Italy Police Say Businessman with Ties to Berlusconi Is Mastermind Behind Journalist Bomb Attack
Police say the attack damaged two cars and part of a gate, while investigators are still searching for a second suspect.
- On Monday, Italian police arrested businessman Valter Lavitola, a former associate of late premier Silvio Berlusconi, for ordering a bomb attack against investigative journalist Sigfrido Ranucci last year.
- Police said Lavitola conceived the criminal plan, instructing Tavares Gomes Clesio to recruit individuals capable of procuring explosives and carrying out a demonstrative attack at Ranucci's Pomezia home.
- Both men participated in an "initial exploratory inspection" outside the journalist's villa in September, police said. Ranucci investigates corruption for the Rai show "Report."
- Rome's detectives labeled Lavitola the "alleged mastermind" behind the October 16 attack, though they have not provided a motive for the bombing that damaged property at Ranucci's residence.
- Ranucci has previously described Lavitola as a "true friend," while details suggest Lavitola may have sought to influence the journalist's political future, sharing a criminal history with Berlusconi.
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Lavitola's name is also known in Panama for international research related to the contract signed during the government of former president Ricardo Martinelli with the Italian conglomerate Finmeccanica, currently Leonardo.
Ten months after the attack on the Italian journalist, investigators arrested a confidant, Silvio Berlusconis.
On 16 October 2025, an explosive device was detonated in front of the journalist's home, threatened by the Mafia, destroying his two cars without causing any casualties in a residential area of Pomezia, some 20 kilometres south of Rome.
As early as 2024, in chat, Valter Lavitola wrote to Sigfrido Ranucci referring to the next general elections. It is one of the many messages cited by the gip in the order of precautionary measure in prison for the entrepreneur and former choreographer accused of being the boss of the explosive attack to the conductor of Report [...] The article "In 2 years ago the President" was already talking to Ranucci about candidacy since 2024. The survey a…
This is what emerges from the order that led to the arrest of the entrepreneur for the bomb against the conductor of Report. It emerges that the former director of the Avanti wanted to turn the journalist into a target to increase his popularity and protect him from rai attacks in view of a descent into the field
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