01x02 - Death by Video

[bunniefuu]

[suspenseful music playing]

A FEW HOURS LATER

THE CARABINIERI RELEASE A VIDEO

OF PINO MANIACI ALLEGEDLY

EXTORTING MONEY FROM THE LOCAL MAYOR

[newscaster 1] In Palermo,

an incredible story is unfolding.

From anti-Mafia champion to extortionist,

the double life of Pino Maniaci,

director of Telejato.

[Pino] I told you this was coming.

I warned you,

and you kept on making mistakes.

You want to keep on making mistakes.

[newscaster 2]

This is the other face of Pino Maniaci.

He is not a hero

fighting for the rule of law at all,

as revealed in secret recordings

by the Carabinieri as part of an inquiry

into the Mafia in Borgetto.

[Pino] So €366 plus 100

you still owe me, 466.

I need €466

because I need to go to the bank.

[newscaster 3] Journalist Pino Maniaci,

who is proclaimed the champion

of free and brave news,

has been accused of extorting

money to tone down his news reports.

[newscaster 4] Pino Maniaci

exposed criminals on Telejato,

and in Partinico, he fought the Mafia.

But for the prosecutor in Palermo,

he himself committed the same crimes

using the same methods as the Mafia.

[De Luca] Here's €100,

so you can get rid of some of that sh*t.

Two, three, four,

and five, and that's 200, 270, okay?

[Pino] They released a f*cking DVD

with the aim of ruining

Pino Maniaci's reputation.

[camera lenses snapping rapidly]

[Parrino] As long as he fought the Mafia,

everyone was fine.

When he decided to attack the big g*ns,

Pino had to be stopped.

He had to be destroyed.

They put me with ten mafiosos

who we think are pieces of sh*t.

[music building up]

You have to ask yourselves,

"When will all this mess end?"

Ruining Pino Maniaci. Ruining Telejato,

to achieve what?

To shut us down.

[opening theme music playing]

A NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY SERIES

[music fading out]

- [somber music playing]

- [horn honking]

MAY 2016

With everything that's come out,

this doesn't look good for you.

I know that.

It's really disgraceful,

and very disappointing.

[somber music playing]

The media has already sentenced me

without a trial.

Pino Maniaci isn't an extortioner.

Pino Maniaci

has never asked a dime from anyone,

except what is owed to him.

Pino Maniaci has had a lot of trouble.

- [journalist] Thank you.

- You're welcome.

[thunder rumbling]

- [suspenseful music playing]

- [horns honking]

48 HOURS AFTER PINO MANIACI WAS CHARGED

NEWSROOM

[De Luca] Here's €100,

so you can get rid of some of that sh*t

Two, three, four, and five,

and that's 200, 270, okay?

[Pino] So this is the video

that incriminated me

and that was broadcast all over the world

to show that Pino Maniaci is an extorter.

I challenge anybody,

prosecutors, only an ignoramus,

the last of the idiots,

who fails to understand

that €366 is an invoice with VA

and not some kind of extortion.

[phone ringing]

Here it is. Now

Hello?

Yes.

Yes, what is it?

I get it.

I understand.

Give me half an hour?

Okay. Okay. Goodbye.

The Carabinieri have got the order.

They're going to serve it to me.

They're leaving now.

[calm music playing]

Okay.

f*ck. Is this for real, guys?

They're banishing you? To Sciacca, Pino?

Sciacca? Why? I decide where I go.

[Letizia] When it happened,

when my dad had to leave,

my world fell around me.

He had to leave Telejato.

He had to leave his family.

So that time was awful.

It's not just the Mafia who are the enemy,

but also the higher powers.

[newscaster 1] Pino Maniaci

is leaving Partinico.

From anti-Mafia hero to extortion suspect.

[newscaster 2] Today, the judges

banished him from Partinico.

He's no longer permitted to live

in the provinces of Trapani and Palermo.

[ominous music playing]

[magpie screeching]

[horn blaring]

[indistinct chatter]

[dogs barking]

[Pino] They're closing in on me.

Those who oppose the big g*ns,

get screwed in the a*s.

They spread sh*t to destroy Pino Maniaci

and make him look like a fraud.

I have made some mistakes, of course.

I've made mistakes,

but I haven't committed extortion.

Their aim was to break up my family.

It's truly devastating

that the news was spread

at an international level.

[light-hearted music playing]

We'll start with the report

about me being banished.

You'll have everything by 1:00 p.m.

[Pino] Welcome to today's Telejato News.

If anyone thought Telejato was closing,

you thought wrong.

Freedom of information continues

despite what I'm going through.

Pino Maniaci is being persecuted.

[music turning gloomy]

They want to stop this rabid dog

who is being accused

of extorting everyone.

Here is the report,

and we'll start by telling you

about the current situation.

- [man] Okay.

- You can send that now.

- [thunder rumbling]

- [indistinct chatter]

[Parrino] If you wanna stop me

from using TV to extort people,

you'll have to take my cameras away.

You've banned me from broadcasting.

That was just a measure

to change the public's opinion

of Telejato and Pino Maniaci.

First, there was the video

from the Carabinieri,

then there was the precautionary measure

that said that Pino Maniaci

had to be sent away.

This um This concoction,

this diabolical arrangement

What was the aim of it?

It was intended to show

that Pino Maniaci can't be trusted,

that he's a scoundrel, that he's a cheat.

[children playing]

[somber music playing]

[dogs barking]

20 DAYS LATER

MAY 2016

[newscaster on radio] Pino Maniaci

returned to anchor Telejato News.

The journalist was accused of extortion

by the public prosecutors of Palermo.

Now his Provision of Residence

is revoked due to an administrative error.

[upbeat music playing]

[Pino talking to dogs]

[Parrino] After 20 days, he returned home

and returned to broadcasting Telejato.

However, the road remains long

because he's still facing trial,

we have to defend ourselves against

the existing accusation of extortion.

[Pino] What is it? What is it?

What is it?

MISTER VANITY

HAIR FOR MEN AND WOMEN

[Pino] I went to Sciacca.

A judge can say a politician is corrupt,

but you can't say that a judge is corrupt

because as soon as you say

that a judge is stealing money,

that they're corrupt, they destroy you.

[indistinct chatter]

[Pino] I think

that any normal person in this situation,

would have reacted differently.

My reaction was quite strong.

I defended myself, tooth and nail,

at all costs,

[Pino talking]

[Pino and man chatting]

[Pino] Did you bring oranges?

What did you bring me?

[man] How are you?

Telejato is Telejato today

thanks to Salvo Vitale,

our pillar of strength.

Last night, he went crazy.

He went so crazy last night.

He's been with me

through good times and bad,

since the start.

Peaches!

You know I like them.

The basket doesn't mean I bought them.

They're from my garden.

[Pino] Wonderful.

[Salvo] I've been working here

for almost 20 years.

I've always investigated the Mafia,

the environment, and the local news.

Pino is like a kamikaze,

who isn't afraid of anybody.

I don't think he'd fight

if he didn't think that something

would slowly but surely come from it.

[Pino] So, I have two aims.

One to save the TV station

because like I said,

they closed my bank account.

Everything went up in smoke.

Maybe they'll cut my phone line too.

We're completely screwed, if we shut down,

the world shuts down.

Two, get people's support back.

[Letizia] Rolling.

[calm music playing]

[Pino] Welcome to today's Telejato News.

Whoever thought Telejato was closing down

[Pino] Some people thought

they had destroyed this TV station,

as you can see, they were wrong.

They were wrong because

even with everything

that has happened in the media

in recent days

Telejato has fought back.

From this point of view,

Pino is extremely stubborn and determined.

So he starts his investigation again

into the Preventive Measures Department

and continues to accuse its president,

Judge Silvana Saguto.

How will the Saguto case end?

The newspapers don't talk about it.

They don't talk about it.

It's one of the biggest scandals

of this century,

managing the seized Mafia assets

for personal use.

[music stops]

The first reports that we did

about preventive measures, on this theft

of confiscated goods, were back in 2013.

[calm music playing]

Now, dear Judge Saguto,

MARCH 2013

you are obsessed with power,

and you say

you managed the seized Mafia assets

for the collective good

not to line your friends' pockets?

You know what they say,

as the mouse said to the nut,

"Give me time and I'll crack you."

We'll see whether there will be

an arrest warrant, or a search.

- [music turning darker]

- [seagulls squawking]

[music fading]

[serene music playing]

[horns honking]

[door closing]

- [Saguto] How are you?

- [man] Good. Thanks.

[Saguto] Is this my car? No.

SILVANA SAGUTO IS UNDER INVESTIGATION

HER JUDGE TITLE IS AT RISK

[Saguto] Palermo is full of plaques.

Strangely, in Palermo, for a long time

people have referred to places saying,

"Where Judge Terranova was k*lled."

"Where Judge Chinnici was k*lled."

"Where Borsellino was k*lled."

"Do you know where Falcone was k*lled?"

It's very sad, and I think it only

it only happens in Palermo.

Look, the Mafia is quieter again

and so, I think, more dangerous

because no one's fighting them.

WE SHOUT, WE CHEER

BALLARÒ IS MAGIC!

See that building?

I seized it,

I confiscated it and fixed it.

It was one of

the first things I confiscated.

When I arrived

at the Preventive Measures Department,

as the president,

I increased the number

of preventive measures by 400%.

Here, for example, I confiscated

the fruit and vegetable market.

Nothing was legal

about that fruit and vegetable market,

and they complained because we ruined

their flourishing, and ill*gal, business.

[music becoming suspenseful]

People were scared of what I was doing

because no one had ever gotten

the same results.

[reporter] The investigations

stem from complaints

about the appointment

of a group of administrators

that made huge financial gains.

"I'm completely above suspicion,"

says Judge Saguto.

"And I request to be heard immediately,

so I can clear my reputation."

It's crazy. Crazy.

TO THE VICTIMS

IN THE FIGHT AGAINST THE MAFIA

The anti-Mafia Mafia.

This is really serious.

And it's devastating.

The judicial administrators,

after they got their money,

left businesses to go bankrupt.

[church bells ringing]

Isn't that great?

The anti-Mafia Mafia.

No one else

wanted to confront Judge Saguto.

Why?

Because she has

such strong influence and power,

that she just has to say the word,

and she can bring down half of Italy.

[music intensifying]

[Saguto] I'm just waiting.

There's nothing else to do.

I'm not scared.

I read what Telejato published recently,

but, obviously,

I'm not going to reply to Telejato.

[birds chirping]

[happy keyboard music playing]

[knocking on the door]

[Patrizia] No, not yet, Giovanni.

- [Letizia] Come in.

- [Patrizia] Pino's not having pasta.

[Giovanni] Really?

Am I wrong, or did you just want dessert?

[Giovanni] No, no.

[people talking in the background]

[Giovanni] Even if there was

some extortion,

why did they have to lump him in

with the Mafia?

Arresting him with his worst enemies,

so that anyone looking

at those photos would think

I think the idea is that Pino Maniaci

was the same as them, right?

Stay there.

[Giovanni] Because I think

that their goal was to

If these people hate him,

their aim was to make them hate him

even more, right?

[serene music playing]

PINO MANIACI IS ON TRIAL

WITH ALLEGED MEMBERS OF THE BORGETTO MAFIA

[seagulls squawking]

THE CARABINIERI OPERATION

AGAINST THE BORGETTO MAFIA

IS CALLED KELEVRA

[music fading]

[Pino] The terrible thing

about operation Kelevra

was being imprisoned

at the Partinico Carabinieri Station,

as it happened,

with all the mafiosos

I had always badmouthed.

Seeing all that riffraff next to me,

was scary.

JUNE 2011

Nicolò Salto, who is often named

as the boss of the Borgetto Mafia,

has been placed under house arrest,

and therefore, he's back with us.

[somber music playing]

[Pino] Nicolò Salto

had Borgetto in his hands.

And when I saw him in Borgetto,

going into a pharmacy,

he threatened me

by saying that I should buy

three meters of rope

and find a tree to hang myself from.

That's the price you pay

for being a certain kind of journalist.

[dramatic music playing]

Kelevra is becoming a sh*t show

because by putting Pino Maniaci

with the people he was fighting,

it sent a message that,

"You're all the same thing."

That's what the prosecutors

of Palermo wanted to do.

It worked. It worked pretty well.

And then obviously, all together,

they decided to make me pay.

They are the ones with all the power.

[music becoming suspenseful]

PALERMO INTERNATIONAL AIRPOR

FALCONE AND BORSELLINO

[music becoming calm]

[man] I started my career

as a public prosecutor in Palermo

working on Mafia cases,

the relationship

between the State and the Mafia.

This is what made me popular.

PINO MANIACI'S LAWYER

Now, I'm a lawyer.

I defend citizens

who are victims of injustice,

and this is why

I came to Sicily, to defend Pino Maniaci.

Coming from the airport,

you pass the site of the Capaci Bombing,

where Giovanni Falcone died.

He was

one of the most famous judges in Palermo.

I was very lucky,

lucky to start my career

in the right place, at the right time,

let's say.

I worked with the best in the field,

Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.

I started my career

as a public prosecutor with Borsellino.

We liked each other straight away,

and we became friends.

On May 23rd, 1992,

I drove along the same motorway

Giovanni Falcone died on two hours later.

AMBULANCE

[ambulance honking]

MAY 23, 1992

[dramatic music playing]

A few months later,

Paolo Borsellino was k*lled.

[car alarm blaring]

He was blown up

outside his mother's house.

And when Borsellino died,

it was like the end of everything.

I was distraught

because not only was my boss dead,

not only was my teacher dead,

but my friend was dead.

[applauding]

And from then on, I dedicated myself

to investigations to find out the truth

behind those terrible events.

Pino Maniaci made his name on TV,

and he was destroyed on TV.

That video was the m*rder weapon.

[music turning suspenseful]

Tomorrow is an important day

in Pino Maniaci's trial.

We have to convince

the judges that his case

should be severed

from the other defendants'.

Because those defendants

have always been the enemy.

[doorbell buzzing]

He accused them of being mafiosos.

They can't and mustn't be tried together.

[Pino hitting the intercom] Oh, sh*t.

[door buzzing]

The light?

Where's the light?

Look, the light! They still haven't cut

the electricity off.

[Ingroia] Pino Maniaci

has been accused of serious crimes.

Extortion, attempted extortion,

and defamation.

He risks ten years

in prison for extortion alone.

[Parrino] So let's discuss

the process of separating this trial.

The prosecutor will object.

There's a 90% chance

that the judge will reject it,

but we have to put it on record.

We'll see what they do,

whether they retire to their chambers

or if they stay there

and decide straight away.

NEWSROOM

OCTOBER 2017

KELEVRA TRIAL

SEPARATION OF THE HEARING

[indistinct chatter]

[coughing]

[chairs being pulled]

[silence in the courtroom]

The request under review

is founded on the premise

that the crimes

that Maniaci is accused of,

have nothing to do with the crimes

the other defendants are accused of.

And we find that Giuseppe Maniaci

should be removed from this trial.

- [Pino] Congratulations.

- So, the first success.

- Tell your lawyers "congratulations."

- Congratulations.

[Ingroia] His trial continues.

There are serious charges, extortion,

attempted extortion, defamation.

We hope to win on all fronts.

[newscaster] The motion

from Maniaci's defense team was granted.

He won't be tried

alongside other Mafia defendants

because he has nothing to do

with their charges.

[Pino] Welcome to today's Telejato News.

I will be tried alone.

If we were playing soccer,

we'd say, "Two-nil to the defense."

The judge decided to remove me

from a case that I had nothing to do with.

You can imagine [sighs]

the wonderful glances directed my way

from behind the glass.

[indistinct music playing]

Let's roll forward.

We will continue in this fight,

fighting criminals

and mafiosos with no ifs or buts,

regardless of what happens to me, always.

[sirens blaring]

AFTER ABOUT TWO YEARS

THE INVESTIGATION

INTO SILVANA SAGUTO COMES TO AN END

[dramatic music playing]

[newscaster1 ] Everything is clear.

The prosecution of Caltanissetta

has indicted Silvana Saguto,

following a five-hour-long debate.

She's been accused of creating a system

to manage assets seized from the Mafia.

[newscaster 2] From corruption

to embezzlement, the charges are serious.

[newscaster 3] She's accused of managing

the controversial department

for the custody of seized

and confiscated Mafia assets

like a family business.

[Saguto] When I found out

that the accusations were corruption,

embezzlement, and abuse of power,

I thought that my colleagues were crazy,

and I was furious.

When it emerged that Judge Saguto

was being investigated

for a series of serious crimes,

it was definitely big news.

- [thunder rumbling]

- [dramatic music playing]

No one expected that the president

would be involved in such serious crimes.

[reporter] "It's a huge blow to a credible

institution," write the magistrates.

It's made even worse by the fact

that it happened in the same department

that represents legality and commitment

to fighting criminal activity.

Then we found out that not only

was Saguto implicated as the president,

but also her family.

[dramatic music playing]

CRIMINAL CHARGES

CORRUPTION - EMBEZZLEMEN

FORGERY

CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY

CRIMINAL CHARGES

PLAGIARISM OF DISSERTATION

CRIMINAL CHARGES

MONEY LAUNDERING

[Saguto] How could my colleagues think

that I was corrupt?

39 CHARGES INCLUDING

FORGERY

ABUSE OF POWER

CORRUPTION

EMBEZZLEMEN

VIOLATING PROFESSIONAL CONFIDENTIALITY

CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY

[reporter] They were all charged with

corruption, Silvana Saguto,

her husband, Lorenzo Caramma,

and the most well-known

court administrator,

Palermo lawyer

Gaetano Cappellano Seminara.

Saguto was accused of favoring

Cappellano Seminara's appointment

in exchange for payoffs.

It has emerged that Cappellano Seminara

suggested an asset for seizure.

Silvana Seguro seized it,

and named Cappellano as the administrator.

He would then cash in a huge payment,

often based on

an excessive evaluation of the asset,

then he named Silvana Saguto's husband

as his collaborator,

and so a portion of what he had cashed in

went back to Saguto's family

as Saguto's husband's salary.

[reporter] She's accused of cronyism

with regard to assets

seized from the Mafia,

through a magic circle

of court administrators.

[Pino] A magic circle.

A banquet for a few people.

I don't know how to explain it.

[Parrino] Pino Maniaci was right.

The anti-Mafia had over-reached

and had become a sort of hidden power,

a way of profiting,

making money, and doing business.

[music building up]

[music abruptly stops]

[dramatic music playing]