Italian businessman is mastermind behind journalist bomb attack, police say

A businessman who had ties to former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi is the alleged mastermind behind an October bomb attack against one of the country's leading investigative journalists, police said on Monday.Rome's Carabinieri police said they arrested Valter Lavitola for allegedly ordering the attack outside journalist Sigfrido Ranucci's house last year. The two men are said to be friends.The blast in a residential neighborhood of Pomezia, about 12 miles south of Rome, destroyed two cars belonging to Ranucci, known for investigations into corruption and the mafia. Ranucci had just returned home at the time, and his daughter had walked by a half-hour before, his employer said at the time.Video shot by Ranucci, who has been under police protection since 2021 because of his hard-hitting investigations, showed the mangled remains of the cars and the gate. Italian entrepreneur Valter Lavitola, right, is accused of being the mastermind behind a bomb attack targeting an Italian journalist. Salvatore Laporta/AP Lavitola is accused of instructing a second man, Tavares Gomes Clesio, to recruit four men to place the bomb in front of Ranucci's home, police said. The four men were arreste...