A pot boiler dream:High rollers, corruption, drugs, call girls

PANAMA – Italy, Venezuela – drugs, corruption, prostitution, players on the International and local stage, all former riders on a carousel of events providing enough material for a lengthy play or soap opera with a working title The Panama Connection.

In 2010, then Italian Prime Minster, Silvio Berlusconi was riding high, apparently untroubled by numerous court cases pending in his home country. After all he had spent large parts of his political life fighting what he called "persecution" by the justice system. and once infamously compared to the Nazi  treatment of the Jews.
He arrived in Panama fresh from a chatting with world leaders at the Group of 8 summit in Toronto, Canada.
Accompanying him was a stunning 28-year-old, blonde, Federica Gagliardi, known to the Italian press as “the Lady in White". Both got the high fives treatment reserved for the rich and powerful from President Ricardo Martinelli, his cabinet, and anyone else who could elbow a way onto the gilded stage.
Floating around Panama, attempting to make deals with Panama’s government on behalf of Italian defense colossus Finemecanica was Valter Lavitola, newspaper editor and allegedl procurer of some of the beauties, some under age, who livened up the notorius bunga bunga parties of Berlusconi.
Far from home, It was the best of times for the Italian glitterati but soon after the idyllic life of the high rollers began to unravel.
For Berslusconi After years of successfully brushing off sex scandals, allegations of corruption and political setbacks, luck ran out He was convicted of tax fraud and sentenced to jail.After losing an election and his place as Prime Minister he was ejected from his seat in the Senate because of the conviction, upheld on appeal.
He will have to serve a one-year sentence for that offence, probably under house arrest or via community service because of his age.
He was sentenced separately to seven years for having sex with an under-age prostitute and abuse of power.
Lavitola's downfall came more quickly. He was a mover and shaker in Panama, meeting and partying with the elite and trying to fix deals with the government, bank rolled by money from a newly created company allegedly funded by Finemecanica from a black hole of cash set aside to bribe foreign governments. When he realized his phone was tapped he was seen on his knees in a Casco Viejo church before fleeing to Argentina, and, after a few months, onto Italy, to face prosecutors in Naples. He has already been sentenced on one charge and was put under house arrest, but returned to a prison cell after reportedly receiving unauthorized visitors. Some reports suggested from Panama.
His trial alongside the former head of Finemecanica involving the Panama bribery allegations, is set for late June.
Like characters in a play, the paths of some of the principles keep crossing the stage.
Last week The White Lady was arrested in Rome after returning from Caracas carrying a large stash of 24 kilos of cocaine. On Wednesday, March 19, seven people were arrested in Venezuela, including military and one police for alleged links with trafficking cocaine
The Caracas prosecutor said: “the alleged involvement of the seven people with trafficking drugs seized in Italy was determined." he said in a statement.
According to estimates by the Italian anti-drug police, the local street value of 24 kilos of pure cocaine, which is then mixed with other substances for sale, would be about  $13.21 million.
The news was a welcome distraction from daily reports of street demonstrations and wordy exchanges with Panama’s leaders.
Enter one again, Berlusconi. To announce on Wednesday that he was renouncing his title of "Cavaliere, a day after the Supreme Court upheld the penalty of two years' disqualification from public office for his conviction for tax evasion in the case known as Mediaset.
Meanwhile as the final act approaches for Lavitola, Panama actors in the wings who had connections with the main players will be awaiting the next twist in the novela.
Panama’s Attorney General has announced that “the case is closed” but the opposition presidential candidates have promised that if elected, there will be fresh investigations before the final curtain.