Vendetta: Truth, Lies and the Mafia (2021) s01e01 Episode Script
Declaration of War
SICILY
- [thunder rumbling]
- [crickets chirping]
AFTER THE MAFIA MASSACRES IN THE '90S
THE ANTI-MAFIA MOVEMENT FOUGHT BACK
JUDGES AND JOURNALISTS
HAD A LEADING ROLE IN THIS FIGH
[gentle piano music playing]
BUT ARE THEY ALL REAL HEROES?
[man] Journalists in mafia territory
make a lot of enemies.
Every time I get into my car and start it,
I close my eyes.
[car engine starting]
Because I never know
if I'll get blown to pieces.
[woman] I'm a judge.
If I hadn't had a bodyguard,
I'd be dead for sure.
One bullet doesn't cost
the Mafia anything.
[music building up]
I have dedicated my whole working life
to fighting the Mafia in Sicily.
- [children playing]
- [gun firing]
I've seized assets worth billions.
Billions!
[music intensifying]
[man] We have discovered, however,
that by claiming it fights the Mafia,
the anti-Mafia movement
keeps getting richer.
Judge Saguto, I have a question.
This money, does it get set aside,
or is it appropriated left,
right and center?
This theft of confiscated goods
You're avoiding the questions
We've called you "thieves,"
"vultures," and "criminals."
[woman] He'll give up. He'll give up.
His hours are numbered.
- [man 2] Who?
- [woman] The Moustache.
[woman] Pino Maniaci is not a journalist.
He's a friendof the Mafia.
[man 3] He's a mafioso. He threatened me.
Go to the police then, you motherfucker.
[sirens blaring]
[woman] I'd never thought my colleagues
would believe Maniaci's accusations.
[Pino] Corrupt judges! Thieves!
The anti-Mafia Mafia!
I thought that
my colleagues were crazy,
and I was furious.
They came to get me
at the TV station at 3 in the morning,
two police captains.
I want to understand why.
COURT OF LAW
[serene music playing]
[Pino] They used me
as a sacrificial lamb.
[music turning gloomy]
If you want to stop me,
you have two options,
arrest me,
or shoot me.
[opening theme music playing]
A NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY SERIES
[music fading out]
[calm music playing]
[birds singing]
[dog barking]
NEWSROOM
A lot changed in my life
in 1999, when I took over Telejato.
[indistinct chattering]
I was enthusiastic and motivated
to make positive changes
to this country that I love and adore.
[Pino] See what they're bringing me first,
what they want.
- Where's my jacket?
- [woman] It's here, it's here.
Letizia!
Shit, that's the old one.
It's fine.
Letizia!
Let's get it all out.
Give me all the sheets from the printer.
[stressed chattering]
[Pino] This is Telejato,
I run it with my wife and my children,
and my dogs too.
Letizia came to help out straight away,
without a second thought,
and she followed me in this
in this adventure.
Go on. Move slowly.
[girl] I'm proud to be
Pino Maniaci's daughter.
I spent my adolescence here,
at the TV station.
And so I went to school,
and then I helped my dad.
It started as just for fun,
the first few times,
then it became a passion,
and now it's my job.
Letizia, let's get this out.
Let's get this out now. Come on.
[woman] At first, I couldn't stand him,
he was annoying.
And then, I don't know how it happened.
They say love is blind.
[laughing]
[Pino talking on TV]
[Patrizia] Some people like him,
others don't.
It's because of his direct nature,
you know?
But all we're doing is telling the truth,
how things really are.
- [bird screeching]
- [engine revving]
[birds singing]
We were still using video recorders.
We didn't know what a computer was.
In the beginning, Telejato was nothing.
[slow piano music playing]
[woman 2] Pino started with Telejato
after doing several different jobs.
He was even a builder.
He started with Telejato
for financial reasons.
He's developed it so much that
that his true personality
came through with Telejato.
[men chatting]
[Elisabetta] He wants to be famous.
Telejato.
He wanted to be an orchestra conductor.
He loves an audience. He's eccentric.
We've built the foundation
for Telejato's new home,
next to Rai and Mediaset.
He comes across as aggressive,
someone who walks all over people,
but he's a good man.
He's not a saint, of course.
I don't want to point any fingers
or judge him because he's my brother,
but he doesn't like injustice,
and he won't let people walk all over him.
[dramatic music playing]
[Pino] When I found out
that Telejato reached Corleone,
the hometown of the Mafia bosses,
of Totò Riina and Provenzano,
for me, it was a starting point of saying,
"We're in the right place
to try to fuck with the Mafia,"
and show that we weren't scared
of those pieces of shit.
TELEJATO NEWS
[news jingle playing]
APRIL 2006
This special edition
is in regard to the arrest
of Binnu Provenzano
[gloomy music playing]
[Pino] The biggest story was
the capture of Binnu Provenzano.
He was considered the boss of the bosses.
After years on the run,
he was caught in Corleone.
[people shouting]
Provenzano was known as "The Tractor"
because of his firepower.
He would run people down without mercy.
There were years where they stopped
counting dead people in Palermo.
There were hundreds.
STATE POLICE
[chattering]
[Pino] One of the policemen called me,
practically as he was handcuffing him,
he said,
"Come here and I'll give you the scoop
on the arrest of the boss of the bosses."
[Patrizia] I remember I was at work.
Letizia came to get me.
- "We have to go to Palermo."
- "What for?"
- "They've arrested Binnu Provenzano."
- "Wow! Let's go!"
[chuckling] We were really happy,
so we left immediately.
[somber music playing]
We're coming into the area,
the kingdom of the boss of the bosses.
[music intensifying]
Sorry, watch out,
I'm putting the turbo on.
No, all of Telejato is here.
If they shoot us, Telejato will shut down.
Letizia, look.
PROVENZANO'S HIDEOU
- [music fading]
- [birds chirping]
The ghost of Corleone
isn't a ghost anymore.
He's now in the hands of justice.
Let's film the TV antenna.
No one realized Provenzano had a TV.
Look. He might have watched Telejato.
[chuckling]
[dramatic violin piece playing]
[man] Partinico is a town
with a lot of mafiosos.
There is a long history of Mafia here.
And it's a town which has had
organized crime for a long time,
so it's somewhere where there's no lack
of work for criminal lawyers.
Telejato built itself
around the anti-Mafia movement.
A TV station like that stands out.
[news jingle playing]
Welcome to today's Telejato News.
Today is an important day.
Today is the birthday
of that piece of shit,
Matteo Messina Soldino,
who is still on the run.
Matteo Messina Soldino,
you are 54 today.
Turn yourself in, you piece of shit.
You're practically not even a man anymore.
- [serene piano music playing]
- [Parrino] Pino is vulgar, he's rude.
As you can see from the pictures,
the motherfuckers had a comfortable life.
[Parrino] Extremely rude.
Can you imagine 30,000 people farting?
[Parrino] But he got big audiences
and lots of attention.
In a short space of time,
it became the most popular TV channel.
- Can I buy you a coffee?
- Another time, thanks.
It's just that he's also
very irresponsible.
Over the last few days, we've reported on
how the Mafia has been pressuring
local business owners.
MAY 2006
Paying the pizzo
is paying a bribe to the Mafia.
And of course, we keep saying,
"Don't pay it. Don't pay the pizzo."
[intense violin music playing]
A COMMUNITY THAT PAYS THE PIZZO
IS A COMMUNITY WITHOUT DIGNITY
[shouting] Hey! My car!
[Pino] The Vitale family is
the most famous Mafia family in Partinico.
They are known as "Fardazza,"
which means scum.
They would kill people
just for breathing,
and no one could match their power.
People were scared
to even talk about them.
[ominous music playing]
[Pino] We want to tell you a story,
a story about a small village
on the outskirts of Partinico,
which is controlled by the Vitale family.
JULY 2006
Many homicides have taken place
in this village.
A man was killed in this house
because he stood up
to the Vitale family's excessive power.
[suspenseful music playing]
In just one night, the Vitale family
destroyed a 17th-century village.
Hello, gorgeous. [whistles]
They destroyed everything
to build five huge stables.
We think we should be courageous
do something powerful
to put an end to this unlawful behavior.
[Parrino] Pino said,
"I won't let them win."
He wouldn't let them get away with it.
He wouldn't even weigh the risks.
Pino is great at rallying small troops.
STABLES OF SHAME
[Pino] Every day that we came here,
we stood with our backs
against the stable gates, and we said,
"These stables must be destroyed
because they represent
the Mafia's power in Partinico,
an abuse of power here."
DECEMBER 2007
I was the first
to hit the stables with the bulldozer.
[calm music playing]
[Parrino] They demolished the stables
because Maniaci put pressure on them.
Getting into a bulldozer
and tearing down Vitale's stables meant
putting your life at risk,
and no one wanted to do it.
He got into the bulldozer,
and he hit the stables
with the TV cameras filming him.
That's Pino Maniaci.
[music intensifying]
[news jingle playing]
TELEJATO NEWS
[newscaster] Telejato's old car
was set on fire outside the TV station.
The fire was started deliberately.
This was an act of intimidation
aimed at Maniaci and Telejato.
One of our cars was shot at.
They shot the windows.
We had a car set on fire,
the tires slashed.
The son of the boss stopped me
while I was driving through Partinico
and tried to kill me
by strangling me with my own tie.
It's the price you pay
for being a certain kind of journalist.
[sad violin music playing]
[Patrizia] Sometimes,
I wake up in the night,
and I think, "what's happening?"
And I can't sleep.
You know, I have
I worry about
what will happen next.
- [church bells chiming]
- [dog barking]
[moped passing]
[newscaster]
Welcome to today's Telejato News.
[sinister music playing]
We'll start the show with some bad news
devastating perhaps the worst news.
Telejato's old dogs, Billy and Cherie,
have been brutally killed
and hanged in their kennels.
[sad music playing]
[Pino] This is how the motherfuckers
left them for me to find.
I can't even look.
Take it away. Away. Away! Away! Away!
Our two newsroom dogs are no more,
and the worst thing is
they paid with their lives
because of their affection
Affection for Pino Maniaci
and the whole family.
If there's something that this newsroom,
that Pino Maniaci does,
has done, that you didn't want,
or you don't like,
you need to have the balls and the guts
to confront me,
shoot me, even,
but not my animals.
Did you have the balls? No.
You took it out on two poor,
defenseless animals,
who did nothing to you.
Do you see how shitty you are?
You are the scum of the Earth.
THE DAY AFTER THE DOGS' DEATHS,
PRIME MINISTER MATTEO RENZI CALLED MANIACI
[phone ringing]
[man] Hello. It's Matteo Renzi.
- [Pino]Good evening, Mr. President.
- I want to send my condolences and
DECEMBER 2014
Pino, the things you have been through
in the last few years, are awful,
and the incident yesterday
was terribly sad.
All I can do now is call you,
then, the next time you are in Rome,
I'd like to meet you.
It would be my pleasure to come
and meet you next time I'm in the area.
My sincerest regards.
- Thanks, Mr. President, very kind of you.
- You're welcome. Keep up the good work.
Thank you. Thank you.
MAFIA IN THE CAPITAL
Something terrible has happened.
Yesterday, you found your two dogs hanged.
We wanted to have you here
to tell you that we're thinking of you.
Thank you for your kindness
and for having me here.
Let me tell you, we're not going to stop.
We're carrying on.
We have the support of honest people.
[hostess] Pino, this applause is for you.
From everyone here
in the studio, as always.
[Pino] Despite the threats, we carried on.
I really started to enjoy the reaction.
[whispering] "Go on. We're with you."
"We're all Pino Maniaci."
"We're all Telejato."
- [crowd cheering]
- [whistles blowing]
- Go Telejato!
- Go Telejato!
Go Telejato!
[shouting] Maniaci is one of us!
[people singing]
[happy violin music playing]
[horn honking]
[Saguto] I am a wife,
a mother of three children.
[gun firing]
A normal person
who chose to be a judge in 1981.
The Mafia war was going on in Sicily.
Mimmo was my first bodyguard.
He also taught me how to shoot.
If I hadn't had a bodyguard,
I'd be dead for sure.
Because one bullet
doesn't cost the Mafia anything.
[birds singing]
Congratulations.
Even after all this time,
you didn't forget the technique at all.
Well, I had a good teacher.
I'm happy. Of course.
[Mimmo laughing] All dead.
- We didn't leave anyone injured.
- No one left injured.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Saguto] I became a judge
because I wanted to contribute to society,
to make changes for the better.
NOVEMBER 1993
[Saguto] Totò Riina was a bloodthirsty,
ruthless boss.
[ominous music playing]
Riina's Mafia committed many massacres.
[reporter in French] Salvatore Riina,
62 years old, known as Totò,
a living legend who inspired
Marlon Brando's role in The Godfather.
[Saguto] His first public appearance was
at my trial, where I was the deputy judge.
It was a face-to-face confrontation.
[Saguto] You don't have to answer,
but if something is funny,
share it with the court or stop laughing.
No comment.
You asked to confront your accusers.
I did.
Now, I've read these things, Your Honor,
and I no longer want to confront this man.
When I got home,
my husband Lorenzo said,
"You tell Riina off just like you do me."
Because I'm a bit like that.
I say, "You mustn't do that."
So I'm, let's say, bossy in a good way.
And he says, "You talk to Riina as though
he can't do anything to you.
You know what may happen? Why not
stay quiet? What difference can it make?"
I say, "It makes a difference."
Because Riina has a life sentence.
He won't get out,
but he wants to show people
that he can still give orders from inside,
and I can't let that happen.
It can't happen, we are the State.
Your Honor,
I also have the right to not answer.
I don't want to answer. I
No, no one can force you to answer.
Your Honor, it's useless making demands
because there's nothing you can demand.
[Saguto] Some friends
made fun of me because
They said, "They see you as someone
who isn't scared of anything."
I'm not scared of the Mafia,
but I'm scared of, I don't know, insects.
So, actually they were joking,
they said, "Instead of sending you TNT,
Riina should send you a box of butterflies
because you'd be scared stiff."
[music fading]
[man] She did the right thing,
even with all the consequences.
At any point, you could receive news
you never want to hear.
The most dangerous moments were
going in and out of the house.
That's when my wife was most um
[calm piano music playing]
vulnerable.
And then
we got more used to it.
When the kids got older, they asked,
"Why do you still have to do this job?"
Because it was mainly
the eldest who said it.
He'd say "When? When will you stop?
When will you leave your job?"
And I'd say,
"Francesco, if I leave, they'll win
because that's what they want.
They want me to go away."
The terrible quote from The Leopard,
that "Everything changes
because nothing changes"
is true in Sicily.
Just because the names
and the bosses change,
doesn't mean the mentality changes.
[dramatic music playing]
IN 2010 SILVANA SAGUTO BECAME PRESIDEN
OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PREVENTIVE MEASURES
AT THE COURT OF PALERMO
[Saguto] Preventive measures
are one of the most effective tools
in the fight against the Mafia.
With strong evidence,
even without a criminal trial,
the Mafia's assets can be seized
with preventive measures,
and it's up to them to show
that those assets
haven't come from illegal activity.
So they are more fearful
of the application of preventive measures
than they are of jail.
THE PRESIDING JUDGE
SILVANA SAGUTO
THE SEIZED GOODS ARE MANAGED
BY THE DEPARTMEN
OF PREVENTIVE MEASURES OF THE COUR
THE GOODS WILL ONLY BE RETURNED
IF THE ACCUSED CAN PROVE
THEY WERE OBTAINED LEGALLY
[Saguto] When I became
the president of the department,
I finally had
the power and the duty
to do as much as possible
to increase preventive measures
against organized crime run by the Mafia.
I've seized assets worth billions.
Billions!
A business empire,
worth over €600 million,
was seized from the family
[reporter 1] More than 7,600 houses,
1,000 businesses,
almost half of these in Sicily
[reporter 2] a car dealership,
company shares, and a private TV company
will be managed
by a court-appointed administrator.
[Saguto] The work I did
meant I couldn't avoid making enemies.
[sinister music playing]
[Pino] The Telejato station mainly
takes care of fighting the Mafia.
But once we started looking around,
we found corruption almost everywhere.
We started to report
those who were corrupt
in local administrations.
[Letizia] With the many reports
that Telejato made against the Mafia,
exposing the names of criminals,
we became a focal point in our region.
JANUARY 2013
And a group of people
who worked for a company
that had been seized, came to the station.
[sad string music playing]
The workers came to Telejato.
They were crying as they told me
all the bullshit that was going on,
about all the stealing that
this judicial administration was doing.
Alarm bells started ringing,
and of course, I went
to the Court of Palermo to find out more.
We have big problems.
Now, imagine if this law said,
"We take assets from the Mafia,
they'll be managed
by judicial administrations
who steal the money,
bankrupt the companies,
and throw hundreds of workers
out into the street,
who didn't do anything"?
We're talking about
judicial administrations
who have transcended the spirit
of the La Torre Law against the Mafia.
OCTOBER 1979
We propose that there should be a new law
to give the police and the courts
the necessary legal tools
to be able to prosecute
alleged Mafia members.
Pio La Torre was
a member of Parliament who realized
that if you convict a mafioso
and don't touch their assets,
the risk is acceptable to the Mafia.
The law worked.
The Mafia lost a lot of money and power.
And Pio La Torre paid the highest price.
[reporter] Hello. There's been
another tragic attack on a politician.
Pio La Torre, along with his driver,
was assassinated in Palermo.
He was the regional secretary
and former member
- [church bells ringing]
- [sad music playing]
[whistles blowing]
- [happy music playing]
- [chattering]
COMMITTEE
WE ARE ALL TELEJATO
[Parrino] Telejato was always
the reference point
for when the public has an issue.
There was a rumor
about badly managed assets,
money that was disappearing.
The administrations
would get hold of thriving companies,
and after a year, they'd go bankrupt.
So at this point,
Telejato turned their attention
to victims of preventive measures.
- Hello.
- Hello.
- Hi.
- Hi.
- How's it going?
- Ah, good, good, good.
And where's
Pino?
Are you going to get up to say hi?
[Pino] Let the dogs sniff you,
see if they bite.
[Pietro] No, they're good dogs.
So, I'll get the cameras ready.
Pietro Cavallotti
has brought to light a problem
that not only is affecting his family,
but others too.
The seizure was ordered
by the preventive measures department
of the Court of Palermo.
The president is Judge Saguto.
Pino, our companies were founded in
In 1979 by my grandfather.
Then they arrested us under the suspicion
of being Mafia members, Pino,
and my grandfather died
without seeing the end to this story.
[Pino] The Cavallotti family
built a company
that supplies gas and pipelines
to different regions.
They were accused of being Mafia members
working for the famous Binnu Provenzano.
Twenty years ago, this accusation
caused the Cavallotti companies
to be seized,
and they are still in the hands
of the judicial administrations.
[Pino] But the craziest thing is
that the Cavallotti family
were cleared of being in the Mafia,
or being linked to the Mafia,
in four trials.
But their assets
were completely destroyed,
sold, or eaten up
by Silvana Saguto and Co
within the preventive measures department.
[gloomy music playing]
THE CAVALLOTTI FAMILY HAS COMPANIES
IN THE GAS SECTOR WORTH MILLIONS OF EUROS
[Pietro] What you see behind me
is the result of years
of the judicial administration
managing our business.
If you're suspected of being linked
to the Mafia, you have a trial.
Run a business in Sicily a certain way,
and people think someone is behind it.
This is the underlying reason.
That's why there are
a lot of Mafia trials.
[man] It's not that we wanted
to pay the pizzo. We were forced to!
If we didn't pay the pizzo,
we'd all have been killed.
And then they call you a mafioso!
I have so much anger inside of me.
This injustice is not fair!
FEBRUARY 2014
[Pino] Today we want to talk directly
with the president of preventive measures,
Judge Silvana Saguto.
We want to talk about,
and show you, the seized assets
left completely abandoned.
This is what
you're doing to the community.
[dramatic music playing]
COURT OF LAW
[Pino] There are some judges
who love the smell of money.
So much so, that they use
the seized or confiscated assets
for personal gain,
or to use them to recruit the support
of family members,
daughters-in-law, children, godparents,
children of court clerks and anyone else.
We've called you "thieves."
FEBRUARY 2015
We've called you "vultures."
We've called you "criminals."
Telejato was becoming uncomfortable.
People wanted to silence us,
and it wasn't just the Mafia
and the criminals,
but also some people in the government,
that we attacked,
wanted to silence us as well
because we discovered their corruption.
[somber music playing]
[Saguto] Pino Maniaci requested
an interview with me,
and I asked my colleagues,
"Who is this Maniaci?"
I'd never heard of him.
They said,
"He's some weirdo from Partinico,
not even a real journalist."
[Pino] We were face to face
with Judge Saguto
for about half an hour.
I got the impression,
from the questions that she asked,
that she wanted to find out
how much of the truth I knew.
[ominous music playing]
[Saguto] Absolute lies.
Pino Maniaci's never been to my office.
I said, "Look, I'm not interested
in an interview."
I didn't consider it at all.
No one takes him seriously.
No one watches Telejato.
[Pino] Judge Saguto
didn't even consider me
because she thought
Telejato was just a local channel.
But when the story broke
at a national level
Shit
That's when things got dangerous.
[news jingle playing]
SEPTEMBER 2015
[reporter 1] A storm hit
the preventive measures department
of the Court of Palermo, in charge
of seizing assets from the Mafia.
[reporter 2] An ugly story
which may have consequences
is shaking up a key department
in the fight against the Mafia.
[reporter 3] Heavy accusations
cast a shadow over the management
of assets seized from the Mafia in Sicily.
[reporter 4] The president
of the preventive measures department,
which manages Mafia assets,
is being investigated for corruption,
misconduct and abuse of power.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Saguto] I was in Milan.
It was September 9th,
an unforgettable day for me.
In Palermo, only my children were at home.
They called, and I found out from them
that the finance police were there
and had a search warrant
for our house.
I didn't understand.
But why? What were they looking for?
What might they find?
What are they looking for at our house?
They also searched my parents' house.
My parents are 92 and 90.
[woman] It was early in the morning.
From over there, five people,
dressed in black, came into our house.
We didn't know who they were,
and then they said
they were the finance police.
They had a search warrant,
and they looked everywhere.
As soon as they came in,
I said, "My daughter is a judge."
Because I thought,
"What could they want from me?"
I felt protected by the fact
my daughter was a judge.
Here. All this furniture,
they lifted it up.
They looked everywhere,
even behind the pictures on the wall.
[Saguto] I said, "They don't have
the courage to wait for me."
I was
furious more than scared. Furious.
[Pino] Clearly, we ruined
Judge Saguto's money-making scheme.
JUSTICE
She must have hated
Pino Maniaci and Telejato.
What I didn't expect
was that some of her colleagues
wanted to avenge her.
- [music intensifying]
- [thunder rumbling]
MAY 2016
[Patrizia] Pino and I
were at the TV station.
It was around 2:15 in the morning.
We heard the bell ring,
and the person on the intercom said
it was the police.
A helicopter was flying above us.
I said, "Wait. What's happening?"
We opened the door,
and the chief said to Pino,
"You need to come to the police station."
"Why?"
They said,
"We'll tell you at the station."
[dramatic music playing]
[Pino] I was scared when I realized
what was happening.
[reporter] In a new low blow
to the Mafia,
ten alleged Mafia members of the Partinico
and Borgetto clans have been arrested.
[music continuously building up]
[music fading out]
- [thunder rumbling]
- [crickets chirping]
AFTER THE MAFIA MASSACRES IN THE '90S
THE ANTI-MAFIA MOVEMENT FOUGHT BACK
JUDGES AND JOURNALISTS
HAD A LEADING ROLE IN THIS FIGH
[gentle piano music playing]
BUT ARE THEY ALL REAL HEROES?
[man] Journalists in mafia territory
make a lot of enemies.
Every time I get into my car and start it,
I close my eyes.
[car engine starting]
Because I never know
if I'll get blown to pieces.
[woman] I'm a judge.
If I hadn't had a bodyguard,
I'd be dead for sure.
One bullet doesn't cost
the Mafia anything.
[music building up]
I have dedicated my whole working life
to fighting the Mafia in Sicily.
- [children playing]
- [gun firing]
I've seized assets worth billions.
Billions!
[music intensifying]
[man] We have discovered, however,
that by claiming it fights the Mafia,
the anti-Mafia movement
keeps getting richer.
Judge Saguto, I have a question.
This money, does it get set aside,
or is it appropriated left,
right and center?
This theft of confiscated goods
You're avoiding the questions
We've called you "thieves,"
"vultures," and "criminals."
[woman] He'll give up. He'll give up.
His hours are numbered.
- [man 2] Who?
- [woman] The Moustache.
[woman] Pino Maniaci is not a journalist.
He's a friendof the Mafia.
[man 3] He's a mafioso. He threatened me.
Go to the police then, you motherfucker.
[sirens blaring]
[woman] I'd never thought my colleagues
would believe Maniaci's accusations.
[Pino] Corrupt judges! Thieves!
The anti-Mafia Mafia!
I thought that
my colleagues were crazy,
and I was furious.
They came to get me
at the TV station at 3 in the morning,
two police captains.
I want to understand why.
COURT OF LAW
[serene music playing]
[Pino] They used me
as a sacrificial lamb.
[music turning gloomy]
If you want to stop me,
you have two options,
arrest me,
or shoot me.
[opening theme music playing]
A NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY SERIES
[music fading out]
[calm music playing]
[birds singing]
[dog barking]
NEWSROOM
A lot changed in my life
in 1999, when I took over Telejato.
[indistinct chattering]
I was enthusiastic and motivated
to make positive changes
to this country that I love and adore.
[Pino] See what they're bringing me first,
what they want.
- Where's my jacket?
- [woman] It's here, it's here.
Letizia!
Shit, that's the old one.
It's fine.
Letizia!
Let's get it all out.
Give me all the sheets from the printer.
[stressed chattering]
[Pino] This is Telejato,
I run it with my wife and my children,
and my dogs too.
Letizia came to help out straight away,
without a second thought,
and she followed me in this
in this adventure.
Go on. Move slowly.
[girl] I'm proud to be
Pino Maniaci's daughter.
I spent my adolescence here,
at the TV station.
And so I went to school,
and then I helped my dad.
It started as just for fun,
the first few times,
then it became a passion,
and now it's my job.
Letizia, let's get this out.
Let's get this out now. Come on.
[woman] At first, I couldn't stand him,
he was annoying.
And then, I don't know how it happened.
They say love is blind.
[laughing]
[Pino talking on TV]
[Patrizia] Some people like him,
others don't.
It's because of his direct nature,
you know?
But all we're doing is telling the truth,
how things really are.
- [bird screeching]
- [engine revving]
[birds singing]
We were still using video recorders.
We didn't know what a computer was.
In the beginning, Telejato was nothing.
[slow piano music playing]
[woman 2] Pino started with Telejato
after doing several different jobs.
He was even a builder.
He started with Telejato
for financial reasons.
He's developed it so much that
that his true personality
came through with Telejato.
[men chatting]
[Elisabetta] He wants to be famous.
Telejato.
He wanted to be an orchestra conductor.
He loves an audience. He's eccentric.
We've built the foundation
for Telejato's new home,
next to Rai and Mediaset.
He comes across as aggressive,
someone who walks all over people,
but he's a good man.
He's not a saint, of course.
I don't want to point any fingers
or judge him because he's my brother,
but he doesn't like injustice,
and he won't let people walk all over him.
[dramatic music playing]
[Pino] When I found out
that Telejato reached Corleone,
the hometown of the Mafia bosses,
of Totò Riina and Provenzano,
for me, it was a starting point of saying,
"We're in the right place
to try to fuck with the Mafia,"
and show that we weren't scared
of those pieces of shit.
TELEJATO NEWS
[news jingle playing]
APRIL 2006
This special edition
is in regard to the arrest
of Binnu Provenzano
[gloomy music playing]
[Pino] The biggest story was
the capture of Binnu Provenzano.
He was considered the boss of the bosses.
After years on the run,
he was caught in Corleone.
[people shouting]
Provenzano was known as "The Tractor"
because of his firepower.
He would run people down without mercy.
There were years where they stopped
counting dead people in Palermo.
There were hundreds.
STATE POLICE
[chattering]
[Pino] One of the policemen called me,
practically as he was handcuffing him,
he said,
"Come here and I'll give you the scoop
on the arrest of the boss of the bosses."
[Patrizia] I remember I was at work.
Letizia came to get me.
- "We have to go to Palermo."
- "What for?"
- "They've arrested Binnu Provenzano."
- "Wow! Let's go!"
[chuckling] We were really happy,
so we left immediately.
[somber music playing]
We're coming into the area,
the kingdom of the boss of the bosses.
[music intensifying]
Sorry, watch out,
I'm putting the turbo on.
No, all of Telejato is here.
If they shoot us, Telejato will shut down.
Letizia, look.
PROVENZANO'S HIDEOU
- [music fading]
- [birds chirping]
The ghost of Corleone
isn't a ghost anymore.
He's now in the hands of justice.
Let's film the TV antenna.
No one realized Provenzano had a TV.
Look. He might have watched Telejato.
[chuckling]
[dramatic violin piece playing]
[man] Partinico is a town
with a lot of mafiosos.
There is a long history of Mafia here.
And it's a town which has had
organized crime for a long time,
so it's somewhere where there's no lack
of work for criminal lawyers.
Telejato built itself
around the anti-Mafia movement.
A TV station like that stands out.
[news jingle playing]
Welcome to today's Telejato News.
Today is an important day.
Today is the birthday
of that piece of shit,
Matteo Messina Soldino,
who is still on the run.
Matteo Messina Soldino,
you are 54 today.
Turn yourself in, you piece of shit.
You're practically not even a man anymore.
- [serene piano music playing]
- [Parrino] Pino is vulgar, he's rude.
As you can see from the pictures,
the motherfuckers had a comfortable life.
[Parrino] Extremely rude.
Can you imagine 30,000 people farting?
[Parrino] But he got big audiences
and lots of attention.
In a short space of time,
it became the most popular TV channel.
- Can I buy you a coffee?
- Another time, thanks.
It's just that he's also
very irresponsible.
Over the last few days, we've reported on
how the Mafia has been pressuring
local business owners.
MAY 2006
Paying the pizzo
is paying a bribe to the Mafia.
And of course, we keep saying,
"Don't pay it. Don't pay the pizzo."
[intense violin music playing]
A COMMUNITY THAT PAYS THE PIZZO
IS A COMMUNITY WITHOUT DIGNITY
[shouting] Hey! My car!
[Pino] The Vitale family is
the most famous Mafia family in Partinico.
They are known as "Fardazza,"
which means scum.
They would kill people
just for breathing,
and no one could match their power.
People were scared
to even talk about them.
[ominous music playing]
[Pino] We want to tell you a story,
a story about a small village
on the outskirts of Partinico,
which is controlled by the Vitale family.
JULY 2006
Many homicides have taken place
in this village.
A man was killed in this house
because he stood up
to the Vitale family's excessive power.
[suspenseful music playing]
In just one night, the Vitale family
destroyed a 17th-century village.
Hello, gorgeous. [whistles]
They destroyed everything
to build five huge stables.
We think we should be courageous
do something powerful
to put an end to this unlawful behavior.
[Parrino] Pino said,
"I won't let them win."
He wouldn't let them get away with it.
He wouldn't even weigh the risks.
Pino is great at rallying small troops.
STABLES OF SHAME
[Pino] Every day that we came here,
we stood with our backs
against the stable gates, and we said,
"These stables must be destroyed
because they represent
the Mafia's power in Partinico,
an abuse of power here."
DECEMBER 2007
I was the first
to hit the stables with the bulldozer.
[calm music playing]
[Parrino] They demolished the stables
because Maniaci put pressure on them.
Getting into a bulldozer
and tearing down Vitale's stables meant
putting your life at risk,
and no one wanted to do it.
He got into the bulldozer,
and he hit the stables
with the TV cameras filming him.
That's Pino Maniaci.
[music intensifying]
[news jingle playing]
TELEJATO NEWS
[newscaster] Telejato's old car
was set on fire outside the TV station.
The fire was started deliberately.
This was an act of intimidation
aimed at Maniaci and Telejato.
One of our cars was shot at.
They shot the windows.
We had a car set on fire,
the tires slashed.
The son of the boss stopped me
while I was driving through Partinico
and tried to kill me
by strangling me with my own tie.
It's the price you pay
for being a certain kind of journalist.
[sad violin music playing]
[Patrizia] Sometimes,
I wake up in the night,
and I think, "what's happening?"
And I can't sleep.
You know, I have
I worry about
what will happen next.
- [church bells chiming]
- [dog barking]
[moped passing]
[newscaster]
Welcome to today's Telejato News.
[sinister music playing]
We'll start the show with some bad news
devastating perhaps the worst news.
Telejato's old dogs, Billy and Cherie,
have been brutally killed
and hanged in their kennels.
[sad music playing]
[Pino] This is how the motherfuckers
left them for me to find.
I can't even look.
Take it away. Away. Away! Away! Away!
Our two newsroom dogs are no more,
and the worst thing is
they paid with their lives
because of their affection
Affection for Pino Maniaci
and the whole family.
If there's something that this newsroom,
that Pino Maniaci does,
has done, that you didn't want,
or you don't like,
you need to have the balls and the guts
to confront me,
shoot me, even,
but not my animals.
Did you have the balls? No.
You took it out on two poor,
defenseless animals,
who did nothing to you.
Do you see how shitty you are?
You are the scum of the Earth.
THE DAY AFTER THE DOGS' DEATHS,
PRIME MINISTER MATTEO RENZI CALLED MANIACI
[phone ringing]
[man] Hello. It's Matteo Renzi.
- [Pino]Good evening, Mr. President.
- I want to send my condolences and
DECEMBER 2014
Pino, the things you have been through
in the last few years, are awful,
and the incident yesterday
was terribly sad.
All I can do now is call you,
then, the next time you are in Rome,
I'd like to meet you.
It would be my pleasure to come
and meet you next time I'm in the area.
My sincerest regards.
- Thanks, Mr. President, very kind of you.
- You're welcome. Keep up the good work.
Thank you. Thank you.
MAFIA IN THE CAPITAL
Something terrible has happened.
Yesterday, you found your two dogs hanged.
We wanted to have you here
to tell you that we're thinking of you.
Thank you for your kindness
and for having me here.
Let me tell you, we're not going to stop.
We're carrying on.
We have the support of honest people.
[hostess] Pino, this applause is for you.
From everyone here
in the studio, as always.
[Pino] Despite the threats, we carried on.
I really started to enjoy the reaction.
[whispering] "Go on. We're with you."
"We're all Pino Maniaci."
"We're all Telejato."
- [crowd cheering]
- [whistles blowing]
- Go Telejato!
- Go Telejato!
Go Telejato!
[shouting] Maniaci is one of us!
[people singing]
[happy violin music playing]
[horn honking]
[Saguto] I am a wife,
a mother of three children.
[gun firing]
A normal person
who chose to be a judge in 1981.
The Mafia war was going on in Sicily.
Mimmo was my first bodyguard.
He also taught me how to shoot.
If I hadn't had a bodyguard,
I'd be dead for sure.
Because one bullet
doesn't cost the Mafia anything.
[birds singing]
Congratulations.
Even after all this time,
you didn't forget the technique at all.
Well, I had a good teacher.
I'm happy. Of course.
[Mimmo laughing] All dead.
- We didn't leave anyone injured.
- No one left injured.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Saguto] I became a judge
because I wanted to contribute to society,
to make changes for the better.
NOVEMBER 1993
[Saguto] Totò Riina was a bloodthirsty,
ruthless boss.
[ominous music playing]
Riina's Mafia committed many massacres.
[reporter in French] Salvatore Riina,
62 years old, known as Totò,
a living legend who inspired
Marlon Brando's role in The Godfather.
[Saguto] His first public appearance was
at my trial, where I was the deputy judge.
It was a face-to-face confrontation.
[Saguto] You don't have to answer,
but if something is funny,
share it with the court or stop laughing.
No comment.
You asked to confront your accusers.
I did.
Now, I've read these things, Your Honor,
and I no longer want to confront this man.
When I got home,
my husband Lorenzo said,
"You tell Riina off just like you do me."
Because I'm a bit like that.
I say, "You mustn't do that."
So I'm, let's say, bossy in a good way.
And he says, "You talk to Riina as though
he can't do anything to you.
You know what may happen? Why not
stay quiet? What difference can it make?"
I say, "It makes a difference."
Because Riina has a life sentence.
He won't get out,
but he wants to show people
that he can still give orders from inside,
and I can't let that happen.
It can't happen, we are the State.
Your Honor,
I also have the right to not answer.
I don't want to answer. I
No, no one can force you to answer.
Your Honor, it's useless making demands
because there's nothing you can demand.
[Saguto] Some friends
made fun of me because
They said, "They see you as someone
who isn't scared of anything."
I'm not scared of the Mafia,
but I'm scared of, I don't know, insects.
So, actually they were joking,
they said, "Instead of sending you TNT,
Riina should send you a box of butterflies
because you'd be scared stiff."
[music fading]
[man] She did the right thing,
even with all the consequences.
At any point, you could receive news
you never want to hear.
The most dangerous moments were
going in and out of the house.
That's when my wife was most um
[calm piano music playing]
vulnerable.
And then
we got more used to it.
When the kids got older, they asked,
"Why do you still have to do this job?"
Because it was mainly
the eldest who said it.
He'd say "When? When will you stop?
When will you leave your job?"
And I'd say,
"Francesco, if I leave, they'll win
because that's what they want.
They want me to go away."
The terrible quote from The Leopard,
that "Everything changes
because nothing changes"
is true in Sicily.
Just because the names
and the bosses change,
doesn't mean the mentality changes.
[dramatic music playing]
IN 2010 SILVANA SAGUTO BECAME PRESIDEN
OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PREVENTIVE MEASURES
AT THE COURT OF PALERMO
[Saguto] Preventive measures
are one of the most effective tools
in the fight against the Mafia.
With strong evidence,
even without a criminal trial,
the Mafia's assets can be seized
with preventive measures,
and it's up to them to show
that those assets
haven't come from illegal activity.
So they are more fearful
of the application of preventive measures
than they are of jail.
THE PRESIDING JUDGE
SILVANA SAGUTO
THE SEIZED GOODS ARE MANAGED
BY THE DEPARTMEN
OF PREVENTIVE MEASURES OF THE COUR
THE GOODS WILL ONLY BE RETURNED
IF THE ACCUSED CAN PROVE
THEY WERE OBTAINED LEGALLY
[Saguto] When I became
the president of the department,
I finally had
the power and the duty
to do as much as possible
to increase preventive measures
against organized crime run by the Mafia.
I've seized assets worth billions.
Billions!
A business empire,
worth over €600 million,
was seized from the family
[reporter 1] More than 7,600 houses,
1,000 businesses,
almost half of these in Sicily
[reporter 2] a car dealership,
company shares, and a private TV company
will be managed
by a court-appointed administrator.
[Saguto] The work I did
meant I couldn't avoid making enemies.
[sinister music playing]
[Pino] The Telejato station mainly
takes care of fighting the Mafia.
But once we started looking around,
we found corruption almost everywhere.
We started to report
those who were corrupt
in local administrations.
[Letizia] With the many reports
that Telejato made against the Mafia,
exposing the names of criminals,
we became a focal point in our region.
JANUARY 2013
And a group of people
who worked for a company
that had been seized, came to the station.
[sad string music playing]
The workers came to Telejato.
They were crying as they told me
all the bullshit that was going on,
about all the stealing that
this judicial administration was doing.
Alarm bells started ringing,
and of course, I went
to the Court of Palermo to find out more.
We have big problems.
Now, imagine if this law said,
"We take assets from the Mafia,
they'll be managed
by judicial administrations
who steal the money,
bankrupt the companies,
and throw hundreds of workers
out into the street,
who didn't do anything"?
We're talking about
judicial administrations
who have transcended the spirit
of the La Torre Law against the Mafia.
OCTOBER 1979
We propose that there should be a new law
to give the police and the courts
the necessary legal tools
to be able to prosecute
alleged Mafia members.
Pio La Torre was
a member of Parliament who realized
that if you convict a mafioso
and don't touch their assets,
the risk is acceptable to the Mafia.
The law worked.
The Mafia lost a lot of money and power.
And Pio La Torre paid the highest price.
[reporter] Hello. There's been
another tragic attack on a politician.
Pio La Torre, along with his driver,
was assassinated in Palermo.
He was the regional secretary
and former member
- [church bells ringing]
- [sad music playing]
[whistles blowing]
- [happy music playing]
- [chattering]
COMMITTEE
WE ARE ALL TELEJATO
[Parrino] Telejato was always
the reference point
for when the public has an issue.
There was a rumor
about badly managed assets,
money that was disappearing.
The administrations
would get hold of thriving companies,
and after a year, they'd go bankrupt.
So at this point,
Telejato turned their attention
to victims of preventive measures.
- Hello.
- Hello.
- Hi.
- Hi.
- How's it going?
- Ah, good, good, good.
And where's
Pino?
Are you going to get up to say hi?
[Pino] Let the dogs sniff you,
see if they bite.
[Pietro] No, they're good dogs.
So, I'll get the cameras ready.
Pietro Cavallotti
has brought to light a problem
that not only is affecting his family,
but others too.
The seizure was ordered
by the preventive measures department
of the Court of Palermo.
The president is Judge Saguto.
Pino, our companies were founded in
In 1979 by my grandfather.
Then they arrested us under the suspicion
of being Mafia members, Pino,
and my grandfather died
without seeing the end to this story.
[Pino] The Cavallotti family
built a company
that supplies gas and pipelines
to different regions.
They were accused of being Mafia members
working for the famous Binnu Provenzano.
Twenty years ago, this accusation
caused the Cavallotti companies
to be seized,
and they are still in the hands
of the judicial administrations.
[Pino] But the craziest thing is
that the Cavallotti family
were cleared of being in the Mafia,
or being linked to the Mafia,
in four trials.
But their assets
were completely destroyed,
sold, or eaten up
by Silvana Saguto and Co
within the preventive measures department.
[gloomy music playing]
THE CAVALLOTTI FAMILY HAS COMPANIES
IN THE GAS SECTOR WORTH MILLIONS OF EUROS
[Pietro] What you see behind me
is the result of years
of the judicial administration
managing our business.
If you're suspected of being linked
to the Mafia, you have a trial.
Run a business in Sicily a certain way,
and people think someone is behind it.
This is the underlying reason.
That's why there are
a lot of Mafia trials.
[man] It's not that we wanted
to pay the pizzo. We were forced to!
If we didn't pay the pizzo,
we'd all have been killed.
And then they call you a mafioso!
I have so much anger inside of me.
This injustice is not fair!
FEBRUARY 2014
[Pino] Today we want to talk directly
with the president of preventive measures,
Judge Silvana Saguto.
We want to talk about,
and show you, the seized assets
left completely abandoned.
This is what
you're doing to the community.
[dramatic music playing]
COURT OF LAW
[Pino] There are some judges
who love the smell of money.
So much so, that they use
the seized or confiscated assets
for personal gain,
or to use them to recruit the support
of family members,
daughters-in-law, children, godparents,
children of court clerks and anyone else.
We've called you "thieves."
FEBRUARY 2015
We've called you "vultures."
We've called you "criminals."
Telejato was becoming uncomfortable.
People wanted to silence us,
and it wasn't just the Mafia
and the criminals,
but also some people in the government,
that we attacked,
wanted to silence us as well
because we discovered their corruption.
[somber music playing]
[Saguto] Pino Maniaci requested
an interview with me,
and I asked my colleagues,
"Who is this Maniaci?"
I'd never heard of him.
They said,
"He's some weirdo from Partinico,
not even a real journalist."
[Pino] We were face to face
with Judge Saguto
for about half an hour.
I got the impression,
from the questions that she asked,
that she wanted to find out
how much of the truth I knew.
[ominous music playing]
[Saguto] Absolute lies.
Pino Maniaci's never been to my office.
I said, "Look, I'm not interested
in an interview."
I didn't consider it at all.
No one takes him seriously.
No one watches Telejato.
[Pino] Judge Saguto
didn't even consider me
because she thought
Telejato was just a local channel.
But when the story broke
at a national level
Shit
That's when things got dangerous.
[news jingle playing]
SEPTEMBER 2015
[reporter 1] A storm hit
the preventive measures department
of the Court of Palermo, in charge
of seizing assets from the Mafia.
[reporter 2] An ugly story
which may have consequences
is shaking up a key department
in the fight against the Mafia.
[reporter 3] Heavy accusations
cast a shadow over the management
of assets seized from the Mafia in Sicily.
[reporter 4] The president
of the preventive measures department,
which manages Mafia assets,
is being investigated for corruption,
misconduct and abuse of power.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Saguto] I was in Milan.
It was September 9th,
an unforgettable day for me.
In Palermo, only my children were at home.
They called, and I found out from them
that the finance police were there
and had a search warrant
for our house.
I didn't understand.
But why? What were they looking for?
What might they find?
What are they looking for at our house?
They also searched my parents' house.
My parents are 92 and 90.
[woman] It was early in the morning.
From over there, five people,
dressed in black, came into our house.
We didn't know who they were,
and then they said
they were the finance police.
They had a search warrant,
and they looked everywhere.
As soon as they came in,
I said, "My daughter is a judge."
Because I thought,
"What could they want from me?"
I felt protected by the fact
my daughter was a judge.
Here. All this furniture,
they lifted it up.
They looked everywhere,
even behind the pictures on the wall.
[Saguto] I said, "They don't have
the courage to wait for me."
I was
furious more than scared. Furious.
[Pino] Clearly, we ruined
Judge Saguto's money-making scheme.
JUSTICE
She must have hated
Pino Maniaci and Telejato.
What I didn't expect
was that some of her colleagues
wanted to avenge her.
- [music intensifying]
- [thunder rumbling]
MAY 2016
[Patrizia] Pino and I
were at the TV station.
It was around 2:15 in the morning.
We heard the bell ring,
and the person on the intercom said
it was the police.
A helicopter was flying above us.
I said, "Wait. What's happening?"
We opened the door,
and the chief said to Pino,
"You need to come to the police station."
"Why?"
They said,
"We'll tell you at the station."
[dramatic music playing]
[Pino] I was scared when I realized
what was happening.
[reporter] In a new low blow
to the Mafia,
ten alleged Mafia members of the Partinico
and Borgetto clans have been arrested.
[music continuously building up]
[music fading out]