Lavitola sentenced for putting squeeze on Berlusconi over party girls

VALTER LAVITOLA, with a checkered history in Panama,   has been  sentenced by a judge of Naples (southern Italy) to two years and eight months in prison for trying to extort money from former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in relation to his parties with young women.

An EFE News Agency report says  Lavítola,former director of the Italian newspaper Avanti  was arrested last April on his arrival at Rome's Fiumicino airport from Argentina, and was sentenced by Judge Francesco Cananzi after preliminary hearings based on the fast-track trial conducted in this multi branched case.

However, the judge, lowered the four years sentence  called for by prosecutors, and acquitted Argentine Italian businessman Carmelo of collaboration in the attempted extortion for which the prosecution had requested a year in prison.
This judgment, handed down Monday, February 4 belongs to a breakaway faction of the main event, focused on the attempted extortion of Berlusconi by Lavítola, considered the intermediary between the former prime minister and businessman Giampaolo Tarantini, who was in charge of getting the girls to the parties "il Cavaliere".
According to the prosecution that began investigating the bulk of the case, Lavitola had tried to extort Berlusconi and induced Tarantini to lie to judges about the alleged parties of former Prime Minister.
Tarantini, who in 2009 at the outbreak of the scandal Berlusconi's parties was identified as responsible for recruiting the girls who attended the event, said he asked Berlusconi for $800,000 to start negotiations , while the rent was to meet the "demands of life."
 Lavitola who fled Panama for Argentina after an Italian warrant for his arrest had been issued, is under investigation for alleged bribery transactions, and was widely reported to be the link-man with Panamanian officials, in negotiations involving Finamecanica whose president has been arrested on bribery allegations. Panama bought helicopters and radio installations valued at $250 million from a subsidiary of the conglomerate and transcripts of conversations between Finamecanica and Panama including close relatives of the president have been published in Italy and Panama