In the Ranucci case, there is also the ‘reverse’ theory: an attack aimed at discrediting him

The big story of the summer – the “love bomb” that Valter Lavitola had planted under his friend Sigfrido Ranucci’s car – has not yet been fully written. At the moment, the story is so incredible that everyone is trying to add a piece of the puzzle or an explanation to the aspects that remain obscure, which are often even more surreal than the known facts. The latest theory is that Lavitola’s real plan was to oust Ranucci from Report. The plot, therefore, has neither been uncovered nor foiled but is currently being carried out. Lavitola would thus be an asset to the right and is said to have approached Ranucci years ago, pretending to be his friend, only to plant a bomb under his car – not to intimidate him but to discredit him. The motive was therefore not to make him Prime Minister, but to provide the right-wing government (the instigator’s instigator?) with a pretext to purge an inconvenient journalist.

This rather far-fetched theory, lacking any concrete basis, was first cryptically suggested by Ranucci himself immediately after his friend’s arrest: “Lavitola’s aim was to remove me from Report. He says so himself. And that is what is happening now,” he told La Repubblica a couple of weeks ago. Now that Ranucci’s departure from Report is looking increasingly likely, that conspiracy theory has been revived by Marco Travaglio, who claims that Rai’s imminent decision will fulfil Lavitola’s ‘dream’ – a man who, ‘on one point, in the wiretaps, chats and transcripts, never wavered: he wanted Ranucci out of Report and, if possible, out of Rai’. The editor-in-chief of Il Fatto Quotidiano then quotes various messages in which Lavitola, whilst Ranucci was complaining about the constant pressure, threats and manoeuvres to drive him out of Report, suggests to his friend that he should leave. That he should seize the opportunity, take a severance package and then launch himself into politics with the aim of becoming “President”.

It is clear from the documents that, for Lavitola, leaving Report is neither an end in itself nor a punishment, but a step towards a more important role. And the attack was intended to be a catalyst to accelerate this process. As the investigating judge writes in the arrest warrant, ‘Lavitola’s clear-headed thinking’ saw the attacks on Ranucci as ‘a formidable tool’ for boosting his popularity, which ‘an attack such as the one actually suffered can increase exponentially’. And that is exactly what happened. The bomb did not drive Ranucci away from Rai, but consolidated his role at Report. So much so that, following the attack, his “outbursts” about difficulties at work ceased. As the judge writes, Lavitola had a twofold objective: “to counter the attacks and criticisms suffered by his friend, who feared losing the helm of the programme Report – a task that would be difficult for his detractors to achieve once the journalist had been turned into a target of organised crime”; and “to exponentially increase the popularity of the victim in order to facilitate his imminent ‘entry into politics’”.

The plan, the magistrates acknowledge, worked to perfection. At least until Lavitola was uncovered. This implies that the Travaglio-Ranucci theory only makes sense if, from the outset, Lavitola had planned to get himself arrested. And to lose his friendship with Ranucci, who was his most important political asset. As a conspiracy theory, it is better to focus on the one put forward by Ranucci, who suggested that the attack was ‘orchestrated’ as part of a ‘global plan’ involving Musk, Bezos, Bannon, Thiel, Trump, Netanyahu, Licio Gelli and Palazzo Chigi. Not only is it more gripping, but it is also more credible.