Image: Magistrate Antonio Di Pietro, attired in flowing black robes, resembled a dramatic orchestra conductor as he led his Mani Pulite (Clean Hands) anti-corruption investigations. As he unraveled a stunning web of collusion between politics, industry and organized crime in Italy, his attention turned to prime minister Berlusconi and then, enigmatically, he removed his judicial robes and suddenly resigned after being accused of scandalous behavior by those he had accused (July 1994). Was he tainted by the company he kept? Was he blackmailed? Was it a decision to explore the possiblity of his own run for political office? There has been speculation among the millions of Italians who watched his courtroom proceedings nightly on TV, that DiPietro, cult figure and idol, would enter politics in a political movement also known as Mani Pulite and that he would be wildly popular. (photo credit: Foto De Bellis, Claudio Testa)

Sound: excerpt from Rossini's opera La Gazza Ladra (The Thieving Magpie), chorus of the judges. Text:
--Load time: 2.5 min.

"Be warned, one and all,
by this example!
This is the august
temple of Themis,
the awesome,
inexorable goddess,
who weighs mankind's deeds
in the balance.
She frees the just,
protects and avenges;
but her thunderbolts
always fall
on the malefactors."

Prepared by: Linda Fisher & Maria Pia DiBella