Rai journo sues over claims bombing was staged to benefit him

Rai journo sues over claims bombing was staged to benefit him

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 13 - Rai investigative journalist Sigfrido Ranucci on Monday said he was suing for defamation unnamed commentators and politicians who have claimed that he staged a bomb attack on his home in order to benefit from it. Prosecutors have put controversial businessman, restaurateur and former journalist Valter Lavitola, a friend of Ranucci's, under investigation for allegedly commissioning the bomb attack at Ranucci's home last year. Carabinieri police arrested four people accused of carrying out the attack, in which a bomb was detonated in front of the gate to the journalist's home in Pomezia, near Rome, on October 16, 2025, destroying two cars parked on the street, his and his daughter's, and damaging a wall. They were allegedly paid several thousand euros to carry out the attack. Ranucci, 64, has said he found it hard to believe that a friend and former colleague like Lavitola could have meant him or his family any harm. He said he was convinced that the 60-year-old founder, editor and publisher of Socialist daily L'Avanti! was innocent. Lavitola has been at the centre of many top political and business corruption stories over the years. These include: a Monte Carlo house whose purchase sank former post-fascist Berlusconi protegé Gianfranco Fini's political career; the buying and selling of Senators to bring down a centre-left government; the attempted extortion of Silvio Berlusconi over a ring of escorts at his 'elegant dinners'; kickbacks for contracts in Panama; and scams involving publishing funds. Several right-wing politicians and political commentators have suggested in recent days that the attack on Ranucci was staged to boost the profile and popularity of the journalist and his show, Report, which delves into crime and corruption and which has run many exposes on the mafia. On Monday Ranucci's lawyer issued the following statement: "In relation to the dissemination of statements, press articles, conjectures, and insinuations that have transformed, through explicit allusions, the victim of the serious attack into its alleged beneficiary, through expressions that assert or suggest a "fake attack" and other similar formulations and consequent advantages, the human and professional repercussions of which are of unprecedented gravity, Mr Sigfrido Ranucci has filed a complaint and a suit for aggravated defamation and other crimes." (ANSA). Read article...