Tangentopoli

Tangentopoli ( pronunciation: [ tandʒen'tɔpoli ]; literally tangent City of bribes from Italian, bribe ') is a term with which the Italian press early 90s the city of Milan called, when the then prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro, a system of corruption, abuse of office and illegal party financing laid bare. Later, the word became a synonym for the criminal entanglements that shaped the political system of the so-called first Republic, ie the time before the collapse of the party system as a result of judicial investigations Mani pulite and electoral reform in 1993.

Emergence of the concept

On February 17, 1992, the Chief of the Pio Albergo Trivulzio old people's home and exponent of the Partito Socialista Italiano Mario Chiesa was caught once rich bribes in Milan. The statements of Chiesa after his vast, piled through bribes assets had been seized, and the numerous references to further irregularities and links to many politicians have allowed the prosecutor of Milan extend their investigations, which involved hundreds of politicians and businessmen in the course of a few months. The investigations by the public prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro were named Mani pulite (' clean hands '). Soon was revealed to investigators a powerful system of corruption, abuse of office and illegal party funding, which meant that Milan was called in various newspapers as Tangentopoli.

Extension to the whole of Italy

The widening of the investigation to the whole of Italy led to a number of national politicians were prosecuted. It soon became apparent that many deputies, senators, secretaries of state and ministers were deeply involved in the scandal. This led to a political earthquake, the collapse of the old party system and a new electoral law, which introduced a majority vote. For the period before the collapse of the political landscape, the term 1st Republic became common one, with one called Tangentopoli now the criminal entanglements that shaped the political system of that time.