Herewith is the "identity card" of the current Leader of the Senate, as drawn from "If you know them, then you avoid them", the book published by Chiarelettere and written by Peter Gomez and Marco Travaglio.
Schifani Renato Giuseppe (FI)
Registry: Born in Palermo on 11 May 1950.
Curriculum: Degree in Law; attorney; FI Group Leader in the Senate since 2001; 3 legislatures (1996, 2001, 2006).
Particular achievements: Bearing his name, as well as that of the Ulivo’s senator, Antonio Maccanico, is the law passed in June 2003 aimed at blocking the prosecution of Silvio Berlusconi: the Maccanico-Schifani law was promulgated with the excuse of needing to make the “top five government representatives” immune from prosecution (although the other four incumbents were not affected by any form of legal prosecution at the time). The legislation was however declared to be unconstitutional in the sitting of 13 January 2004. The former Minister of Justice, Palermo native Filippo Mancuso, defined Schifani as "the Prince of the credit recovery Court", even though it appears that, in the past, Schifani was mostly involved as a specialist in matters concerning urban planning. During the Eighties he was a partner in the Villabate company, together with Enrico La Loggia, Nino Mandalà, who was later sentenced to 8 years imprisonment for dealing with the mafia and another 4 for improper allocation of assets, as well as businessman Benny D'Agostino, who was later sentenced for third party involvement in dealings with the mafia. According to reformed offender Francesco Campanella, during the Nineties:
the Villabate urban planning scheme, which was the basic planning tool as regards the planned shopping mall and which involved the interests of certain mafia members and politicians, was apparently agreed by Antonio Mandalà and La Loggia. The operation appears to have envisaged the commissioning of one of their own trusted planners, namely engineer Guzzardo, and an appointment as the Mayor’s urban planning expert. In exchange, La Loggia, Schifani and Guzzardo were to have shared out the planning and consultancy fees amongst themselves. The Villabate urban planning scheme was then drawn up according to instructions provided by the very same Antonino and Nicola Mandalà [Antonino’s son who, for a couple of years, handled the movements and period in hiding of Bernardo Provenzano, ed.], on the basis of the instructions received from the mafia family members and in terms of the agreed bribes.
Schifani, who was in fact an urban planning consultant for the Villabate Municipality, and La Loggia had stated that they would be taking legal action against Campanella.