Berlusconi associate arrested over journalist bomb attack

Italian police arrested Valter Lavitola, a former journalist and import-export businessman who owns a restaurant in Rome, for ordering a bomb attack targeting prominent television journalist Sigfrido Ranucci last year, CBS News reported. Lavitola was close to former premier Silvio Berlusconi, according to the same report.

The arrest was announced Monday, with police saying Lavitola masterminded the attack on Ranucci, a journalist known for investigative work on organised crime and political corruption, The Local Italy reported. The bomb attack occurred last year, though details of the device and injuries were not immediately released.

The case has drawn international attention because it links a figure from Italy's political establishment to violence against the press. The Local Italy noted Lavitola's ties to Berlusconi, who died in 2023, as a central element of the story.