The Italian Guillotine: Operation Clean Hands and the Overthrow of Italy’s First Republic

Since 1992, Italy has been wracked by what has been dubbed a ’revolution.’ The five parties that once governed Italy are gone; their leaders languish in jail or exile; and numbers of politicians and businessmen committed suicide. All these dramatic events stemmed from the exposure of massive political corruption by a small group of Milan magistrates who became national heroes. Yet this controversial book argues instead that the actions of this group amounted to a coup d’etat carried out for explicit political ends. The authors examine the sources of the magistrates’ political support and protection, the intended beneficiaries of their campaign, and their skillful management of the media. Along the way, they trace the magistrates’ violation of the norms of due process and defendants’ rights and the preferential treatment given to political and business allies. This provocative study will convincingly show readers outside Italy why the ’revolution’ is becoming suspect to more and more Italians daily.

Stanton H. Burnett is senior advisor of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, D.C. Luca Mantovani is chief of the Forza Italia press office for the Chamber of Deputies.