Valter Lavitola, believed by Rome prosecutors to be the mastermind behind the attack on Sigfrido Ranucci, will spend August 15th in prison. A gang of four men planted a makeshift bomb on October 16th in Pomezia, a town just outside Rome where the Report host lives, partially destroyed his cars. Members of the Carabinieri Investigative Unit executed the precautionary prison order on Monday morning against the former journalist and publisher. The DDA prosecutors accuse Lavitola of planning the attack with the help of his handyman, Cameroonian citizen Gomes Clesio Tavares, for whom an arrest warrant has been issued.
The man is currently wanted and is believed to be in Africa: he is believed to be the intermediary with the Irpinia gang. "I would have liked to return to explain my life and my version of events," he told Tg1, confirming that he did not wish to return, "but I would also like to know why they should arrest me. It's complicated because it's the truth. I had planned to return next week, but I have to ask myself some questions first." Lavitola and his right-hand man, as well as the gang that actually planted the bomb made of quarry gelatin, are accused of mafia-related aggravating circumstances. According to the magistrates, led by prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi, the motive for the attack lies in Lavitola's "ambitious plan" to launch Ranucci into politics and, consequently, to carve out a prominent role for himself.
The suspect himself explained this motivation to investigators during the July 4th search, but denied all charges. In the order, the judge writes that the raid was "commissioned" by the entrepreneur "solely to increase the journalist's popularity and accelerate the arrested man's political plans." "If, in fact, the purpose was to promote the journalist's political rise and evidently secure a leading role for himself in the new political scenario envisioned," the investigating judge states in the 200-page order, "there is no doubt that, in the suspect's mindset, the criminal act was intended to appear, in the eyes of the victim and the public, as an act of intimidation or retaliation, or at least a warning to the journalist to intimidate him from continuing his investigations, but never to actually endanger the journalist's safety." Therefore, according to Lavitola, the action was not intended to cause casualties. Furthermore, Ranucci was supposed to know nothing, and in fact he was in the dark.
