The extracurricular transsexual activities of another of Italy’s politicians have been making the headlines in Italy over the last week or so.
Piero Marrazzo (right) next to Walter Veltroni
Only this time the person embroiled is Italian politician Piero Marrazzo, the president of Italy’s Lazio region – the same region in which Rome is to be found. Marrazzo is on a self-imposed leave of absence while investigations continue.
Marrazzo is a key figure on Italy’s left, and, coincidentally, stories of blackmail in connection with a video made of Marrazzo passing some of his free time in the company of a transsexual made it into the news right on the eve of a primary designed to select the next leader of Italy’s somewhat fragmented left.
Initially Marrazzo claimed that the compromising video was a fake and alleged that the blackmail was politically motivated. It was revealed that four Carabinieri had being trying to extort money, around €80,000, from him in return for not making the video public. Yes, that’s right, it was members of Italy’s Carabinieri – supposedly Italy’s most upright and professional police force – who were allegedly having a go at making a little extra pocket money by blackmailing a politician. Corrupt Italian cops.
The story seems to have just about unravelled itself now, and includes another protagonist of a recent sex scandal, Italy’s Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, lending a hand.
Why Was the Video Made?
Just why the Carabinieri made the video does not seem to have emerged so far. Some stories in Italy’s press stated that before directly asking Marrazzo for money in return for not making the video public, the Carabinieri had tried to sell the video to Italy’s media. Other stories say that Marrazzo had refused to acquiesce to the extortion , which is why the Carabinieri blackmailers were trying to sell the video to Italy’s media for an asking price of around €200,000.
Corrupt Carabinieri Cops
Not much is being made of the corrupt practices of the Carabinieri, which is surprising, and, perhaps, in view of the important status of the Carabinieri in Italy, a little worrying. While reports of corruption involving Italy’s Carabinieri are not common, they do exist, as a quick search will reveal.
That members of Italy’s primary law enforcement bodies should be trying to line their pockets by selling videos of bigwigs caught in compromising situations should set a few alarm bells ringing. Yet the allure of a sex scandal seems to have overshadowed the gravity of police corruption
One question which might be asked is whether the four police officers involved in the Marrazzo case had tried this on before, or was the Marrazzo video merely a one off. Or, more sinisterly, were these Carabinieri acting on behalf of, as yet, unnamed parties?
Popularity of Transsexuals In Italy
As the embers of this latest sex scandal continue to smoulder, and aside from the level of corruption which may exist within Italy’s Carabinieri, there is another interesting aspect to this case: the popularity of transsexuals as the sexual playthings of supposedly heterosexual Italian men. Incidentally, Marrazzo is married and has a young daughter.
Is this a purely Italian phenomenon, or do men in other European countries enjoy the bedroom company of transsexuals?
Visit any large Italian city and, after the sun goes down, you will probably come across an area in which there are numerous transsexual prostitutes plying their trade. This indicates that the demand is there, if the Fiat heir Lapo Elkann case wasn’t sufficient proof.
Curiously, the Berlusconi case did involve mention of transsexuals too. Which leads nicely into Berlusconi’s own role in the Marrazzo sex scandal.
Silvio Berlusconi saw the Marrazzo and the transsexual video.
The bent Carabinieri had, by all accounts, offered the video to the Berlusconi’s family publishing giant, Mondadori, and the president of Mondadori, who is Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s daughter, Marina Berlusconi, just happened to pass the video on to her dad.
Rather considerately, after having viewed the video and after the story had gone public, Berlusconi contacted Marrazzo, and gave him assurances that Mondadori would not be purchasing a copy. According to an article in today’s Corriere della Sera, Berlusconi was not so much being magnanimous as attempting to stifle at birth potential accusations that it was Berlusconi’s right-wing political party who were behind a tit for tat attempt to discredit Italy’s left-wing or at least divert attention away from his own sex foibles.
Wise Move By Berlusconi
Berlusconi’s move was wise, seeing as a recent television report on Raimondo Mesiano, the judge who found against Berlusconi’s publishing arm Mondadori, has led to ructions.
The television report, which was made by Berlusconi’s channel 5, appeared to be an attempt to discredit the judge, and thus protect Berlusconi’s image. The trouble was that the report came off as a pathetic smear attempt.
Far from damaging the judge, it gave the impression that he was a pretty normal person, albeit with turquoise socks, a bit fashion challenged. No sadomasochistic meetings with a rubber clad dominatrixes for this judge, but merely a mundane trip to the barber, and the now famous turquoise socks.
The episode did far more damage to Berlusconi’s cause than good, and this is possibly why he tried to distance himself and his companies from the Marrazzo meeting the transsexual prostitute video case.
Bad Move By Marrazzo
Marrazzo, after receiving a call from Berlusconi, appeared to redouble his efforts to try and get hold of the video in order to destroy it, before it destroyed him.
A man was reportedly sent to Milan by Marrazzo to retrieve the video, but was intercepted by Italian state police who were investigating the matter. The police intervened and took the video from Marrazzo’s man in order to prevent it disappearing – which may have meant that an essential piece of evidence in the case against the bent Carabinieri would have been lost. Another copy of the incriminating video was also seized from the offices of Italian gossip magazine, Chi, part of Berlusconi’s holdings.
The day after, according to the Corriere della Sera article, Marrazzo was told to report to the police. It was here that he admitted to having been with the transsexual, and that cocaine was present in the Rome apartment of the transsexual who was entertaining him. It was also during this discussion that Marrazzo was informed that the police knew about the blackmail attempts of the four corrupt Carabinieri cops.
Gentleman’s Agreement
At the same meeting a “gentleman’s agreement” to keep everything low profile was reached. For reasons unknown, as the affair became more public, Marrazzo decided to claim the video was a fake and state that the Carabinieri had been plotting against him. And this was after he had admitted to being with the transsexual to the police .
After his initial denial, Marrazzo must have realised that he had dropped himself in lots of brown and smelly stuff, and he decided to come clean, admit to his sexual predilections, and suspend himself from his position as governor of the Italian Lazio region.
The whole affair tarnishes the already chaotic Italian left, further reducing their credibility as opposition to the Italian right.
Who knows what else will come out in the wash? Whatever, I pity Piero Marrazzo’s daughter.
Photo Credit: Jollyroger
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