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Court restrictions, bomb threats and intense security challenged our attempt to tell the story of the judge who took on the mafia, says Paul Sapin
The Italians were calling it the trial of the century. At its centre was the chief prosecuting judge, Dr Antonino Di Matteo.
Ten men: five mafia and five 'men of the state', including politicians and senior policemen, stood accused of collusion during the 'season of terror' that gripped Italy in 1991-4.
Dr Di Matteo became the most threatened man in Italy - and we wanted to tell his story. But how could we win him over? This is a man with 20 security guards protecting him and his family 24/7.
It took months to arrange our first meeting. Only the interventions of the brother of one of the bodyguards killed when Italy's most famous anti-mafia judges Falcone and Borsellino were assassinated in 1992, and through the good offices of Linda Grasso, founder of the anti-mafia protest group 'Civilian Bodyguards', could we expedite an introduction.
Meanwhile, we began to...