Portobello (2025) s01e06 Episode Script
Episode 6
1
MILAN
DECEMBER 29, 1985
[motor revving]
The justice system in this country
is twisted with corruption
and fundamentally broken,
and now we are standing up
to change the system!
FOR A CHANGE, VOTE FOR THE RADICALS
We want fair justice in this country!
[crowd cheering]
[chanting] We want fair justice!
We want fair justice!
Worthy of a state
governed by the rule of law,
of a country that is
civilized and democratic.
[crowd cheering]
[crowd chanting] We want fair justice!
We want fair justice!
We want fair justice!
We want fair justice!
We want fair justice!
Enzo has stayed true to what he said.
He did not let us down.
He did not run away.
He promised he would turn himself in
to the authorities, and he did it!
He truly is a genuine Radical fighter.
He had every possible opportunity to flee
and go abroad
after his despicable sentence,
-for his own self-defense.
-[crowd chants] Enzo!
No one could have blamed him,
and he still refused to.
VOTE RADICAL PARTY
And he'll wait with confidence
right here in Milan,
where he is under house arrest
during the process of appeal.
[crowd cheering]
[crowd chants] Enzo! Enzo! Enzo! Enzo!
Enzo! Enzo!
Enzo! Enzo! Enzo!
My dear friends, I will be very brief.
As I'm sure you've heard,
I've resigned from my position
as a member of the European Parliament
over these recent weeks,
renouncing all of my immunity.
And I've done so
to initiate the transformation
to a better Italy, of serious Italians,
serious enough to say what they do
and do what they say.
Italy today is full
of those who are blind,
who claim that they can see
even though they cannot.
However, in my case,
as I'm always hearing from Marco,
they never wanted to see the reality.
They were all afraid
that solely recognizing me as
an honest man who is innocent
would fundamentally
undermine their integrity,
and the credibility of that grand blitz
of theirs against the Camorra,
paralyzed by knowing they made a mistake!
And it's not possible
for a judge to have made a mistake
and simply to admit it. But I
POLICE
as a man who is guilty
only of being innocent,
I am not afraid.
And I will challenge them,
in handing myself over once more
as a gesture of goodwill,
to the constituted authorities.
[crowd cheering]
[crowd chants] Enzo! Enzo! Enzo! Enzo!
Enzo! Enzo! Enzo! Enzo!
[overlapping chatter]
-See you in a bit?
-Yeah.
Do I have to put the cuffs on?
No, Minister, that isn't necessary.
[crowd chants] Enzo! Enzo! Enzo! Enzo!
[engine revving]
[chanting continues]
Enzo! Enzo! Enzo! Enzo!
[intense music playing]
[helicopter whirring]
[siren blaring]
[broadcaster in Russian]
[broadcaster continues in Russian]
[siren continues blaring]
[intense music continues]
[helicopter whirring]
NEWS BROADCAS
EPISODE SIX
[news anchor in Italian]
The incident that occurred
at the Soviet nuclear power plant
of Chernobyl in Ukraine is taking
on increasingly serious proportions.
USSR: A DISASTER OF GREAT PROPORTIONS
Precise information about
the disaster is lacking,
which may have caused numerous victims,
and TASS says two people were killed.
MOSCOW ASKS SWEDEN AND GERMANY FOR HELP
There are concerns about the radioactive
cloud moving over northern Europe.
The foreign and defense ministers
of the seven countries
of the Western European Union
are meeting in Venice.
Disarmament and international terrorism
are the main issues
at the center of the debate.
The wave of bad weather is easing
APRIL 29, 1986
as an initial assessment
of the damage is attempted.
[in English] Not a single word
about our progress with the appeal.
[sighs heavily]
Well, my love, why don't we acknowledge
the trial of Tortora is not news?
People aren't interested, you know?
And here I, as of today,
continue to be an Italian citizen
who was sentenced
to ten years' incarceration
as well as a 50-million-lira penalty,
and disqualification
in perpetuity from public office.
[Francesca clears throat]
It'll always be there.
[scoffs] What's that?
My conviction.
[seagull squawks]
[distant vocalizing]
[man singing in Neapolitan]
[guitar and ukulele playing]
[singing continues]
[man vocalizing]
[in English] There's Marmo.
[guests applauding]
-Good morning, you two.
-[Morello's wife] Good morning.
-How have you been, Michè?
-[Morello] Good.
-Happy Sunday.
-[Morello] How are you?
-Hello, happy Sunday.
-And those must be the kids?
So, they assigned you to Tortora?
Yeah.
Have you looked at it yet?
Surely, you've had a look
over the archives already.
I still haven't had time
to look at anything.
I was just assigned to it yesterday.
They're having the trial
the same time as the World Cup.
I hope you finish it up before
it's an appeal, good God!
If they still have us on it.
The defense for Tortora has asked
to have the appeal trial
moved up to Milan.
They say they have doubts
about the territorial jurisdiction.
The truth, I think, is that
they don't have faith in us.
It's just a desperate tactic
that won't lead to anything.
Nobody can take this trial away from you.
[laughs]
And what do you think?
Well, I'll study all the documents.
We must be totally unassailable.
Michè, the Radicals
wanted me in the ground.
They wanted to give me a security escort.
The situation really blew up.
I'm telling you
so you know what you're in for.
But now, it appears to me that things
have calmed down for everybody, right?
How fortunate.
I wish you good luck.
Have a good lunch, and a wonderful Sunday.
-[Morello] Happy Sunday.
-See ya. See ya.
[Morello] Enjoy your lunch.
[guitar and ukulele playing joyful music]
[guests chattering]
MICHELE MORELLO
JUDGE
[solemn music playing]
NAPLES
CASTEL CAPUANO
JUDICIAL ARCHIVES
A cat.
For the mice.
[solemn music continues]
[court reporter] Here, this is all
the material from the trial.
[Morello] Mm-hm.
How is it organized?
How is it organized?
By state's witness.
Everything said by Barra,
everything said by Pandico
everything said by Melluso,
Imperatrice,
Sanfilippo
Villa, et cetera, et cetera.
There's a lot of state's witnesses.
[heavy thud]
Is there some kind of chronology
to the testimonies here?
Not that I'm aware of, no.
We need to create it.
Your Honor, do you really want
to put all this stuff in order?
Help me start. Come on.
Little by little.
"Little by little." [sighs]
[solemn music playing]
INTERROGATIONS
PASTRENGO POLICE STATION
[horns honking]
[intercom buzzes]
[police officer] Who is it?
This is Judge Morello.
[gate creaking]
NAPLES
PASTRENGO POLICE STATION
[police officer] Good evening, Your Honor.
Good evening.
And this is where we kept
the state's witnesses and disassociates.
All in their own cells?
All in their own,
except for one cell that held four.
[Morello] Hm.
There were a lot of state's witnesses,
it was a constant flow.
We, along with the judges,
were unprepared, uh
It was certainly something new.
These were major criminals,
mass murderers.
[Morello] I'd like to understand.
Were they able to speak to one another?
[guard sighs]
Look, this is just a police station,
not a prison, Your Honor.
It was adapted to become
one temporarily, purely out of necessity.
And which cell was Pandico's?
This one here.
Were the cells open all the time?
Usually, during the day, yes.
This here would be the television room.
If there was a Napoli match on TV,
they watched it together
with the Carabinieri.
Or something else
like the Sanremo Festival,
Christmas midnight mass,
the Blood of San Gennaro
They were cooperating witnesses,
so they cooperated.
They had to be treated well.
Also because
there weren't established benefits,
or sentence reductions back in those days,
but we could pull
some small favors, certainly.
They were looking
to be protected, feel reassured.
There was an occasion before a witness
confrontation, where one of them,
the one who killed the famous, uh
the gangster Turatello
Pasquale Barra.
He'd made a request for,
then actually obtained, champagne.
[chuckles] Come on, come on, follow me.
This here is the exact same room
where Tortora was brought in
on a stretcher from the ambulance in 1984,
specifically that February.
[Morello] All right.
It was right here.
[Morello] Right.
But you were telling me
about lunches and champagne.
The state witnesses we held
wanted to eat very well.
So the commander called in to the Ministry
to tell them there was
no money left in the budget
to satisfy
these witnesses' comforts in here.
And Di Pietro decided
to pay out of his own pocket,
advancing the money.
And later on, once the investigation
had reached its conclusion,
he requested the Ministry to reimburse him
the amount he had advanced
towards the station's budget. [chuckles]
To which, of course
they responded with, "Beat it!"
They said he had
no authorization to do it.
Italy's always been the same.
Those who give, give,
those who take, take.
But there was this sort of miracle.
For the first time ever,
the Camorristi were talking to us,
a lot of them.
Because of that, we were authorized
to have sort of an easygoing
approach to everything, more relaxed.
But in in theory,
and, well, also in practice,
all of these so-called
repentants and disassociates
would have been able to coordinate
to agree on a version
to give to the judges,
to line their stories up.
That I don't know.
What I'm able to say is
they were given a certain liberty.
"Liberty."
I mean, all that was missing
was allowing them to ask
to go out for a gelato,
or, or maybe to go outside to let them get
a little breath of fresh air
as long as
they didn't go too far, of course.
If they were comfortable in here,
we noticed they spoke more willingly.
There's a humanity to it, right?
That was the goal.
[keyboard clacking]
May I?
Morello's not here?
No, uh, the Counselor works from home.
[keyboard continues clacking]
[soft tense music playing]
What's this?
The chronology of the interrogations
of the state's witnesses.
What they said, when, and where.
But what's that for, sorry?
The appeal.
The Counselor wants
everything done from scratch.
The "Trial" of Cirillo in a RB Video
Depositions, witness confrontations,
testimonies All of it.
Jun. 29, 1983 - DOMENICO BARBARO
clears ENZO TORTORA
Mar. 6, 1984 - Interrogation
MICHELANGELO D'AGOSTINO
[court reporter] We're back
to square one now.
MAR. 9, 1984
CONFRONTATION TORTORA - MELLUSO
In the courtroom, at the trial?
Yeah.
[soft tense music continues]
[Marmo gasps]
No, we already did all of this.
It's irregular, it's irregular.
This can't be done.
Your Honor, I'm a court clerk.
A clerk doesn't hold much influence.
[soft tense music continues]
JUNE 10, 1986
APPEAL TRIAL
PANDICO - BARBARO CONFRONTATION
All right, Mr. Barbaro,
the currently present Giovanni Pandico
has stated that
he served as an intermediary
between you and Enzo Tortora
during the time
when you were both incarcerated together
for negotiating the shipment of narcotics.
But what narcotics, Your Honor?
The famous doilies.
The ones that, again speaking in reference
to the testimony of Mr. Pandico,
would have corresponded to the number
of drug shipments to Tortora.
No, that's completely false, Your Honor.
Sorry, Your Honor, uh
they're photographing in their cells,
Nadia Marzano and Renato Vallanzasca.
As far as I'm aware, that's prohibited.
Let's eject that photographer.
Continue.
Well, Judge, it's just simply a lie.
This gentleman, Your Honor,
speaks lies knowing he's speaking a lie.
He is falsehood personified.
No, I'm telling the truth.
It's he who keeps lying.
And not out of malice or anything,
but more so because
[inhales] he's mental.
You know I sewed every one
of those doilies, I made them by hand.
In fact, I did it right
in front of you, one by one,
because you were obsessed with Tortora.
Judge, I'll just say that he hated him.
Uh, that is to say that
he coveted the guy.
Uh, excuse me, Mr. Barbaro,
what do you mean by "he covered"?
"Coveted."
Phenomenal,
can you explain that to the judge?
Yeah, he, uh
He envied him. He, uh
He was jealous of the guy.
It was like he was a friend one day,
and an enemy the next.
He told me they communicate
just by thinking through
telepathy and all those kooky things
he would always say.
He said even 1,000 kilometers away,
they could feel each other, I mean,
all those kind of things, just weird.
I understand.
But now, Barbaro,
did you, in all actuality,
uh, send the doilies
to Mr. Tortora or not?
Of course I did. Yeah, by mail.
And Tortora wrote me back as well.
Someone invented this whole story
saying that I had committed
some kind of extortion,
but RAI reimbursed me for it.
Yeah, and you guys have
the receipt for all of that.
But it's obvious here, Honorable Judge,
they were only trying
to maintain appearances.
But underneath the the appearances
lies a completely different truth,
which for the hundred-millionth time,
I will say again.
You delivered several shipments
of narcotics to Enzo Tortora!
And when? When did I do it?
When could I have done it?
I'm not even a Camorrista, you joker!
And when? When? In that period there,
the '70s, '80s, same as I said.
[hesitates] It's a total falsehood.
Of course it's a falsehood.
During that period,
the defendant was incarcerated.
In fact, we'd very much
like Mr. Barbaro to say
during which period he was
under detention in Porto Azzurro.
I object to that.
The attorney is clearly attempting
ARMANDO OLIVARES
ATTORNEY GENERAL
to influence the witness's testimony.
Come on. What's that have to do with this?
We need to look at substance,
not the given form of the law.
At the very human truth
of this painful affair.
All this useless chatter.
Thank you very much
for the lesson, Professor.
[judge] The witness
may continue, thank you.
I-I was under detention in Porto Azzurro
from back in '72 until '81. You can check.
Come on. How could I have delivered drugs
since, since I was incarcerated?
I'm sorry, Your Honor,
but I wasn't delivering nothing to no one.
Let that be submitted
into the record, please.
Oh, bravo, Mr. Counsel.
It's because in law school they learned
court reporters throw stuff out
after writing it down. The incompetence!
You handled the deliveries to Tortora
when you had your leaves from prison.
I got escorted by security guards
during prison leaves.
How could I do that? No way.
You're a bald-faced liar.
This one's capable
of anything, Your Honor.
-He's completely conjoined.
-You know you're a liar.
Inseparable from lies.
He can't stop lying,
while I have embraced the real truth
for the public good, for justice.
Domè, you're sitting here,
but you're not there.
You don't exist.
Buddy, you're mental.
I mean, do you hear this guy?
What are you talking about? I-I
-So now I'm not here?
-Your being doesn't exist anymore.
Your being has disappeared.
What are you saying? I'm right here.
-You're a basket case. You're a liar!
-You're disappeared.
-You're a crazy liar!
-You're not here anymore.
You hear me? You're not here anymore.
You need help, man.
Did you hear this guy?
[Giovanni] You've got 30 seconds left.
[snapping fingers]
[solemn music playing]
PENITENTIARY PRISON
EVALUATION
DIAGNOSIS:
In light of the clinical evaluation
and the tests administered
the subject presents a condition
compatible with Schizophrenia
with mythomaniac traits
and persecutory delusions
Delusional ideation, pathological mistrust
impairment of reality judgment
Schizophrenia
convictions of
Paranoia:
plots and
Mythomania:
verifiable, reality.
[patron]
But there's nothing written on here
LIVERI
JUNE 19, 1970
saying that my son
can't receive disability.
[worker] Ma'am, respectfully,
your son is 30 years old.
He has to work.
[patron] But he's not well.
[worker] What
What's wrong with him, ma'am?
-What does he have?
-In the morning, he doesn't have--
For the sake of politeness and democracy,
after 15 minutes,
one should move on to the next.
Excuse me, ma'am, please.
-Be patient.
-[worker] Fill out this form.
What is it?
Pandico, Giovanni.
TOWN HALL OF LIVERI
BIRTH CERTIFICATE
I need a new copy of my birth certificate,
if you could help me with that.
But you have the certificate
right in your hand.
Why do you think you need
to get another one?
Well, this one's got an ear.
It's creased right here.
So, how long for the replacement?
-[scoffs]
-[patron 2] Jesus, is this guy serious?
[patron 1] But I was here first,
young man.
Next person, please.
The incompetence, the carelessness.
[sighs]
This nonchalant bored arrogance.
It's the boredom I can't grapple with.
-[glass shatters]
-[loud screaming]
[gunshots]
[frantic clamoring]
[guard grunts]
[patron yelling]
[solemn music continues]
Mrs. Marzano, you requested
the Court hear you again.
What do you want to tell us?
Yes. Well, I, um
would like to say all the things
I wasn't able to say in the prior trial.
Why couldn't you say those things?
Have you just suddenly recalled them?
I was afraid,
and I pretended to be a basket case.
[chuckles softly]
It always works for me.
No one really understands madness.
No! Come on.
But you actually are mentally insane!
-Silence now!
-[Barra] Please, Your Honor, if I may.
But this lady is truly psychopathic.
[judge] Barra, I said silence!
And, and excuse me, she should be
-locked up in an asylum.
-[judge] Barra! Be quiet!
Seriously, in an asylum!
Do you hear me?
-And what the hell's all this?
-[judge] Silence, Barra!
And who or what exactly
were you afraid of?
[breathes deeply]
Pasquale Barra threatened me
not to do anything to contradict him.
That I would have to say everything
just the way he instructed.
That he would kill me otherwise.
Killing for him is like a joke.
One murder more, one murder less.
[breathes heavily]
You know, for him, murdering someone
is like crushing a cockroach
with your shoe.
The black ones, Your Honor, specifically.
[judge] Pandico, do not interrupt.
And besides, what do you mean?
Cockroaches are all black.
No, I'm just saying,
so as not to confuse it with the beetle.
I've just read "The Gold Bug"
by the author Edgar Allan Poe,
-a very particular piece of literature--
-No, Pandico, enough!
Of course, Your Honor. As you wish.
Hey, big guy.
It's a beautiful story.
I recommend it to you.
[judge] So, Mrs. Marzano.
So I'd like to say that
Enzo Tortora was never
affiliated at my house.
In 1978,
I was in Madesimo with my son,
who wasn't even a year old yet.
And there's a rental contract
I have on file
that shows I began renting
the Milan apartment in 1979.
The apartment wasn't ready before that.
It was uninhabitable, that's all.
So you're saying no initiation ritual
ever actually occurred.
No, not in my home.
Court clerk,
did you put that on the record?
Counsel,
you're obsessed with the notion that
the clerk isn't writing everything.
We are,
because throughout the prior trial,
it was a common occurrence.
Under the pretense that the woman
was in a state of confusion at the time.
Yet another lesson from the professors.
Well, madam, in complete lucidity,
do you confirm what you've said today?
Yes, I confirm everything.
Thank you, you may go.
[Nadia clears throat]
[NCO member] Don't worry,
you did the right thing.
[Renato] Come on, girl. Don't worry.
Don't be afraid.
It went well, sweetheart.
She's nuts.
Fucking traitor.
How's your son?
All grown up?
He a looker like you?
Bravo, Nadia.
[suspenseful music playing]
Well, look, Your Honor, at this point,
it's pretty clear to me
how things are going to end here.
Instead of the defendants
being the ones on trial,
the state's witnesses are on trial.
Now you, for instance,
have heard of a lot of people
who, uh, decided to back off,
or change their version
in favor of Enzo Tortora.
And do you know why they did it?
Because they're afraid.
They tried making me do the same.
They told me to take back
all the accusations against Tortora.
But despite all the pressure
I have on me, Your Honor,
I am still here, and I confirm again
everything that I've already told you.
Like the fact that Enzo Tortora
worked for my boss, Francis Turatello.
I'll repeat it all from the beginning.
Not much left for me to lose,
so here it is.
-He's one of the realest men here.
-[Barra] Come on, Gianni.
-Tell them all over again.
-[loud clamoring]
[judge] Hey, silence in the cells!
-[clamoring continues]
-Silence now!
Melluso is a hero!
Come on, show a little respect to him!
Order in the court!
A hero who can't even read.
The defendant Vallanzasca has requested
a direct confrontation with you.
Do you accept the confrontation?
[Melluso] Well, as you wish, Your Honor.
But I don't know what he wants with me,
this Vallanzasca.
To prove you're lying, Melluso.
I'm not afraid of him, Your Honor.
Then bring in Vallanzasca.
Now let's hear how a multiple murderer,
bank robber, and kidnapper
wants to clear my name,
and let's try to figure out why.
Let's see what happens.
Never know what you're gonna get.
You piece of shit!
I'll kill you, you smug asshole!
And that's not just a promise.
You understand?
I'll really kill you.
Do you hear me? Renatino!
Piece of shit! Go fuck yourself.
[NCO member 1] You're a son of a bitch.
You're not ashamed to be stuck in this
cell with four Camorristi bastards?
[Villa] Go strut your stuff
somewhere else, asshole. Get out of here.
[NCO member 2]
You're good for nothing, man.
Renato, come on, think of your mother.
You mind your own fucking business.
What beautiful, bright blue eyes you have.
[NCO member 1]
You're a fucking sewer-dweller.
Or are they sky blue?
You can't really tell.
[NCO member 2]
Oh, how good looking you are, Renato!
You look like a French prince.
[NCO member 3] You're full
of shit, pretty boy. You're too handsome.
[NCO member 1]
No good, lying son of a bitch!
What just happened, Mr. Vallanzasca?
Oh, that was nothing.
It was just a friendly talk.
All right, talk to us then.
So, first of all, I want to say, I have
nothing to do with the Camorra.
They dragged me into it.
Like this gentleman right here.
He lumps me in first with the NCO,
then he says,
"I got the drugs from Turatello
to give Tortora to push."
It's all false. Because Melluso,
to Turatello, was a complete nobody.
No way! You're a bullshit artist.
Come on, guy.
There's a photo of the two of them.
[judge] Order in the court!
Silence, right now!
[clamoring continues, then fades]
Gianni.
Renato.
Now tell me
when you allegedly met Turatello.
I can't recall, precisely,
to be honest with you.
"I can't recall."
I didn't ask for a specific day.
Then I'm still not sure.
And don't do the same as Tortora,
who wanted to know the color of the socks,
the tie, the shoes
I mean, how should I know?
Hey, Gianni. Don't try and fuck
around with me, all right?
Don't be an idiot
and think I'm like Tortora,
because I'm not like Tortora. Got it?
Do you understand I'll hand your ass
to you in front of all these people?
Mr. Vallanzasca, mind your language.
This isn't a bordello.
Gianni.
You handled drugs in Milan?
You've never even
sniffed drugs over there.
In Milan, the most you could do
was steal a couple of chickens,
snatch purses from old ladies,
keep those four girls
you dragged around on a leash,
and throw them out on the corner
on the outskirts of the city
That's what you were doing,
'cause you're a pimp. Come on.
"The handsome one."
Gianni cha-cha-cha.
-That's you.
-What do you want from me, Renato?
Please wait, Your Honor.
Turatello had a tattoo.
What do you mean, "tattoo"?
It was on his left hand.
What exactly was this tattoo of?
Ah, so that's the card?
The ace for Vallanzasca? Really? A tattoo?
[Renato] A tattoo.
What was the tattoo, Gianni?
Don't you remember?
Look, I'll even fucking help you.
It was an animal.
An animal tattoo
which he had gotten in jail as a kid.
What's the point here?
Come on, what the hell?
[Renato] The point, Gianni,
what was the tattoo of?
And let me respond!
The whole thing is pointless
if you keep talking over me.
Because this entire tattoo thing,
this much I can tell you,
you didn't know about--
What was the tattoo, Gianni? Say it!
Stop wasting my time here, asshole!
Now, what was it? I asked you a question.
What was the tattoo of?
So look, Your Honor,
as far as this tattoo goes,
I never paid attention to it.
And, in fact, let the record reflect that,
as far as I'm concerned,
I never even saw this tattoo.
All right, thank you.
Your Honor, that's it.
[scoffs] A tattoo
that was this big on his left hand,
and he somehow never saw it.
You want to know why you never saw it?
Because Turatello kept people
like you at arm's length.
You and Turatello?
He'd never talk to someone like you.
Come on, Renato.
-Lies.
-[Renato] Gianni, Gianni.
Careful, I'm losing my patience here, huh?
Your Honor, sir, Turatello had a lady.
Who was Turatello's lady, Gianni?
Know what her name was?
What was she like?
A blonde, brunette, short, tall?
What was she like?
You said you knew him well, right?
Tell me what she was like.
The truth is that you don't know fuck all.
I get you. Now I understand.
You're doing this charade
out of defense for Tortora.
The fuck do I care about Tortora, Gianni?
What would I get out of that?
Yeah, yeah.
You're just doing this because
because of your own morality.
-It's some kind of personal crusade.
-Gianni
-Honorable Judge.
-[judge] Yes. Go ahead.
Gianni Melluso has stated that
standing in defense of Tortora
is, in fact, a moral act, a moral issue.
A matter of principle.
The principle of justice, Your Honor.
He admitted it voluntarily.
It is a confession, Your Honor,
a veritable truth.
Thank you, Melluso,
for your accidental divulgence.
Is that what I said?
Renato Vallanzasca,
for his own love of the truth,
couldn't bear to watch an innocent man
return to incarceration.
And as such, testified
against the false accuser
and revealed his lies in a public court
disqualifying the accuser.
But didn't he say, just then, that
he couldn't care less about Tortora?
Literally not a damn thing. You heard it.
I have no comment, Your Honor.
[Melluso] Your Honor, but
But he didn't even know Turatello either.
Come on.
You really are stupid, Gianni.
Your Honor, my dear sir,
the thesis of the defense
ATTORNEY GENERAL'S REQUISITION
is that Pandico is mentally ill
and, therefore, completely unreliable.
A madman may be unreliable,
however, he is not unpunishable.
Pandico never tried
to take an escape route.
He instead declared himself an accessory.
With his confessions,
he worsened his own legal position.
Pandico never once sought to fall back
on the excuses of madness.
But even so [chuckles]
even if he were a crazy person
a state of madness
madness itself is not a stigma,
a permanent state.
Madness changes shape.
It's a mutable thing.
And we must admit that every one of us
possesses some degree of madness,
which fortunately, we are able to control.
That distinction is the difference here.
One could say Pandico was mad,
and perhaps once that was true,
but today we must acknowledge
that he's a changed man now.
He is lucid and he never ever
contradicts himself. Never!
Those who lie, sooner or later
get caught in contradiction.
Giovanni Pandico has never, ever
contradicted himself.
Paranoid?
You couldn't count
all the paranoid geniuses in history.
[Giovanni] Exactly.
That's precisely the case. The same as
[microphone thuds]
The same as Torquato Tasso,
who I'd invite everyone here to read.
Or the legendary, great Neapolitan
sculptor Vincenzo Gemito,
who voluntarily had himself
committed to an asylum.
In summary, I'll say all the great artists
and, additionally, even maybe you,
Mr. Attorney General,
are a little paranoid.
No. Well, yes, of course.
Sure. I'll put my
I'll even include myself, too.
Pandico, do not interrupt
the Attorney General.
I apologize sincerely, Your Honor.
I simply just couldn't contain it.
And Melluso?
Now, insanity doesn't apply there.
Either you believe,
or you don't believe Melluso.
-That's right.
-[Armando] And the fact that he didn't
recall certain details
about the meetings with Tortora,
or about the private life of Turatello,
well, gives more weight to his words.
Because if he'd made it all up,
he would have prepared better.
Don't you think? All those particular
details juries like so much.
And judges, too.
In addition, seven state's witnesses
confirm each and every one
of his declarations.
Your Honor, members of the Court,
Enzo Tortora is not a cynic
merchant of death as described before,
which is the novel distinction
that I wish to introduce here today.
He is merely collateral to the Camorra.
I recognize mitigating factors
for him, importantly.
However, Enzo Tortora is,
don't be offended,
in all manners, a total liar.
It's a part of who he is.
Lying is integral to his nature.
Enzo Tortora is the same boy who,
during his summer vacation
in Valmalenco, invented a story
where he saw the Madonna
to be able to extend his vacation!
Demonstrating [chuckles]
well, an imagination
as well as a completely audacious
sense of determination
that I'll say I can still clearly
recognize in the Tortora of today.
After all, lying for him was a necessity
to be able to continue
conserving his celebrity,
which, of course, he certainly built,
with great effort indeed,
and additionally it was a core necessity
to be able to sustain his essential role
in a day-to-day basis
in order to play his part.
It was necessary for him
to chemically continue sustaining it.
And for this reason I consider him
more of a consumer,
however, perhaps a user of great degree.
Like, for instance, uh, here. Here.
"He was like a vacuum with the stuff."
I mean, it's written
right here in the testimony.
But not as a drug trafficker.
Conclude if you want.
Now, my request today, therefore,
is not directed
in the pursuit of acquittal,
because to acquit Tortora
would mean not trusting
in Pandico, Melluso, Barra.
With that
to additionally find innocent and
acquit every defendant. Your Honor,
you either acquit everyone, or no one.
The law is the law.
It's the same for everyone.
You have no choice in that.
[applause]
[Barra] Bravo!
Bravo, Your Honor! Way to go!
[applause continues]
Bravo, bravo!
[news anchor on TV in Italian]
Despite ministerial assurances
-[in English] Hi.
-Hi.
[in Italian] many consumers still
distrust lettuce, chard, and spinach.
-[in English] Hi, Tullio.
-Hello.
[news anchor in Italian] One figure says
it all. In Modena, one week ago,
consumption of broad-leaf vegetables
was 70% lower than normal.
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant houses
four reactors of
1,000 electrical megawatts each,
grouped into two buildings,
each containing two large reactors.
[mumbling softly]
[in English] It really doesn't annoy you?
No.
[TV continues indistinctly]
How's it going?
We finished the trial.
Now it's our turn.
And?
Tortora is innocent.
[scoffs] Sorry. Wasn't he a Camorrista?
Barra turns witness
and doesn't implicate Tortora.
Pandico turns witness
and he doesn't implicate Tortora.
It's only after the prosecutors show him
an agenda with Tortora's name in it,
belonging to a lady
who had a fling with Puca,
which actually didn't say Tortora,
but "Tortona,"
along with a phone number.
No corroboration, nothing.
Even better, it was only afterwards
that Pandico, after seeing the agenda,
confesses that Tortora is a Camorrista.
And then, after him, comes Barra.
And during his
18th prosecution interrogation.
And it's an avalanche
of confessions after that.
More repentants. Pure fiction even.
In fact, once the case has gone to trial,
not a single accusation of theirs,
not even a single modicum of evidence
managed to hold water.
But why did all of
or I'll say almost every single one
of the judges of the Court of Naples,
myself first of all, I'm included, too
completely believe them?
These criminals who blatantly,
evidently were lying,
without the smallest suspicion
about their repentance.
A judge is so used to the habitual
silence of a courtroom,
to the silent movie
that when you
you have a mass-murdering Camorrista,
without asking anything in return,
who just apparently confesses, speaks,
gives you names, recounts the facts
I mean, to a judge, it's almost like
It's miraculous.
I mean, come on.
A confession recorded and signed,
with a witness who implicates himself
with what he said?
Together with so many others.
Why the hell should we have
to look for any corroboration then?
What for?
But I already trust you.
It's almost an act of faith.
It's a liberation.
[scoffs]
So if Tortora is innocent,
he should get acquitted.
When you deliberate, will you say that?
SEPTEMBER 12, 1986
The closing arguments have concluded.
Then I suppose we're finished.
If the Public Prosecutor,
or counsels for civil parties,
or any defendants wish to speak,
they may do so now,
before we go into deliberation.
-I do.
-[camera shutter clicks]
You have the floor.
[court reporter]
Shall I put it on the record?
Yes. Yes, please do.
Don't challenge them.
You know judges'
pride in themselves is infinite.
No lectures, okay?
[chair scrapes]
[camera shutter clicks]
[microphone thuds]
Honorable Mr. Attorney General,
one thing among very many has wounded me
in the course of this last trial.
And it's the latest transformation
I've undergone,
thanks to what you recently said.
That I'm no longer
"a cynic merchant of death" anymore,
but a weak man
an imbecile
who was taken advantage of
because he was short on cash.
And, well, I would like to say
immediately to this Court
that should I have,
in a moment of weakness,
actually set out to deal kilos of drugs,
as has been stated
during these proceedings,
I would not be considering myself
merely to be a weak man,
but an actual criminal.
And precisely for that reason,
I'll say I'm not here to ask the court
for a reduction in my sentence.
If you find me guilty when you deliberate,
give me the 30 years.
I also saw, Mr. Attorney General,
that you went rummaging through the trash
to dig up a number
of 30-year-old tabloids.
It's true, yes,
that in an interview, I once said that
when we were boys back in '48,
if you can imagine
I and a few of my other friends
had amused ourselves by saying
we had seen the Madonna in a cave once.
It was a daring prank, I'll admit, sure.
But
I don't know if you recall
what being young was like.
I hope you do.
Yet from this incident,
you've drawn a distinct conclusion.
If he pretended
as if he'd seen the Madonna
with his friends when he was young,
Tortora is conclusively now
a monstrous liar for all time.
And with that, of course,
he can be a Camorrista,
a dark man of a million faces.
Now, Mr. Attorney General,
I believe there to be far less gravity
in having said you've seen
the Madonna at 18 as some little joke,
than to grant any credibility, as you do,
to Giovanni Pandico,
a schizophrenic and a murderer.
Or to Melluso,
a robber, a perpetrator,
an exploiter of prostitution.
Or to Barra,
a ferocious, brutal, multiple murderer.
And to portray these cruel men
like they're heroes.
[somber music playing]
Well, in this trial, I will dare to say
I was indeed not a defendant
who is here to be judged.
At certain moments,
and I say this with a shiver,
I had the feeling of being
an enemy to be crushed dead,
because this so-called
weak man you portrayed
from the very first day of all of this
dared to take a stand
and to proclaim his innocence.
Because again,
this weak man you've portrayed
has now evidently disrupted your ritual.
Because here, either one is irreducible,
or one is repentant.
However, that misses entirely
that one can be
irreducibly innocent as well.
Did I pay steeply enough
for this difference
in receiving a ten-year sentence
for associating with the Camorra
for narcotics?
I beg you, don't offend me again, please,
as if it were a kind of lèse-majesté.
Well, now, perhaps I should conclude
by saying to you,
I have faith in the process.
And I'll bounce
that question back instead.
If you stood here, would you have any?
[camera shutter clicks]
I tell you this, Your Honors,
I am entirely innocent!
I've shouted it for three years.
[bangs table]
The documents are shouting it,
as do all the facts that have emerged
from this very appeal trial.
I am entirely innocent!
And I hope in my heart,
in the most profound sense of the word,
that you can all say the same thing, too.
-Thank you.
-[applause]
[cheering and applause]
Well, he could have
spared you and I from that.
[applause and cheering continues]
[judge] This court is now adjourned.
Splendid.
[applause continues]
[camera shutters clicking]
The next person?
Tortora, Enzo Claudio Marcello.
All rise.
This court is now in session.
[camera shutters clicking]
SEPTEMBER 15, 1986
READING OF THE VERDIC
THE LAW
[camera shutters clicking]
[judge] In the name of the Italian people,
the Naples Court of Appeal,
Fifth Criminal Section
[broadcaster] Article 523
of the Code of Criminal Procedure,
overturning the judgment
of the Naples Tribunal of August 17, 1985,
appealed by the Public Prosecutor,
Attorney General, and the defendants,
who won't be named individually
for brevity acquits,
for not having committed the act.
Sanfilippo, Salvatore.
Oh! Wait, I got acquitted!
[judge] Melluso, Giovanni.
The court acquits the following
previously convicted defendants.
Andraus, Vincenzo. Covino, Mario.
Fallarino, Giovanni. Mandato, Gerardo.
Marzano, Nadia.
-[cries out]
-Tucci, Santo. Vaiano, Renato.
-Vallanzasca, Renato.
-[crying happily]
[judge] The appeal judgment is upheld.
The following defendants
are ordered to pay court costs.
Ascaria, Mario Roberto.
Della Rumma, Domenico.
Matano, Franco. Matrone, Tommaso.
Pandico, Giovanni.
At the ninth station was
the third time that you screwed us.
to acquit the following
of the crimes provided for
under Articles 416 and 416-bis
of the Penal Code,
because the act does not
constitute an offense.
Under Article 71 of Narcotics Law,
the Court acquits
the following defendants.
Salino, Aniello. Cozzolino, Riccardo.
Cozzolino, Simone. Marinielo, Anna.
Moccia, Luigi, and Tortora, Enzo Claudio.
-[cheering]
-This hearing is adjourned.
You're all Camorristi!
-Go fuck yourself, you little shit!
-Come on!
[journalist] Judge. Judge.
A comment on the verdict.
We convicted those who we needed to
and we acquitted those who we needed to.
This verdict is historic,
and it represents for us
what fair justice looks like.
[sobs in happiness]
[sobbing]
I trust in the omniscience of God,
despite the fallacy of human beings.
Yes, great satisfaction.
But the truth will always be the same.
Tortora is a Camorrista.
God sees you, right this moment.
He's watching us.
Hey, wait. Just wait. I want to say that--
And the State must defend us.
The State must help us.
It must not abandon us!
[all] Break a leg! Break a leg!
Break a leg! Break a leg!
Come here, I'm talking to you.
I want to make a statement.
Fucking assholes!
Italy has awakened! [laughs]
Yes! [laughs]
[camera shutters clicking]
[Giovanni] "Cry, noble innocents.
Better to be asleep, but honest.
Throughout this land, a furious wind
is destroying woods and forests.
And in the gray, threatening sky
there seems to gather a terrible tempest."
[snickering]
What are you laughing at?
No, no, no. I wasn't, uh
Who was that, Pascoli?
-Pandico.
-Oh.
Always a Giovanni.
Oh. Compliments to you.
Beautiful work.
Thank you.
A small gift for you.
But What are you doing?
No, no, no. That's not allowed.
Come on, please.
You seem like
a young man with intelligence.
-How old are you, boss? 25? 26?
When I was your age,
I had already been sent to jail.
To spend all that time inside a prison,
one has to have, or find, interests
and try to make friends.
Please, sir. You really can't
This is only prohibited if I were giving
it to you in exchange for something.
But I'm not asking for anything.
It's only an appreciation
of a fellow poetry lover.
That's all. Don't worry.
Take it however you like.
Don't be offended.
No, no, no. Uh, no, I'm I'm not.
Go on.
[door squeaking]
[lock clicking]
Help me. This guard is crooked!
My watch! He just extorted it.
I want to speak to the warden directly
this instant.
Hello! The guard down here is crooked.
Somebody, please call the warden.
Hey, get the warden!
[thrilling music playing]
[helicopter whirring]
[applause]
MILAN
FEBRUARY 20, 1987
[people cheering]
[cheers and applause continues]
Bravo!
All right, all right.
[applause stops]
Now, where did we leave off
on this broadcast?
Well, I could say
a great many things,
and I will only say very few.
You'll allow me to say one thing.
Many out there
have lived alongside me.
They've suffered this hardship with me.
They've endured these terrible, sad years.
And many of them gave me
whatever they were able to.
For example, their prayers
for me. And I assure you,
that's something I'll never forget.
Now allow me, dear audience,
to say thank you to these kind,
good-hearted Italians
who've so strongly stood with me.
There, I've said what I need to.
And I will add one thing on top.
I am here today
I know it
also to speak on behalf of all those who
are unable to make their own voices heard.
And there are many out there.
Far too great to number.
I am here today
and I'll continue to be here,
to stand up for all of them.
And now
now that we're all together once more,
let's begin, first and foremost,
exactly how we used to, once upon a time.
[all clapping]
[helicopter whirring]
[patriotic music playing]
And here he is at last!
To the notes of
the "Triumphal March" from Aida!
Welcome, welcome, welcome.
A warm welcome, Comandante, to Portobello.
He's striding up onto the stage
at the speedy pace.
Perhaps some of you have already guessed
who we have here for you tonight.
It's none other than our Portobello.
[audience clapping]
The symbol of our wonderful show.
So then, Portobello,
would you like to come out?
Here he is. Look at that. Here he is.
At last, Portobello has regained
his rightful position.
[clapping continues]
We'd really like to get started,
and I would like to begin tonight
with the welcoming of a guest
that I greatly care about.
A wonderful young lady.
When I had met her in the past,
I could ascertain within her eyes
a deep and profound hurt.
I would like for you all to greet her
with a great round of applause.
Ladies and gentlemen,
-Aurora!
-[audience applauding]
Even her name indicates a new beginning.
It's a beautiful, great omen.
And from tonight on,
we'll be having her as a regular guest.
She will be known
as "the mysterious girl who cries."
I present to you
[somber music playing]
Enzo, I'm speechless.
Just give me a moment
and then we'll celebrate.
-Enzo.
-Let's give him some time.
Enzo, you made me cry. Thanks.
[somber music continues]
[doorknob clicks]
[somber music continues]
[sighs deeply]
[door opens]
Aren't you going to ask me how you did?
[Enzo sighs]
How was I?
Beyond incredible.
A great success, Enzo.
[chuckles softly]
Anna, this really will be the last season.
I just can't do this show
anymore, I'm afraid.
Just please wait.
My mind is made up.
And I already know how to end it.
What are you saying?
It's nothing tragic.
A switch-up.
[melancholy music playing]
[Enzo sighs]
Enzo, everything is ready.
Okay, I'll be out.
-[Silvia] Dad?
-[Gaia] Are you coming?
I'll be out in a few.
[melancholy music continues]
[sighs deeply]
That's how it went.
I can't play anymore.
[melancholy music continues]
We're coming.
[people cheering, clapping]
[people whooping]
[melancholy music continues]
[in Italian] I'm sorry
to interrupt the bow,
but I hope the camera will frame us.
We have arrived just now
with children representing
all parts of the world.
JUNE 26, 1987
FINAL EPISODE OF PORTOBELLO
A light drizzle that, fortunately,
is becoming more and more sparse,
an affectionate audience that this evening
has gathered around
the cameras of Portobello.
A warm embrace to the people of Milan who,
with such affection
[female presenter]
No, let's keep the camel here instead,
because that way we can
brought us for
this farewell evening their animals
[female presenter] Yes, up there.
Uh, but let's wait for him to arrive.
Their animals big and small and,
here, in this
unusual atmosphere, at the foot,
at the steps of the ark
We were waiting for you
to bring the camel into the ark.
Well. Let's bring the camel in first.
Slowly.
I believe I should thank so many people
that I would extend this broadcast
beyond what's reasonable.
THE ARK OF PORTOBELLO
But the immense audience that
has followed this show for years
deserves our thanks.
Thanks to Anna, my sister,
and to Angelo Citterio,
who were the authors
of this singular Friday appointment.
Thanks to Gigliola Barbieri, to Rete Due,
to everyone who, with their hard work,
Friday after Friday,
built this story, a story of people,
a story of human beings.
["Jesahel" by Delirium playing in Italian]
ENZO TORTORA WILL DIE 11 MONTHS LATER.
AT 59 YEARS OLD.
The End
Any references to real persons or events
are fictionalized for dramatic purposes.
All characters, institutions,
and entities are freely reinterpreted.
Any resemblance to persons,
living or dead,
who are not explicitly identified
is purely coincidental.
[dramatic music playing]
MILAN
DECEMBER 29, 1985
[motor revving]
The justice system in this country
is twisted with corruption
and fundamentally broken,
and now we are standing up
to change the system!
FOR A CHANGE, VOTE FOR THE RADICALS
We want fair justice in this country!
[crowd cheering]
[chanting] We want fair justice!
We want fair justice!
Worthy of a state
governed by the rule of law,
of a country that is
civilized and democratic.
[crowd cheering]
[crowd chanting] We want fair justice!
We want fair justice!
We want fair justice!
We want fair justice!
We want fair justice!
Enzo has stayed true to what he said.
He did not let us down.
He did not run away.
He promised he would turn himself in
to the authorities, and he did it!
He truly is a genuine Radical fighter.
He had every possible opportunity to flee
and go abroad
after his despicable sentence,
-for his own self-defense.
-[crowd chants] Enzo!
No one could have blamed him,
and he still refused to.
VOTE RADICAL PARTY
And he'll wait with confidence
right here in Milan,
where he is under house arrest
during the process of appeal.
[crowd cheering]
[crowd chants] Enzo! Enzo! Enzo! Enzo!
Enzo! Enzo!
Enzo! Enzo! Enzo!
My dear friends, I will be very brief.
As I'm sure you've heard,
I've resigned from my position
as a member of the European Parliament
over these recent weeks,
renouncing all of my immunity.
And I've done so
to initiate the transformation
to a better Italy, of serious Italians,
serious enough to say what they do
and do what they say.
Italy today is full
of those who are blind,
who claim that they can see
even though they cannot.
However, in my case,
as I'm always hearing from Marco,
they never wanted to see the reality.
They were all afraid
that solely recognizing me as
an honest man who is innocent
would fundamentally
undermine their integrity,
and the credibility of that grand blitz
of theirs against the Camorra,
paralyzed by knowing they made a mistake!
And it's not possible
for a judge to have made a mistake
and simply to admit it. But I
POLICE
as a man who is guilty
only of being innocent,
I am not afraid.
And I will challenge them,
in handing myself over once more
as a gesture of goodwill,
to the constituted authorities.
[crowd cheering]
[crowd chants] Enzo! Enzo! Enzo! Enzo!
Enzo! Enzo! Enzo! Enzo!
[overlapping chatter]
-See you in a bit?
-Yeah.
Do I have to put the cuffs on?
No, Minister, that isn't necessary.
[crowd chants] Enzo! Enzo! Enzo! Enzo!
[engine revving]
[chanting continues]
Enzo! Enzo! Enzo! Enzo!
[intense music playing]
[helicopter whirring]
[siren blaring]
[broadcaster in Russian]
[broadcaster continues in Russian]
[siren continues blaring]
[intense music continues]
[helicopter whirring]
NEWS BROADCAS
EPISODE SIX
[news anchor in Italian]
The incident that occurred
at the Soviet nuclear power plant
of Chernobyl in Ukraine is taking
on increasingly serious proportions.
USSR: A DISASTER OF GREAT PROPORTIONS
Precise information about
the disaster is lacking,
which may have caused numerous victims,
and TASS says two people were killed.
MOSCOW ASKS SWEDEN AND GERMANY FOR HELP
There are concerns about the radioactive
cloud moving over northern Europe.
The foreign and defense ministers
of the seven countries
of the Western European Union
are meeting in Venice.
Disarmament and international terrorism
are the main issues
at the center of the debate.
The wave of bad weather is easing
APRIL 29, 1986
as an initial assessment
of the damage is attempted.
[in English] Not a single word
about our progress with the appeal.
[sighs heavily]
Well, my love, why don't we acknowledge
the trial of Tortora is not news?
People aren't interested, you know?
And here I, as of today,
continue to be an Italian citizen
who was sentenced
to ten years' incarceration
as well as a 50-million-lira penalty,
and disqualification
in perpetuity from public office.
[Francesca clears throat]
It'll always be there.
[scoffs] What's that?
My conviction.
[seagull squawks]
[distant vocalizing]
[man singing in Neapolitan]
[guitar and ukulele playing]
[singing continues]
[man vocalizing]
[in English] There's Marmo.
[guests applauding]
-Good morning, you two.
-[Morello's wife] Good morning.
-How have you been, Michè?
-[Morello] Good.
-Happy Sunday.
-[Morello] How are you?
-Hello, happy Sunday.
-And those must be the kids?
So, they assigned you to Tortora?
Yeah.
Have you looked at it yet?
Surely, you've had a look
over the archives already.
I still haven't had time
to look at anything.
I was just assigned to it yesterday.
They're having the trial
the same time as the World Cup.
I hope you finish it up before
it's an appeal, good God!
If they still have us on it.
The defense for Tortora has asked
to have the appeal trial
moved up to Milan.
They say they have doubts
about the territorial jurisdiction.
The truth, I think, is that
they don't have faith in us.
It's just a desperate tactic
that won't lead to anything.
Nobody can take this trial away from you.
[laughs]
And what do you think?
Well, I'll study all the documents.
We must be totally unassailable.
Michè, the Radicals
wanted me in the ground.
They wanted to give me a security escort.
The situation really blew up.
I'm telling you
so you know what you're in for.
But now, it appears to me that things
have calmed down for everybody, right?
How fortunate.
I wish you good luck.
Have a good lunch, and a wonderful Sunday.
-[Morello] Happy Sunday.
-See ya. See ya.
[Morello] Enjoy your lunch.
[guitar and ukulele playing joyful music]
[guests chattering]
MICHELE MORELLO
JUDGE
[solemn music playing]
NAPLES
CASTEL CAPUANO
JUDICIAL ARCHIVES
A cat.
For the mice.
[solemn music continues]
[court reporter] Here, this is all
the material from the trial.
[Morello] Mm-hm.
How is it organized?
How is it organized?
By state's witness.
Everything said by Barra,
everything said by Pandico
everything said by Melluso,
Imperatrice,
Sanfilippo
Villa, et cetera, et cetera.
There's a lot of state's witnesses.
[heavy thud]
Is there some kind of chronology
to the testimonies here?
Not that I'm aware of, no.
We need to create it.
Your Honor, do you really want
to put all this stuff in order?
Help me start. Come on.
Little by little.
"Little by little." [sighs]
[solemn music playing]
INTERROGATIONS
PASTRENGO POLICE STATION
[horns honking]
[intercom buzzes]
[police officer] Who is it?
This is Judge Morello.
[gate creaking]
NAPLES
PASTRENGO POLICE STATION
[police officer] Good evening, Your Honor.
Good evening.
And this is where we kept
the state's witnesses and disassociates.
All in their own cells?
All in their own,
except for one cell that held four.
[Morello] Hm.
There were a lot of state's witnesses,
it was a constant flow.
We, along with the judges,
were unprepared, uh
It was certainly something new.
These were major criminals,
mass murderers.
[Morello] I'd like to understand.
Were they able to speak to one another?
[guard sighs]
Look, this is just a police station,
not a prison, Your Honor.
It was adapted to become
one temporarily, purely out of necessity.
And which cell was Pandico's?
This one here.
Were the cells open all the time?
Usually, during the day, yes.
This here would be the television room.
If there was a Napoli match on TV,
they watched it together
with the Carabinieri.
Or something else
like the Sanremo Festival,
Christmas midnight mass,
the Blood of San Gennaro
They were cooperating witnesses,
so they cooperated.
They had to be treated well.
Also because
there weren't established benefits,
or sentence reductions back in those days,
but we could pull
some small favors, certainly.
They were looking
to be protected, feel reassured.
There was an occasion before a witness
confrontation, where one of them,
the one who killed the famous, uh
the gangster Turatello
Pasquale Barra.
He'd made a request for,
then actually obtained, champagne.
[chuckles] Come on, come on, follow me.
This here is the exact same room
where Tortora was brought in
on a stretcher from the ambulance in 1984,
specifically that February.
[Morello] All right.
It was right here.
[Morello] Right.
But you were telling me
about lunches and champagne.
The state witnesses we held
wanted to eat very well.
So the commander called in to the Ministry
to tell them there was
no money left in the budget
to satisfy
these witnesses' comforts in here.
And Di Pietro decided
to pay out of his own pocket,
advancing the money.
And later on, once the investigation
had reached its conclusion,
he requested the Ministry to reimburse him
the amount he had advanced
towards the station's budget. [chuckles]
To which, of course
they responded with, "Beat it!"
They said he had
no authorization to do it.
Italy's always been the same.
Those who give, give,
those who take, take.
But there was this sort of miracle.
For the first time ever,
the Camorristi were talking to us,
a lot of them.
Because of that, we were authorized
to have sort of an easygoing
approach to everything, more relaxed.
But in in theory,
and, well, also in practice,
all of these so-called
repentants and disassociates
would have been able to coordinate
to agree on a version
to give to the judges,
to line their stories up.
That I don't know.
What I'm able to say is
they were given a certain liberty.
"Liberty."
I mean, all that was missing
was allowing them to ask
to go out for a gelato,
or, or maybe to go outside to let them get
a little breath of fresh air
as long as
they didn't go too far, of course.
If they were comfortable in here,
we noticed they spoke more willingly.
There's a humanity to it, right?
That was the goal.
[keyboard clacking]
May I?
Morello's not here?
No, uh, the Counselor works from home.
[keyboard continues clacking]
[soft tense music playing]
What's this?
The chronology of the interrogations
of the state's witnesses.
What they said, when, and where.
But what's that for, sorry?
The appeal.
The Counselor wants
everything done from scratch.
The "Trial" of Cirillo in a RB Video
Depositions, witness confrontations,
testimonies All of it.
Jun. 29, 1983 - DOMENICO BARBARO
clears ENZO TORTORA
Mar. 6, 1984 - Interrogation
MICHELANGELO D'AGOSTINO
[court reporter] We're back
to square one now.
MAR. 9, 1984
CONFRONTATION TORTORA - MELLUSO
In the courtroom, at the trial?
Yeah.
[soft tense music continues]
[Marmo gasps]
No, we already did all of this.
It's irregular, it's irregular.
This can't be done.
Your Honor, I'm a court clerk.
A clerk doesn't hold much influence.
[soft tense music continues]
JUNE 10, 1986
APPEAL TRIAL
PANDICO - BARBARO CONFRONTATION
All right, Mr. Barbaro,
the currently present Giovanni Pandico
has stated that
he served as an intermediary
between you and Enzo Tortora
during the time
when you were both incarcerated together
for negotiating the shipment of narcotics.
But what narcotics, Your Honor?
The famous doilies.
The ones that, again speaking in reference
to the testimony of Mr. Pandico,
would have corresponded to the number
of drug shipments to Tortora.
No, that's completely false, Your Honor.
Sorry, Your Honor, uh
they're photographing in their cells,
Nadia Marzano and Renato Vallanzasca.
As far as I'm aware, that's prohibited.
Let's eject that photographer.
Continue.
Well, Judge, it's just simply a lie.
This gentleman, Your Honor,
speaks lies knowing he's speaking a lie.
He is falsehood personified.
No, I'm telling the truth.
It's he who keeps lying.
And not out of malice or anything,
but more so because
[inhales] he's mental.
You know I sewed every one
of those doilies, I made them by hand.
In fact, I did it right
in front of you, one by one,
because you were obsessed with Tortora.
Judge, I'll just say that he hated him.
Uh, that is to say that
he coveted the guy.
Uh, excuse me, Mr. Barbaro,
what do you mean by "he covered"?
"Coveted."
Phenomenal,
can you explain that to the judge?
Yeah, he, uh
He envied him. He, uh
He was jealous of the guy.
It was like he was a friend one day,
and an enemy the next.
He told me they communicate
just by thinking through
telepathy and all those kooky things
he would always say.
He said even 1,000 kilometers away,
they could feel each other, I mean,
all those kind of things, just weird.
I understand.
But now, Barbaro,
did you, in all actuality,
uh, send the doilies
to Mr. Tortora or not?
Of course I did. Yeah, by mail.
And Tortora wrote me back as well.
Someone invented this whole story
saying that I had committed
some kind of extortion,
but RAI reimbursed me for it.
Yeah, and you guys have
the receipt for all of that.
But it's obvious here, Honorable Judge,
they were only trying
to maintain appearances.
But underneath the the appearances
lies a completely different truth,
which for the hundred-millionth time,
I will say again.
You delivered several shipments
of narcotics to Enzo Tortora!
And when? When did I do it?
When could I have done it?
I'm not even a Camorrista, you joker!
And when? When? In that period there,
the '70s, '80s, same as I said.
[hesitates] It's a total falsehood.
Of course it's a falsehood.
During that period,
the defendant was incarcerated.
In fact, we'd very much
like Mr. Barbaro to say
during which period he was
under detention in Porto Azzurro.
I object to that.
The attorney is clearly attempting
ARMANDO OLIVARES
ATTORNEY GENERAL
to influence the witness's testimony.
Come on. What's that have to do with this?
We need to look at substance,
not the given form of the law.
At the very human truth
of this painful affair.
All this useless chatter.
Thank you very much
for the lesson, Professor.
[judge] The witness
may continue, thank you.
I-I was under detention in Porto Azzurro
from back in '72 until '81. You can check.
Come on. How could I have delivered drugs
since, since I was incarcerated?
I'm sorry, Your Honor,
but I wasn't delivering nothing to no one.
Let that be submitted
into the record, please.
Oh, bravo, Mr. Counsel.
It's because in law school they learned
court reporters throw stuff out
after writing it down. The incompetence!
You handled the deliveries to Tortora
when you had your leaves from prison.
I got escorted by security guards
during prison leaves.
How could I do that? No way.
You're a bald-faced liar.
This one's capable
of anything, Your Honor.
-He's completely conjoined.
-You know you're a liar.
Inseparable from lies.
He can't stop lying,
while I have embraced the real truth
for the public good, for justice.
Domè, you're sitting here,
but you're not there.
You don't exist.
Buddy, you're mental.
I mean, do you hear this guy?
What are you talking about? I-I
-So now I'm not here?
-Your being doesn't exist anymore.
Your being has disappeared.
What are you saying? I'm right here.
-You're a basket case. You're a liar!
-You're disappeared.
-You're a crazy liar!
-You're not here anymore.
You hear me? You're not here anymore.
You need help, man.
Did you hear this guy?
[Giovanni] You've got 30 seconds left.
[snapping fingers]
[solemn music playing]
PENITENTIARY PRISON
EVALUATION
DIAGNOSIS:
In light of the clinical evaluation
and the tests administered
the subject presents a condition
compatible with Schizophrenia
with mythomaniac traits
and persecutory delusions
Delusional ideation, pathological mistrust
impairment of reality judgment
Schizophrenia
convictions of
Paranoia:
plots and
Mythomania:
verifiable, reality.
[patron]
But there's nothing written on here
LIVERI
JUNE 19, 1970
saying that my son
can't receive disability.
[worker] Ma'am, respectfully,
your son is 30 years old.
He has to work.
[patron] But he's not well.
[worker] What
What's wrong with him, ma'am?
-What does he have?
-In the morning, he doesn't have--
For the sake of politeness and democracy,
after 15 minutes,
one should move on to the next.
Excuse me, ma'am, please.
-Be patient.
-[worker] Fill out this form.
What is it?
Pandico, Giovanni.
TOWN HALL OF LIVERI
BIRTH CERTIFICATE
I need a new copy of my birth certificate,
if you could help me with that.
But you have the certificate
right in your hand.
Why do you think you need
to get another one?
Well, this one's got an ear.
It's creased right here.
So, how long for the replacement?
-[scoffs]
-[patron 2] Jesus, is this guy serious?
[patron 1] But I was here first,
young man.
Next person, please.
The incompetence, the carelessness.
[sighs]
This nonchalant bored arrogance.
It's the boredom I can't grapple with.
-[glass shatters]
-[loud screaming]
[gunshots]
[frantic clamoring]
[guard grunts]
[patron yelling]
[solemn music continues]
Mrs. Marzano, you requested
the Court hear you again.
What do you want to tell us?
Yes. Well, I, um
would like to say all the things
I wasn't able to say in the prior trial.
Why couldn't you say those things?
Have you just suddenly recalled them?
I was afraid,
and I pretended to be a basket case.
[chuckles softly]
It always works for me.
No one really understands madness.
No! Come on.
But you actually are mentally insane!
-Silence now!
-[Barra] Please, Your Honor, if I may.
But this lady is truly psychopathic.
[judge] Barra, I said silence!
And, and excuse me, she should be
-locked up in an asylum.
-[judge] Barra! Be quiet!
Seriously, in an asylum!
Do you hear me?
-And what the hell's all this?
-[judge] Silence, Barra!
And who or what exactly
were you afraid of?
[breathes deeply]
Pasquale Barra threatened me
not to do anything to contradict him.
That I would have to say everything
just the way he instructed.
That he would kill me otherwise.
Killing for him is like a joke.
One murder more, one murder less.
[breathes heavily]
You know, for him, murdering someone
is like crushing a cockroach
with your shoe.
The black ones, Your Honor, specifically.
[judge] Pandico, do not interrupt.
And besides, what do you mean?
Cockroaches are all black.
No, I'm just saying,
so as not to confuse it with the beetle.
I've just read "The Gold Bug"
by the author Edgar Allan Poe,
-a very particular piece of literature--
-No, Pandico, enough!
Of course, Your Honor. As you wish.
Hey, big guy.
It's a beautiful story.
I recommend it to you.
[judge] So, Mrs. Marzano.
So I'd like to say that
Enzo Tortora was never
affiliated at my house.
In 1978,
I was in Madesimo with my son,
who wasn't even a year old yet.
And there's a rental contract
I have on file
that shows I began renting
the Milan apartment in 1979.
The apartment wasn't ready before that.
It was uninhabitable, that's all.
So you're saying no initiation ritual
ever actually occurred.
No, not in my home.
Court clerk,
did you put that on the record?
Counsel,
you're obsessed with the notion that
the clerk isn't writing everything.
We are,
because throughout the prior trial,
it was a common occurrence.
Under the pretense that the woman
was in a state of confusion at the time.
Yet another lesson from the professors.
Well, madam, in complete lucidity,
do you confirm what you've said today?
Yes, I confirm everything.
Thank you, you may go.
[Nadia clears throat]
[NCO member] Don't worry,
you did the right thing.
[Renato] Come on, girl. Don't worry.
Don't be afraid.
It went well, sweetheart.
She's nuts.
Fucking traitor.
How's your son?
All grown up?
He a looker like you?
Bravo, Nadia.
[suspenseful music playing]
Well, look, Your Honor, at this point,
it's pretty clear to me
how things are going to end here.
Instead of the defendants
being the ones on trial,
the state's witnesses are on trial.
Now you, for instance,
have heard of a lot of people
who, uh, decided to back off,
or change their version
in favor of Enzo Tortora.
And do you know why they did it?
Because they're afraid.
They tried making me do the same.
They told me to take back
all the accusations against Tortora.
But despite all the pressure
I have on me, Your Honor,
I am still here, and I confirm again
everything that I've already told you.
Like the fact that Enzo Tortora
worked for my boss, Francis Turatello.
I'll repeat it all from the beginning.
Not much left for me to lose,
so here it is.
-He's one of the realest men here.
-[Barra] Come on, Gianni.
-Tell them all over again.
-[loud clamoring]
[judge] Hey, silence in the cells!
-[clamoring continues]
-Silence now!
Melluso is a hero!
Come on, show a little respect to him!
Order in the court!
A hero who can't even read.
The defendant Vallanzasca has requested
a direct confrontation with you.
Do you accept the confrontation?
[Melluso] Well, as you wish, Your Honor.
But I don't know what he wants with me,
this Vallanzasca.
To prove you're lying, Melluso.
I'm not afraid of him, Your Honor.
Then bring in Vallanzasca.
Now let's hear how a multiple murderer,
bank robber, and kidnapper
wants to clear my name,
and let's try to figure out why.
Let's see what happens.
Never know what you're gonna get.
You piece of shit!
I'll kill you, you smug asshole!
And that's not just a promise.
You understand?
I'll really kill you.
Do you hear me? Renatino!
Piece of shit! Go fuck yourself.
[NCO member 1] You're a son of a bitch.
You're not ashamed to be stuck in this
cell with four Camorristi bastards?
[Villa] Go strut your stuff
somewhere else, asshole. Get out of here.
[NCO member 2]
You're good for nothing, man.
Renato, come on, think of your mother.
You mind your own fucking business.
What beautiful, bright blue eyes you have.
[NCO member 1]
You're a fucking sewer-dweller.
Or are they sky blue?
You can't really tell.
[NCO member 2]
Oh, how good looking you are, Renato!
You look like a French prince.
[NCO member 3] You're full
of shit, pretty boy. You're too handsome.
[NCO member 1]
No good, lying son of a bitch!
What just happened, Mr. Vallanzasca?
Oh, that was nothing.
It was just a friendly talk.
All right, talk to us then.
So, first of all, I want to say, I have
nothing to do with the Camorra.
They dragged me into it.
Like this gentleman right here.
He lumps me in first with the NCO,
then he says,
"I got the drugs from Turatello
to give Tortora to push."
It's all false. Because Melluso,
to Turatello, was a complete nobody.
No way! You're a bullshit artist.
Come on, guy.
There's a photo of the two of them.
[judge] Order in the court!
Silence, right now!
[clamoring continues, then fades]
Gianni.
Renato.
Now tell me
when you allegedly met Turatello.
I can't recall, precisely,
to be honest with you.
"I can't recall."
I didn't ask for a specific day.
Then I'm still not sure.
And don't do the same as Tortora,
who wanted to know the color of the socks,
the tie, the shoes
I mean, how should I know?
Hey, Gianni. Don't try and fuck
around with me, all right?
Don't be an idiot
and think I'm like Tortora,
because I'm not like Tortora. Got it?
Do you understand I'll hand your ass
to you in front of all these people?
Mr. Vallanzasca, mind your language.
This isn't a bordello.
Gianni.
You handled drugs in Milan?
You've never even
sniffed drugs over there.
In Milan, the most you could do
was steal a couple of chickens,
snatch purses from old ladies,
keep those four girls
you dragged around on a leash,
and throw them out on the corner
on the outskirts of the city
That's what you were doing,
'cause you're a pimp. Come on.
"The handsome one."
Gianni cha-cha-cha.
-That's you.
-What do you want from me, Renato?
Please wait, Your Honor.
Turatello had a tattoo.
What do you mean, "tattoo"?
It was on his left hand.
What exactly was this tattoo of?
Ah, so that's the card?
The ace for Vallanzasca? Really? A tattoo?
[Renato] A tattoo.
What was the tattoo, Gianni?
Don't you remember?
Look, I'll even fucking help you.
It was an animal.
An animal tattoo
which he had gotten in jail as a kid.
What's the point here?
Come on, what the hell?
[Renato] The point, Gianni,
what was the tattoo of?
And let me respond!
The whole thing is pointless
if you keep talking over me.
Because this entire tattoo thing,
this much I can tell you,
you didn't know about--
What was the tattoo, Gianni? Say it!
Stop wasting my time here, asshole!
Now, what was it? I asked you a question.
What was the tattoo of?
So look, Your Honor,
as far as this tattoo goes,
I never paid attention to it.
And, in fact, let the record reflect that,
as far as I'm concerned,
I never even saw this tattoo.
All right, thank you.
Your Honor, that's it.
[scoffs] A tattoo
that was this big on his left hand,
and he somehow never saw it.
You want to know why you never saw it?
Because Turatello kept people
like you at arm's length.
You and Turatello?
He'd never talk to someone like you.
Come on, Renato.
-Lies.
-[Renato] Gianni, Gianni.
Careful, I'm losing my patience here, huh?
Your Honor, sir, Turatello had a lady.
Who was Turatello's lady, Gianni?
Know what her name was?
What was she like?
A blonde, brunette, short, tall?
What was she like?
You said you knew him well, right?
Tell me what she was like.
The truth is that you don't know fuck all.
I get you. Now I understand.
You're doing this charade
out of defense for Tortora.
The fuck do I care about Tortora, Gianni?
What would I get out of that?
Yeah, yeah.
You're just doing this because
because of your own morality.
-It's some kind of personal crusade.
-Gianni
-Honorable Judge.
-[judge] Yes. Go ahead.
Gianni Melluso has stated that
standing in defense of Tortora
is, in fact, a moral act, a moral issue.
A matter of principle.
The principle of justice, Your Honor.
He admitted it voluntarily.
It is a confession, Your Honor,
a veritable truth.
Thank you, Melluso,
for your accidental divulgence.
Is that what I said?
Renato Vallanzasca,
for his own love of the truth,
couldn't bear to watch an innocent man
return to incarceration.
And as such, testified
against the false accuser
and revealed his lies in a public court
disqualifying the accuser.
But didn't he say, just then, that
he couldn't care less about Tortora?
Literally not a damn thing. You heard it.
I have no comment, Your Honor.
[Melluso] Your Honor, but
But he didn't even know Turatello either.
Come on.
You really are stupid, Gianni.
Your Honor, my dear sir,
the thesis of the defense
ATTORNEY GENERAL'S REQUISITION
is that Pandico is mentally ill
and, therefore, completely unreliable.
A madman may be unreliable,
however, he is not unpunishable.
Pandico never tried
to take an escape route.
He instead declared himself an accessory.
With his confessions,
he worsened his own legal position.
Pandico never once sought to fall back
on the excuses of madness.
But even so [chuckles]
even if he were a crazy person
a state of madness
madness itself is not a stigma,
a permanent state.
Madness changes shape.
It's a mutable thing.
And we must admit that every one of us
possesses some degree of madness,
which fortunately, we are able to control.
That distinction is the difference here.
One could say Pandico was mad,
and perhaps once that was true,
but today we must acknowledge
that he's a changed man now.
He is lucid and he never ever
contradicts himself. Never!
Those who lie, sooner or later
get caught in contradiction.
Giovanni Pandico has never, ever
contradicted himself.
Paranoid?
You couldn't count
all the paranoid geniuses in history.
[Giovanni] Exactly.
That's precisely the case. The same as
[microphone thuds]
The same as Torquato Tasso,
who I'd invite everyone here to read.
Or the legendary, great Neapolitan
sculptor Vincenzo Gemito,
who voluntarily had himself
committed to an asylum.
In summary, I'll say all the great artists
and, additionally, even maybe you,
Mr. Attorney General,
are a little paranoid.
No. Well, yes, of course.
Sure. I'll put my
I'll even include myself, too.
Pandico, do not interrupt
the Attorney General.
I apologize sincerely, Your Honor.
I simply just couldn't contain it.
And Melluso?
Now, insanity doesn't apply there.
Either you believe,
or you don't believe Melluso.
-That's right.
-[Armando] And the fact that he didn't
recall certain details
about the meetings with Tortora,
or about the private life of Turatello,
well, gives more weight to his words.
Because if he'd made it all up,
he would have prepared better.
Don't you think? All those particular
details juries like so much.
And judges, too.
In addition, seven state's witnesses
confirm each and every one
of his declarations.
Your Honor, members of the Court,
Enzo Tortora is not a cynic
merchant of death as described before,
which is the novel distinction
that I wish to introduce here today.
He is merely collateral to the Camorra.
I recognize mitigating factors
for him, importantly.
However, Enzo Tortora is,
don't be offended,
in all manners, a total liar.
It's a part of who he is.
Lying is integral to his nature.
Enzo Tortora is the same boy who,
during his summer vacation
in Valmalenco, invented a story
where he saw the Madonna
to be able to extend his vacation!
Demonstrating [chuckles]
well, an imagination
as well as a completely audacious
sense of determination
that I'll say I can still clearly
recognize in the Tortora of today.
After all, lying for him was a necessity
to be able to continue
conserving his celebrity,
which, of course, he certainly built,
with great effort indeed,
and additionally it was a core necessity
to be able to sustain his essential role
in a day-to-day basis
in order to play his part.
It was necessary for him
to chemically continue sustaining it.
And for this reason I consider him
more of a consumer,
however, perhaps a user of great degree.
Like, for instance, uh, here. Here.
"He was like a vacuum with the stuff."
I mean, it's written
right here in the testimony.
But not as a drug trafficker.
Conclude if you want.
Now, my request today, therefore,
is not directed
in the pursuit of acquittal,
because to acquit Tortora
would mean not trusting
in Pandico, Melluso, Barra.
With that
to additionally find innocent and
acquit every defendant. Your Honor,
you either acquit everyone, or no one.
The law is the law.
It's the same for everyone.
You have no choice in that.
[applause]
[Barra] Bravo!
Bravo, Your Honor! Way to go!
[applause continues]
Bravo, bravo!
[news anchor on TV in Italian]
Despite ministerial assurances
-[in English] Hi.
-Hi.
[in Italian] many consumers still
distrust lettuce, chard, and spinach.
-[in English] Hi, Tullio.
-Hello.
[news anchor in Italian] One figure says
it all. In Modena, one week ago,
consumption of broad-leaf vegetables
was 70% lower than normal.
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant houses
four reactors of
1,000 electrical megawatts each,
grouped into two buildings,
each containing two large reactors.
[mumbling softly]
[in English] It really doesn't annoy you?
No.
[TV continues indistinctly]
How's it going?
We finished the trial.
Now it's our turn.
And?
Tortora is innocent.
[scoffs] Sorry. Wasn't he a Camorrista?
Barra turns witness
and doesn't implicate Tortora.
Pandico turns witness
and he doesn't implicate Tortora.
It's only after the prosecutors show him
an agenda with Tortora's name in it,
belonging to a lady
who had a fling with Puca,
which actually didn't say Tortora,
but "Tortona,"
along with a phone number.
No corroboration, nothing.
Even better, it was only afterwards
that Pandico, after seeing the agenda,
confesses that Tortora is a Camorrista.
And then, after him, comes Barra.
And during his
18th prosecution interrogation.
And it's an avalanche
of confessions after that.
More repentants. Pure fiction even.
In fact, once the case has gone to trial,
not a single accusation of theirs,
not even a single modicum of evidence
managed to hold water.
But why did all of
or I'll say almost every single one
of the judges of the Court of Naples,
myself first of all, I'm included, too
completely believe them?
These criminals who blatantly,
evidently were lying,
without the smallest suspicion
about their repentance.
A judge is so used to the habitual
silence of a courtroom,
to the silent movie
that when you
you have a mass-murdering Camorrista,
without asking anything in return,
who just apparently confesses, speaks,
gives you names, recounts the facts
I mean, to a judge, it's almost like
It's miraculous.
I mean, come on.
A confession recorded and signed,
with a witness who implicates himself
with what he said?
Together with so many others.
Why the hell should we have
to look for any corroboration then?
What for?
But I already trust you.
It's almost an act of faith.
It's a liberation.
[scoffs]
So if Tortora is innocent,
he should get acquitted.
When you deliberate, will you say that?
SEPTEMBER 12, 1986
The closing arguments have concluded.
Then I suppose we're finished.
If the Public Prosecutor,
or counsels for civil parties,
or any defendants wish to speak,
they may do so now,
before we go into deliberation.
-I do.
-[camera shutter clicks]
You have the floor.
[court reporter]
Shall I put it on the record?
Yes. Yes, please do.
Don't challenge them.
You know judges'
pride in themselves is infinite.
No lectures, okay?
[chair scrapes]
[camera shutter clicks]
[microphone thuds]
Honorable Mr. Attorney General,
one thing among very many has wounded me
in the course of this last trial.
And it's the latest transformation
I've undergone,
thanks to what you recently said.
That I'm no longer
"a cynic merchant of death" anymore,
but a weak man
an imbecile
who was taken advantage of
because he was short on cash.
And, well, I would like to say
immediately to this Court
that should I have,
in a moment of weakness,
actually set out to deal kilos of drugs,
as has been stated
during these proceedings,
I would not be considering myself
merely to be a weak man,
but an actual criminal.
And precisely for that reason,
I'll say I'm not here to ask the court
for a reduction in my sentence.
If you find me guilty when you deliberate,
give me the 30 years.
I also saw, Mr. Attorney General,
that you went rummaging through the trash
to dig up a number
of 30-year-old tabloids.
It's true, yes,
that in an interview, I once said that
when we were boys back in '48,
if you can imagine
I and a few of my other friends
had amused ourselves by saying
we had seen the Madonna in a cave once.
It was a daring prank, I'll admit, sure.
But
I don't know if you recall
what being young was like.
I hope you do.
Yet from this incident,
you've drawn a distinct conclusion.
If he pretended
as if he'd seen the Madonna
with his friends when he was young,
Tortora is conclusively now
a monstrous liar for all time.
And with that, of course,
he can be a Camorrista,
a dark man of a million faces.
Now, Mr. Attorney General,
I believe there to be far less gravity
in having said you've seen
the Madonna at 18 as some little joke,
than to grant any credibility, as you do,
to Giovanni Pandico,
a schizophrenic and a murderer.
Or to Melluso,
a robber, a perpetrator,
an exploiter of prostitution.
Or to Barra,
a ferocious, brutal, multiple murderer.
And to portray these cruel men
like they're heroes.
[somber music playing]
Well, in this trial, I will dare to say
I was indeed not a defendant
who is here to be judged.
At certain moments,
and I say this with a shiver,
I had the feeling of being
an enemy to be crushed dead,
because this so-called
weak man you portrayed
from the very first day of all of this
dared to take a stand
and to proclaim his innocence.
Because again,
this weak man you've portrayed
has now evidently disrupted your ritual.
Because here, either one is irreducible,
or one is repentant.
However, that misses entirely
that one can be
irreducibly innocent as well.
Did I pay steeply enough
for this difference
in receiving a ten-year sentence
for associating with the Camorra
for narcotics?
I beg you, don't offend me again, please,
as if it were a kind of lèse-majesté.
Well, now, perhaps I should conclude
by saying to you,
I have faith in the process.
And I'll bounce
that question back instead.
If you stood here, would you have any?
[camera shutter clicks]
I tell you this, Your Honors,
I am entirely innocent!
I've shouted it for three years.
[bangs table]
The documents are shouting it,
as do all the facts that have emerged
from this very appeal trial.
I am entirely innocent!
And I hope in my heart,
in the most profound sense of the word,
that you can all say the same thing, too.
-Thank you.
-[applause]
[cheering and applause]
Well, he could have
spared you and I from that.
[applause and cheering continues]
[judge] This court is now adjourned.
Splendid.
[applause continues]
[camera shutters clicking]
The next person?
Tortora, Enzo Claudio Marcello.
All rise.
This court is now in session.
[camera shutters clicking]
SEPTEMBER 15, 1986
READING OF THE VERDIC
THE LAW
[camera shutters clicking]
[judge] In the name of the Italian people,
the Naples Court of Appeal,
Fifth Criminal Section
[broadcaster] Article 523
of the Code of Criminal Procedure,
overturning the judgment
of the Naples Tribunal of August 17, 1985,
appealed by the Public Prosecutor,
Attorney General, and the defendants,
who won't be named individually
for brevity acquits,
for not having committed the act.
Sanfilippo, Salvatore.
Oh! Wait, I got acquitted!
[judge] Melluso, Giovanni.
The court acquits the following
previously convicted defendants.
Andraus, Vincenzo. Covino, Mario.
Fallarino, Giovanni. Mandato, Gerardo.
Marzano, Nadia.
-[cries out]
-Tucci, Santo. Vaiano, Renato.
-Vallanzasca, Renato.
-[crying happily]
[judge] The appeal judgment is upheld.
The following defendants
are ordered to pay court costs.
Ascaria, Mario Roberto.
Della Rumma, Domenico.
Matano, Franco. Matrone, Tommaso.
Pandico, Giovanni.
At the ninth station was
the third time that you screwed us.
to acquit the following
of the crimes provided for
under Articles 416 and 416-bis
of the Penal Code,
because the act does not
constitute an offense.
Under Article 71 of Narcotics Law,
the Court acquits
the following defendants.
Salino, Aniello. Cozzolino, Riccardo.
Cozzolino, Simone. Marinielo, Anna.
Moccia, Luigi, and Tortora, Enzo Claudio.
-[cheering]
-This hearing is adjourned.
You're all Camorristi!
-Go fuck yourself, you little shit!
-Come on!
[journalist] Judge. Judge.
A comment on the verdict.
We convicted those who we needed to
and we acquitted those who we needed to.
This verdict is historic,
and it represents for us
what fair justice looks like.
[sobs in happiness]
[sobbing]
I trust in the omniscience of God,
despite the fallacy of human beings.
Yes, great satisfaction.
But the truth will always be the same.
Tortora is a Camorrista.
God sees you, right this moment.
He's watching us.
Hey, wait. Just wait. I want to say that--
And the State must defend us.
The State must help us.
It must not abandon us!
[all] Break a leg! Break a leg!
Break a leg! Break a leg!
Come here, I'm talking to you.
I want to make a statement.
Fucking assholes!
Italy has awakened! [laughs]
Yes! [laughs]
[camera shutters clicking]
[Giovanni] "Cry, noble innocents.
Better to be asleep, but honest.
Throughout this land, a furious wind
is destroying woods and forests.
And in the gray, threatening sky
there seems to gather a terrible tempest."
[snickering]
What are you laughing at?
No, no, no. I wasn't, uh
Who was that, Pascoli?
-Pandico.
-Oh.
Always a Giovanni.
Oh. Compliments to you.
Beautiful work.
Thank you.
A small gift for you.
But What are you doing?
No, no, no. That's not allowed.
Come on, please.
You seem like
a young man with intelligence.
-How old are you, boss? 25? 26?
When I was your age,
I had already been sent to jail.
To spend all that time inside a prison,
one has to have, or find, interests
and try to make friends.
Please, sir. You really can't
This is only prohibited if I were giving
it to you in exchange for something.
But I'm not asking for anything.
It's only an appreciation
of a fellow poetry lover.
That's all. Don't worry.
Take it however you like.
Don't be offended.
No, no, no. Uh, no, I'm I'm not.
Go on.
[door squeaking]
[lock clicking]
Help me. This guard is crooked!
My watch! He just extorted it.
I want to speak to the warden directly
this instant.
Hello! The guard down here is crooked.
Somebody, please call the warden.
Hey, get the warden!
[thrilling music playing]
[helicopter whirring]
[applause]
MILAN
FEBRUARY 20, 1987
[people cheering]
[cheers and applause continues]
Bravo!
All right, all right.
[applause stops]
Now, where did we leave off
on this broadcast?
Well, I could say
a great many things,
and I will only say very few.
You'll allow me to say one thing.
Many out there
have lived alongside me.
They've suffered this hardship with me.
They've endured these terrible, sad years.
And many of them gave me
whatever they were able to.
For example, their prayers
for me. And I assure you,
that's something I'll never forget.
Now allow me, dear audience,
to say thank you to these kind,
good-hearted Italians
who've so strongly stood with me.
There, I've said what I need to.
And I will add one thing on top.
I am here today
I know it
also to speak on behalf of all those who
are unable to make their own voices heard.
And there are many out there.
Far too great to number.
I am here today
and I'll continue to be here,
to stand up for all of them.
And now
now that we're all together once more,
let's begin, first and foremost,
exactly how we used to, once upon a time.
[all clapping]
[helicopter whirring]
[patriotic music playing]
And here he is at last!
To the notes of
the "Triumphal March" from Aida!
Welcome, welcome, welcome.
A warm welcome, Comandante, to Portobello.
He's striding up onto the stage
at the speedy pace.
Perhaps some of you have already guessed
who we have here for you tonight.
It's none other than our Portobello.
[audience clapping]
The symbol of our wonderful show.
So then, Portobello,
would you like to come out?
Here he is. Look at that. Here he is.
At last, Portobello has regained
his rightful position.
[clapping continues]
We'd really like to get started,
and I would like to begin tonight
with the welcoming of a guest
that I greatly care about.
A wonderful young lady.
When I had met her in the past,
I could ascertain within her eyes
a deep and profound hurt.
I would like for you all to greet her
with a great round of applause.
Ladies and gentlemen,
-Aurora!
-[audience applauding]
Even her name indicates a new beginning.
It's a beautiful, great omen.
And from tonight on,
we'll be having her as a regular guest.
She will be known
as "the mysterious girl who cries."
I present to you
[somber music playing]
Enzo, I'm speechless.
Just give me a moment
and then we'll celebrate.
-Enzo.
-Let's give him some time.
Enzo, you made me cry. Thanks.
[somber music continues]
[doorknob clicks]
[somber music continues]
[sighs deeply]
[door opens]
Aren't you going to ask me how you did?
[Enzo sighs]
How was I?
Beyond incredible.
A great success, Enzo.
[chuckles softly]
Anna, this really will be the last season.
I just can't do this show
anymore, I'm afraid.
Just please wait.
My mind is made up.
And I already know how to end it.
What are you saying?
It's nothing tragic.
A switch-up.
[melancholy music playing]
[Enzo sighs]
Enzo, everything is ready.
Okay, I'll be out.
-[Silvia] Dad?
-[Gaia] Are you coming?
I'll be out in a few.
[melancholy music continues]
[sighs deeply]
That's how it went.
I can't play anymore.
[melancholy music continues]
We're coming.
[people cheering, clapping]
[people whooping]
[melancholy music continues]
[in Italian] I'm sorry
to interrupt the bow,
but I hope the camera will frame us.
We have arrived just now
with children representing
all parts of the world.
JUNE 26, 1987
FINAL EPISODE OF PORTOBELLO
A light drizzle that, fortunately,
is becoming more and more sparse,
an affectionate audience that this evening
has gathered around
the cameras of Portobello.
A warm embrace to the people of Milan who,
with such affection
[female presenter]
No, let's keep the camel here instead,
because that way we can
brought us for
this farewell evening their animals
[female presenter] Yes, up there.
Uh, but let's wait for him to arrive.
Their animals big and small and,
here, in this
unusual atmosphere, at the foot,
at the steps of the ark
We were waiting for you
to bring the camel into the ark.
Well. Let's bring the camel in first.
Slowly.
I believe I should thank so many people
that I would extend this broadcast
beyond what's reasonable.
THE ARK OF PORTOBELLO
But the immense audience that
has followed this show for years
deserves our thanks.
Thanks to Anna, my sister,
and to Angelo Citterio,
who were the authors
of this singular Friday appointment.
Thanks to Gigliola Barbieri, to Rete Due,
to everyone who, with their hard work,
Friday after Friday,
built this story, a story of people,
a story of human beings.
["Jesahel" by Delirium playing in Italian]
ENZO TORTORA WILL DIE 11 MONTHS LATER.
AT 59 YEARS OLD.
The End
Any references to real persons or events
are fictionalized for dramatic purposes.
All characters, institutions,
and entities are freely reinterpreted.
Any resemblance to persons,
living or dead,
who are not explicitly identified
is purely coincidental.
[dramatic music playing]