprio lui, Berlusconi in carne e ossa. Ci siamo lasciati a gennaio e alla festa non ci sono andato. L'ho incontrata qualche altra volta, per riprendermi un oggetto di poco prezzo ma, per me, di gran valore che era rimasto nelle sue mani. Abbiamo avuto il tempo, un'altra volta, di avere un colloquio un po' brusco. Le ho restituito quasi tutte le lettere e le foto. Le ho restituito tutto - ho conservato poche cose, questa lettera che mi scrisse prima di Natale, qualche foto - perché non volevo che lei e la sua famiglia pensassero che, diventata Noemi Sophia Loren, io potessi sputtanarla. Oggi ho la mia vita, la mia Manuela, il mio lavoro, mille euro al mese e va bene così ché non mi manca niente. Certo, leggo di questo nuovo fidanzato di Noemi, come si chiama?, che non s'era mai visto da nessuna parte anche se dice di conoscerla da due anni e penso che Noemi stia dicendo un sacco di bugie. Quante bugie mi avrà detto sui viaggi. A me diceva che andava a Roma sempre con la madre. Per dire, per quella cena del 19 novembre 2008 a Villa Madama mi raccontò: "Siamo stati a cena con il presidente, io, papà e mamma allo stesso tavolo". Non c'erano i genitori seduti a quel tavolo? Allora mi ha detto un'altra balla. Quella sera le sono stati regalati una collana e un bracciale, ma non di grosso valore. E il presidente ha fatto un regalo anche a sua madre. Sento tante bugie, sì, e comunque sono fatti di Noemi, dei suoi genitori, di Berlusconi, io che c'entro?" | | When she came back, Noemi wasn't my Noemi anymore, my alicella (little anchovy), the simple girl I loved, the girl who wasn't ashamed to pick me up after work. We broke up in January. Before Christmas we had gone to make reservations for her 18th birthday party at the restaurant "Villa Santa Chiara" in Casoria, the Miami Room. I had suggested it- and already a surprise by Berlusconi was expected, but nobody believed that the surprise would have been him, Berlusconi in flesh and bone. We broke in January and I didn't go to the party. I met her a few times to pick up a thing of no value but of great importance to me that she still had. We had enough time to have a rather terse conversation. I gave her back almost all of her pictures and letters. I gave her back everything- I only kept a few things like the letter she wrote me before Christmas, some pictures- because I didn't want her and her family to think that, once Noemi Sophia Loren, I could expose her. Now I have a new life, my Manuela, my job, a thousand Euros a month and that's fine for me, I don't need more. O course, when I read about this new fiancé of Noemi's- what's his name?- that had never been seen by anyone anywhere even if it's said they've known each other for two years, I think Noemi's telling a bunch of lies. How many lies did she tell me about her trips. She always said she went to Rome with her mother. Like that dinner on November 19, 2008, at Villa Madama, she told me, "We dined with the president, me, mom and dad at the same table." The parents weren't sitting at that table? So she was telling me another lie. That evening she was given a necklace and a bracelet, nothing of value. And the president gave her mother a gift. I hear a lot of lies, yes, and anyway they're made by Noemi, her parents and Berlusconi. What do I have to do with it?" |
While Gino Flaminio's story may have answered five of la Repubblica's questions, it poses new questions on Berlusconi's alleged conduct towards young women. At the founding convention of his brand new personal political entity, the so-called People of Liberty Party, he insisted that the two front rows be filled exclusively with attractive women, and for the concluding event he invited only women on stage to accompany him in singing the closing party jingle. Beyond his public persona he apparently enjoys vacation harems of 30 to 40 young women as if to engage in a game of one-upmanship with Hugh Hefner.
Perhaps this explains why his wife used the plural when talking about minors. On this latter issue Professor Gianfranco Salvioli of the University of Modena advanced the hypothesis that obsessive behaviour towards sex in the elderly could be "a psychopathological degeneration of narcissist personality traits." In the 1940's the great Italian writer Carlo Emilio Gadda described in detail this personality trait of tyrants, a priapic obsession with youth and sex as a template of governance. One need not be elderly, though. Berlusconi has always been a sympathetic charmeur, a narcissist with psychotic traits, an incurable compulsive liar.
Further, the Berlusconi gossip press has published endless spreads on Noemi, depicting her as a wholesome young creature- no one denies it- with a long-time boyfriend, a Mediaset chorus boy who released prudish interviews on their relation. How far will Mr. Berlusconi's press continue in constructing this false reality?
Apparently, Italy is so rich that it can afford to entertain the world with a novel and highly counter-productive model of power, the sort of power that seeks only to maintain its death hold on society and government at all costs.
(Benedetto Elio Letizia announced today his intention to sue la Repubblica, Gino Flaminio, and whoever publishes, in whole or part, this "incredible narration.")
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