Vendetta: Truth, Lies and the Mafia (2021) s01e04 Episode Script

- [seagulls squawking]
- [somber music playing]
MAY 2018
[doorbell ringing]
[camera clicking]
[man] Yes?
- If you're not ready I'll kill you.
- Yes, yes, we're coming.
- [buzzer buzzing]
- [intercom hanging up]
PINO MANIACI'S LEGAL TEAM IS REVIEWING
THE CARABINIERI RECORDINGS
OF SOME MEETINGS
BETWEEN MAYOR DE LUCA
AND HIS PRESS OFFICER PANETTINO
- Pino, have a look at this, look.
- [Pino] Yes.
Note from the prosecutor,
"On September 13th, 2014, at ten o'clock,
Gioacchino De Luca and Giuseppe Panettino
come into the office."
Look at what comes next.
"Gioacchino De Luca
moves some papers on his desk."
"He removes a page
from his spiral notebook."
This is the whole sequence.
"After removing the page
from the notebook,
he tears a piece off
and then puts another sheet on the desk."
"De Luca turns to Panettino,
he picks up a pen
and starts writing on a sheet of paper
while Panettino watches
from the other side of the desk."
"Panettino takes the pen from De Luca
and writes on the sheet,
and writes something in reply."
"He points at the writing on the sheet.
He speaks into his ear again."
Fine, let's see.
"Panettino points to
the sheet of paper again."
It's basically a conversation.
The report actually says it,
it says they were having
a conversation via the sheet of paper.
They were alone in that fucking room!
So they knew they were being recorded.
- Yeah.
- [music builds up, fades]
When he gets the money,
De Luca speaks loudly,
looking at the cameras.
What a coincidence.
[Ingroia] It's like we're in a scene
in a movie. It's all very theatrical,
as if the mayor knew
the camera was there,
and he had to build the key evidence.
The aim of this video
was to discredit Pino Maniaci.
A NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY SERIES
[rhythmical music playing]
[music fading out]
JUSTICE
MAY 2018
MANIACI TRIAL
EXTORTION CHARGE
WITNESS: PANETTINO
[men speaking indistinctly]
[suspenseful music playing]
Panettino!
Next witness, Panettino.
Please have a seat, Mr. Panettino.
You need to take the oath.
[Panettino] "I swear to tell
the whole truth and not to hide anything
that I am aware of."
Right, go ahead, Madam.
[Luise] Great.
So, Mr. Panettino, what was your role
within Borgetto Council?
PUBLIC PROSECUTOR
I was press officer.
Let's say I took care
of relations with the press.
What type of relationship did you have
in relation to publishing news
related to Mayor Gioacchino De Luca?
Maniaci had a new problem every day.
He wanted money to avoid potential
broadcasting potential reports,
but he'd do the reports anyway,
and then he'd come back again.
He contacted me in every way possible.
He wouldn't leave me alone.
[phone ringing]
TELEPHONE RECORDING
BETWEEN PANETTINO
AND THE THEN MAYOR DE LUCA
[Panettino] He called me 12,000 times.
[De Luca] Ah, it's fine.
Tell him we'll have it sorted tonight.
[Panettino] Do it now, this guy is crazy.
[De Luca] Did he do a report today?
[Panettino] What? He did one.
[De Luca] Make him wait. We'll give it
to him tomorrow. Don't worry. Ok ay?
- [Panettino] Okay. Great. Bye.
- [De Luca] Okay, bye.
I said to the mayor,
"You can't carry on with this
this this continuous blackmail."
"Call the Carabinieri."
"Call someone, but you have to. You"
It was impossible.
He couldn't sleep at night.
The Mafia kill with guns,
and he kills with the television.
[dramatic music exploding, fading]
Listen, Mr. Panettino
PINO MANIACI'S LAWYER
how long have you known De Luca,
the former Mayor Gioacchino De Luca?
I'm an only child.
And
Okay.
[Panettino] You asked
about our relationship.
Start from your childhood.
- Then this will go on until tomorrow.
- I have to say he's my friend.
I don't just have to say
what you want to know.
You can't make spontaneous statements.
You have to answer the questions.
- You're not on trial yet. Go ahead.
- Is it normal to say something like that?
[Ingroia] You haven't been charged
in this trial, but let's see.
If you give false statements,
you'll be accused of perjury.
Your Honor, "But you haven't been
charged yet," it's inappropriate.
[Ingroia] He hasn't been accused yet,
in the sense that up until now,
he hasn't been accused.
Is it appropriate to say that
if a witness doesn't respond properly?
- That he hasn't been charged yet?
- Prosecutor, don't include it.
[Luise] Hey, I think not.
Let's move on. No interruptions.
I never interrupted. Let's move on.
You and the
former Mayor De Luca,
where were the places
where you'd generally meet and talk?
I'd meet Mayor De Luca at the Town Hall,
at my house, at his house, everywhere.
- We didn't have problems.
- [Ingroia] Where in the Town Hall?
- In the mayor's office?
- Yes, yes, yes.
Would you usually speak to each other,
let's say, normally,
at a normal volume or whispering?
[suspenseful music playing]
Sir, the only words
I whispered to the mayor,
were because he came in.
He was with people in there.
[Ingroia] So if there wasn't anyone there,
you wouldn't have done it.
Absolutely not. Why would I?
[Ingroia] Were there any circumstances
where instead of talking to one another,
each on different sides of the desk,
without opening your mouths,
you wrote on a piece of paper
and passed it between you,
one of you would write, then pass the pen?
[suspenseful music playing]
Do you remember doing that?
[Panettino] Your Honor,
I don't usually ever write.
- What?
- I never write like that.
Because I have terrible handwriting.
Did you ever know or suspect
that the room was bugged
or had hidden cameras?
Absolutely not.
No, no.
Okay. No more questions, Your Honor.
Fine. We've finished.
Thanks.
It went well.
[indistinct chatter]
The further we go, the more
the prosecution's castle crumbles.
It's becoming clear
that the prosecution's case
is based on thin air.
[Pino, laughing] "Thin air,"
that's beautiful.
Music!
["Give it to me"
by Vanacore Music playing]
You're mine, mine ♪
Do it to me right now ♪
Put your body on me
Put that body, body ♪
[Ingroia] There are many people
who want to shut Pino Maniaci up,
Mafia and non-Mafia.
Because Pino Maniaci has bravely exposed
what is wrong with the State.
I know what happens
when you go against the system
because it also happened to me.
There was also a vendetta against me
when, as well as dealing with the Mafia,
I started looking into State corruption.
The investigation that I started,
and the trial about negotiations
between the State and the Mafia.
My investigation discovered and showed
that while the Mafia
was killing statesmen,
like Falcone, Borsellino
and other innocent citizens,
there were other statesmen
who were making deals with the Mafia.
[dramatic music playing]
[car alarm blaring]
There are only a few judges
who have fought
the State's complicity with the Mafia.
[applauding]
I was never forgiven for this.
The Mafia uses violence
and intimidation as their primary tool.
Statespeople have different,
more subtle tools,
like denigration and defamation.
Sometimes the State sullies people
before taking them to trial.
MARCH 2017
Antonio Ingroia,
former Palermo prosecutor,
has been accused of embezzlement.
According to the prosecution,
between 2014 and 2016,
the former anti-Mafia prosecutor,
allegedly, received
expense reimbursements
for business trips worth €30,000.
There's also an allegation against him
about a performance bonus of €117,000.
"I'm very upset."
"I've always respected the law."
In 2013,
shortly after I left the judiciary
I took a job
as the commissioner of a company.
The company was at risk of bankruptcy.
I intervened.
I took up my responsibilities,
I managed to save the company.
And all of a sudden,
the prosecution office
decided to accuse me instead.
This embezzlement, where it basically says
that I paid myself a bonus,
and that I stole from the the
As if I were a common thief,
as if I stole from the company accounts,
which isn't true.
That bonus was rightfully mine.
[Saguto] Ingroia
is one of the strangest people
in the judiciary.
He should be thinking about
his own legal problems.
It disgusts me
that Ingroia is supporting Maniaci.
These people are being investigated
for very serious crimes.
I know a few things about Maniaci
that are very significant.
Because they are things
that I found in documents
from the trials of various mafiosos
that I compiled
when I was doing preventive measures.
SILVANA SAGUTO STARTS HER DEFENSE STRATEGY
BY ATTACKING PINO MANIACI'S REPUTATION
AS AN ANTI-MAFIA JOURNALIS
I know about relationships
that he had with some Mafia members,
that don't match up
with his reputation as an anti-Mafia hero.
They can choose not to believe them.
They can say they aren't true,
but there are documents.
I don't learn things
because someone told me,
I learn because I have found
inexplicable payments
to Telejato from people
I have investigated.
Pino Maniaci is the person
who gives a voice
to those who want
to abolish preventive measures.
The first person that Maniaci
started defending was Impastato.
JANUARY 2013
We are talking about the
the quarry seized
from the Impastato family
which is waiting to be confiscated
or to be released from seizure.
[Saguto] Andrea Impastato
is a Mafia member.
€150 million were seized from him,
and he was definitively convicted
for Mafia association.
And Maniaci gave him
all the space he wanted.
We then, by chance, found out
that Impastato's children
gave Maniaci a car.
And afterwards, he continued with
any other mafiosos in the area
his television station covers.
[ominous music playing]
We also found out that Maniaci
was only continuing to air
because he was broadcasting on frequencies
owned by other individuals
whose grandfather had been convicted
for Mafia association.
We came to the conclusion
that Pino Maniaci gained financially
from his proximity to the Mafia,
from Mafia families
that he was defending on TV.
[music builds]
I can't wait
to be able to say what I think
and say it in a court of law
because I'm sure of what I wanna say,
and that I can prove it.
[music fading]
Because I'm only talking about the facts,
not hearsay.
- [crickets chirping]
- [calm music playing]
[dog barking]
Pizza!
[Patrizia] See it?
[Pino] Is someone calling you, ma'am?
Ma'am, tell me, do you want some cheese?
Sit down!
I didn't do shit.
I have been crucified
for my investigations.
[Giovanni] Come on. I'll do the
A lighter? Shall we light them all?
[Pino] We found out
and we knowingly have touched
high-voltage wires,
which might have burned
or even electrocuted us.
[people shouting]
[screaming]
Extortion is a do ut des.
I give you something
if you give me something.
Since they couldn't find any real crimes,
they used Mayor Lo Biundo.
THE NEXT PROSECUTION WITNESS
IS THE FORMER MAYOR OF PARTINICO,
SALVATORE LO BIUNDO
[Parrino] Two people that Pino Maniaci
allegedly extorted are two mayors,
De Luca, the former mayor of Borgetto,
and Lo Biundo, the mayor of Partinico.
This is legality!
SEPTEMBER 2015
[Pino] Mr. Mayor,
something stinks.
It stinks.
Don't look for the mayor of Partinico.
You won't find him.
He completely left the city to itself
because he's flying high, very high,
in Brussels, in Turin,
to get away from the stink of Partinico.
What the prosecution wants to show,
from its point of view,
is that there's a Maniaci system,
which is a system through which
various public figures,
particularly local politicians
PINO MANIACI'S LAWYER
are publicly attacked
by Maniaci or Telejato,
if they don't pay,
and war is waged against them.
When Lo Biundo was called as a witness,
of course, we were anxious.
[Pino] Out of respect for the citizens
who voted for him, he should do one thing.
Resign.
[atmospheric music playing]
NOVEMBER 2018
No, Lo Biundo has to admit
that he was never extorted
by Pino Maniaci, for a start.
Let's see what he said
because you're dreaming about
what he'll say in court.
Let's see what it says here.
Perfect. I'll dream it,
and then we'll put it to the test.
- We'll put my dream to the test.
- Yeah, let's see.
[indistinct chatter]
"I handed money over out of fear."
This is the extortion.
"If I refused, Maniaci would broadcast
extremely damaging reports
for me and my council"
Stop.
We have a council
Yes, wait. Stop there.
I'm just here to show his statements.
Don't argue with me right now.
No. Can't you see
that they make them write these things
Now we'll find out from Lo Biundo.
Okay, perfect.
[suspenseful music playing]
MANIACI'S TRIAL
EXTORTION CHARGE
WITNESS: LO BIUNDO
[judge] Great. Over to you, Prosecutor.
By virtue of this role,
which you have just reported to us,
did you know Pino Maniaci?
I've known him since I went into politics.
We all supported Pino Maniaci's work.
We were all Pino Maniaci at that time.
And he represented
a symbol of legality for everyone.
Was your relationship always good?
Relations were never good
with Pino Maniaci.
Why not?
Relations
Because he didn't leave politicians alone.
He carried on directly attacking us
because he thought
he was the bearer of truth and justice.
THE ALLEGED EXTORTION REVOLVES AROUND
A WOMAN BEING HIRED IN PARTINICO'S COUNCIL
[Pino] This lady is a cleaner
at Partinico Council.
She needed some financial support
to be able to take her daughter to Palermo
and to be able
to carry on looking after her,
so she could get treatment.
Obviously, my request
to Lo Biundo at that time
was strictly related to that lady's needs.
[Luise] Tells us a bit about this woman.
If you met her, why and how you know her.
So, the first time
that I met this lady was
because she came
to my office to do the cleaning.
So do you remember
that her contract was about to expire?
Yes. Yes.
When it expires, what happens?
[Lo Biundo] Pino Maniaci showed up
to support this lady's case.
And I explicitly said
that everything would be done
according to the rankings
and so I couldn't continue the contract
and allow her to carry on working.
Pino's problem is that he's trying
to help someone he cares about.
NOVEMBER 2014
PHONE RECORDINGS
BETWEEN PINO MANIACI AND THE CLEANER
[Pino] I'll look after you.
When you have your 1,500-2,000 euros,
it'll be fine. I can die happy.
[woman] Okay.
[Pino] I want a good life for you
[woman laughs]
a good home.
[woman] Shit, shit,
you always make me cry.
- [Pino] Talk to you later, darling.
- [hangs up]
[Parrino] The lover,
since she had a child
with a very serious disability,
he wanted to help her find a job,
so he used everyone he knew.
He said "You have to let her work.
She deserves it."
But he wasn't subtle about it.
He doesn't care about things like that.
How did Pino Maniaci ask
about hiring this lady?
How did he do it,
and what was at stake if you refused?
He kept pushing
in his usual aggressive and angry way
saying, "Ah, you have to
because she really needs it,"
and all the rest, and so
I agreed to their to his request.
That doesn't match up with
what you've said in the past though.
What do you mean?
Because I don't remember
my whole statement,
so I'd like to understand.
- [Luise] Shall I remind you?
- [Lo Biundo] Yes.
[Luise] So, on this point,
"I agreed to give her money."
- Did you pay her?
- Yes. Yes.
From your pocket?
From my pocket, yes.
"I was scared that if I refused to pay,
Maniaci would broadcast
damaging things about me and my council."
It was a concern, but like I said,
it was a constant concern that he'd do it.
[Parrino] Here is
where the whole charge crumbles.
In that moment, when the mayor says,
"You know Pino Maniaci, his ways,
at this point to get him out of my way"
The crime is gone.
Have you ever been threatened
by Pino Maniaci?
On TV,
in relation to my political activities.
- Threatened how?
- Political, it the
- Not threats.
- No, threats.
Threats meaning,
"If you don't do this, I'll do this."
Absolutely. Never. No.
I thought you were talking about Sorry.
- Verbal attacks.
- Verbal attacks.
It's different from a threat.
Okay. No more questions, thank you.
I think the hearing went very well.
The former Mayor Lo Biundo
was one of the main witnesses,
and today he said he'd never
been threatened by Pino Maniaci
and that he hadn't committed a crime
or an unlawful act
by helping a lady who needed help
because she was in social hardship.
Even though the hearing went well,
you can't expect me
to go home and celebrate,
or that I'll arrive home
to hugs and kisses.
Today's hearing was sensitive.
It plunges a knife
into a wound for my family
because they keep talking
about Pino Maniaci's lover.
Right?
[horn honking]
OCTOBER 2014
TELEPHONE RECORDINGS
BETWEEN PINO MANIACI AND HIS LOVER
[phone rings]
[Pino] You don't know how powerful
Pino Maniaci is. Don't worry.
- I'll make sure you'll come out on top.
- [woman laughs]
I can get you a job anywhere.
[woman] Did he say yes?
[Pino] Of course he said yes.
[woman] You make everyone tremble in fear
with your TV station.
[Pino] I already called the mayor.
I told him the figures didn't add up.
He said, "Oh, really?"
"Yes, like I told you."
He said, "So, what do we need to do,
a double wage?"
"No, no," I said,
"Not fucking double, triple."
You'll get €1,800 a month.
I don't even get that.
[woman] Except I'd have to
blow it up for you.
[Pino] You only get
to blow one thing of mine.
[woman] Your dick.
PINO MANIACI'S BIRTHPLACE
MANIACI
BAKERY
[man] I could write an encyclopedia
about my brother Pino.
Apart from some lies,
which we forget about,
it's part of what makes his personality.
He's had plenty of misfortune.
[sad music playing]
Pino got married in September 1980.
Barely a year later, he had a daughter.
He wasn't there for her first birthday
because he had run off with another woman.
A certain Patrizia.
Then recently,
he started seeing someone else,
so he had problems with Patrizia.
He made a mess.
[Pino] So where's that coffee?
I told him not just once, but hundreds
and thousands of times because
everyone likes sex
but there are rules to follow, right?
For the whole family,
the trial is something that
Because there are
things that aren't right.
You know why they aren't right?
Because they are
basically accusing Pino because
a girl asked him for a job
and so she was his lover.
Pino, a lover?
[keys jangling]
- [Pino] Where's Letizia?
- [Patrizia] In the bathroom.
I'm strong,
but there are moments when perhaps
something they said,
it comes into your head, you know?
I'm not made of iron.
I'm upset as well.
Let's put it like this.
If someone makes a mistake
I say that I didn't make a mistake.
If someone likes
to fuck,
they can't be anti-Mafia?
[dramatic music playing]
[newscaster] The former president
of the Preventive Measures Department
of the Court of Palermo is on trial.
Silvana Saguto announced
that she will fight back
and prove her commitment to justice.
[Saguto] It's not nice to be on trial
because being on trial
is already a kind of punishment.
I don't see any weak points
in our defense.
If someone wants to make something up,
they can make something up.
[Lorenzo] I think this will be
a particularly difficult period.
It depends how they present
the various charges
and how they support them.
I'm being realistic.
- I know you're being pessimistic.
- No.
- That's a different thing.
- No, no, no, no, no.
You've always been pessimistic.
I realize
that this sentence will only end badly
if there's a conspiracy against me.
[sinister music playing]
FEBRUARY 2019
SAGUTO'S TRIAL IS IN CALTANISSETTA,
130 KM FROM PALERMO
BECAUSE JUDGES
CAN'T BE TRIED IN THEIR OWN DISTRIC
Today, I want to be able
to finally express my opinion
by going to the Caltanissetta court
and explaining everything I've done.
I know I behaved well,
not only in line with what was my duty,
but also I went beyond that,
risking my life to be able
to make preventive measures
effective enough to fight the Mafia.
SAGUTO'S TRIAL
CROSS-EXAMINATION OF SILVANA SAGUTO
This is an extraordinary trial
because of the complexity of the issues,
the number of charges,
and the individuals involved.
We're talking about judges.
We're talking about lawyers,
we're talking about public functions
that were carried out.
The sentence will be part of the history
of the administration of justice in Italy.
[Saguto] When I walked into the courtroom,
I was ready to go. I wanted to speak.
Judge Saguto
what did you do
when Maniaci's first reports
with Telejato came out?
We probably underestimated
the power of the media
even from these uneducated people.
We found out that Telejato
was doing anti-Mafia work
but also taking money from the Mafia.
A construction business owner
who owned a quarry who had
The administrator told me
that he had found
several payments of €6,000 to Telejato.
Impastato, which was another quarry
we had seized,
they gave him cars.
We started to understand
why Maniaci was so angry with us.
I made the mistake
of not reporting him straight away,
because he might have shut up,
and perhaps none of this
would have happened, because strangely,
they all went along
with the ravings of a lunatic.
[woman] Madam,
I'd like to move onto your relations
with the lawyer
Cappellano Seminara for a moment.
PUBLIC PROSECUTOR
You say that you are
completely independent
from Cappellano Seminara,
so there is absolutely
no economic interest
in Cappellano Seminara's
financial affairs.
Is that correct?
[Saguto] Yes.
Cappellano Seminara
was the most in demand
from all the judges, all my colleagues.
We said there was no one as good as him
because he was so organized.
There was no point
in me recommending this or that,
as long as they were good people.
Do you know what the amounts paid
to your husband Lorenzo Caramma
by Cappellano Seminara were?
No, no, no.
You know what you have written down.
I don't know.
I don't know. I have no idea.
[Pasciuti] The financial police estimates
around one and a half million euros,
and, how should I put this,
the payments from Cappellano Seminara
were around €1,200,000.
- [Saguto] I have no idea.
- [Pasciuti] So I'm not that good at math.
- But I'd say that 80%
- [Saguto] I don't think it's
I don't know. I can't answer that.
It might seem strange,
but since these payments were made
a long time after the job was completed,
I lost track over time.
I asked Cappellano for the payments
of sums already accrued
when we were in difficulty.
What were the terms, please?
Well, I wouldn't have pulled out
a gun to ask him.
When President Saguto was managing
the Preventive Measures Department,
there wasn't a system
or a "magic circle" of any kind,
there was no favoring
of certain administrators over others.
And with regard to Cappellano Seminara,
the number and the type
of assignments that he got
were comparable to those given
to other judicial administrators.
I've brought this booklet
because, as Bonaccorso will remember,
he came to my office
because he was a public prosecutor.
All us judges had a box
with all the business cards
of different administrators
who were recommended or put forward.
Almost every card says
who recommended them.
Here they all are.
They're all here.
Saguto arrived in court
with this card holder
and then read it, or pretended to read it.
She showed it,
while reminding the prosecutor
that he went to her office.
It was a clear threat.
Either you acquit me,
or I tell you the names
of all the judges that came by my office.
We say, "Samson dies
along with all the Philistines."
[dramatic music playing]