The Somalia-gate case of 1997, which involved the Folgore Parachute Brigade, turned out to be a glaring example of disinformation based on false accusations. The episode began when the weekly magazine 'Panorama' published an article based on alleged accounts of violence committed by Italian soldiers against Somali civilians. The allegations focused on extremely serious facts, including abuse and violence, allegedly involving members of the Folgore during the mission in Somalia.
The affair took an unexpected turn when it emerged that the published reports were completely unfounded. The core of the accusations was based on the account of Benedetto Bertini, a former soldier who confessed to having invented everything for personal reasons. Bertini, an unemployed young man with drug addiction problems, tried to profit financially from selling false information and non-existent photos to the newspaper, hoping to obtain up to seven million lira.
Bertini's attempt to stage a theft of the non-existent 'scoop' photos and his subsequent hospitalisation for self-inflicted wounds were the culmination of a series of actions aimed at supporting his story.
However, the Palermo police investigators, thanks to the cooperation of the Folgore soldiers and the inconsistencies that emerged during Bertini's interrogation, were able to unmask the truth.
The Somalia-gate affair served as a warning about the importance of verifying sources and the dangerous consequences that false news and unfounded accusations can have on the reputation of people and institutions.
In the end, the case was resolved by revealing the absolute innocence of the 'Folgore' soldiers involved and leaving behind questions about media dynamics and the ease with which false narratives can be constructed and spread, with significant repercussions on the lives of those involved.
The newspaper l'Unità , not exactly a friend of the Folgore, opened on 27 June 1997 with:
So much thunder that it rained. It was a fine and good set-up, and - objectively speaking - not even the most sophisticated. Out popped the mythomaniac and visionary paratrooper, thirsty for money and with a drug addiction problem, ready to invent a convenient reconstruction of the events in Somalia in order to get seven million in exchange, so 'unhinged' as to be convinced that the hen would have given him many more golden eggs. His was a well-conceived plan, which however slipped on the banana peel of a long interrogation at the Palermo police station where - by school and tradition - they normally know how to distinguish between charlatans and people who have no time to lose.
What a person of m...