Thursday,
November 29, 2007
Italians Furious at Berlusconi's Mediaset TV for Showing Mafia Boss (Raiina)
as Hero
The
ANNOTICO Report
The Cosa Nostra has long provided fictional anti-heroes
for film and television but the portrayal of real-life mobsters like Riina is much more controversial, in a country still
subjected to violence and extortion by regional versions of the Mafia.
Despite
intense pressure from Italian politicians and culture figures urging Mediaset Channel 5 to cancel the final episode of a
series "The Boss of Bosses" about Mafia boss, Salvatore "Toto" Riina, because, they said, it portrayed the
killer as a hero.
Best-selling
novelist Andrea Camilleri, whose detective stories are set
in his native
Antonio Marziale, head of a government-funded watchdog for the
rights of children, said of the Riina mini-series
that "it would be less harmful to show a porn film in prime time".
"The message it sends to teenagers is destructive in educational
terms," he said.
Italians Rap TV for Showing Mafia Boss as Hero
Reuters
By
Stephen Brown
Thu
Nov 29, 2007
Despite the
intense pressure, Channel 5, owned by ex-prime minister Silvio
Berlusconi's Mediaset, said it would not cancel the
last episode of "The Boss of Bosses" about jailed mobster Salvatore
"Toto" Riina, scheduled for Thursday at
3:10 p.m. EST.
Mediaset spokeswoman Rossana Camana said the
conclusion, recounting Riina's 1993 arrest, would go
ahead. Mediaset said the show was well-researched and
did "a real public service".
Similar pressure
did get state network RAI to pull the series "Stolen Life", about a
17-year-old girl murdered after witnessing a Mafia crime, off the air this week
-- not because it lionized the mob but because it could influence a court case.
Justice Minister
Clemente Mastella said he had persuaded RAI to
suspend "Stolen Life" at the request of judges trying a man for the
murder. RAI has rescheduled it for early next year.
Mastella said he could not exert
such influence on a private channel but hoped "the final episode of a very
misleading series exalting a criminal would not be seen by millions of
Italians".
The Cosa Nostra has long provided fictional anti-heroes for
film and television but the portrayal of real-life mobsters like Riina is much more controversial, in a country still
subjected to violence and extortion by regional versions of the Mafia.
Riina, head of the Mafia in the
1980s and early 1990s, was nicknamed "The Beast" for his brutality
and has been convicted for more than 100 murders.
Best-selling
novelist Andrea Camilleri, whose detective stories
are set in his native
"I
personally believe the only literature dealing with the Mafia should be police
reports and judges' sentences," he wrote in La Stampa
daily.
Youngsters in
Antonio Marziale, head of a government-funded watchdog for the
rights of children, said of the Riina mini-series
that "it would be less harmful to show a porn film in prime time".
"The message
it sends to teenagers is destructive in educational terms," he said.
As the debate
raged, a real-life Mafia trial in
(Editing by
Michael Winfrey)
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