“Il caso Ciancio”. In a book by Enzo Basso the story of an entrepreneur. From British royals to the accusations of the judiciary

It was 1985 when the Princes of Wales undertook their journey to Italy. A “Grand Tour” of three weeks, including official visits and social engagements, followed by over one hundred British journalists.In Milan, Venice, Florence and Rome the royal couple met Pope John Paul II, president Pertini, artists and intellectuals like Renato Guttuso and Alberto Moravia. Once in Sicily, Carlo and Diana are guests at Mario Ciancio’s Catania farm, where a table laden with Sicilian delicacies awaits them. Lady Diana walking along the estate “Il Cardinale” meets a farmer who is very excited and offers her a sprig of orange blossom, the zagara, she thanks and keeps the flower for the whole day, taking it to the yacht Britannia laying up in Syracuse.

“Il Caso Ciancio” by Enzo Basso, present in Sicilian newsstands and on digital platforms, recounts the human and judicial events of the most important publisher in the South. After five years of investigations, on 12th November 2012, the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Catania asks for the dismissal of the investigation that sees the publisher investigated with the accusation of external competition in mafia association. The preliminary hearing judge asks for a supplementary investigation, thus starting a busy judicial process still in progress. On June 1st, 2017, Mario Ciancio is put on trial, on September 20th, 2018, the prevention measures section of the Catania court declares the publisher “socially dangerous”, confiscating the estimated assets of 150 million euros. An upheaval for the publishing world, as long as that the former president of the Federation of publishers controls “La Sicilia” in Catania, “Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno” in Bari and in the other two Sicilian newspapers “Gazzetta del Sud” and “Giornale di Sicilia “. The book by Enzo Basso, starting from this event, tells about the steps of the investigation lasting twelve-year, characterized by a ping-pong of judicial measures that cancel and re-open investigations on a half-century long journey. The main question of the book is: has the luck of the Etna publisher been realized with the contribution of the mafia or is it due to an extraordinary entrepreneurial ability? The British secret intelligence services perhaps even aided by the legendary James Bond, made a detailed analysis of Mario Ciancio which allowed the visit of the princes of Wales …

leggi in italiano