Best-selling author Roberto Saviano has been a rock in Salvini's shoe, regularly denouncing the interior minister's hardline immigration policies. Salvini said he could not tolerate accusations that he enables the mafia.
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Italy's far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said on Thursday that he had filed a defamation suit against anti-mafia Italian writer Roberto Saviano, who has been a staunch critic of his policies.
His work exposed Camorra's ties to construction, high fashion, illicit drugs and toxic-waste disposal, and held it responsible for why Campania has the highest murder rate in all of Europe. Due to the numerous death threats he received for his work, Saviano is under regular police protection.
Salvini accuses Saviano of accusing him of an alleged support for the mafia. It began when the interior minister said that not everyone who was under police protection deserved it. The minister proposed that all police escorts should be reviewed. This prompted Saviano to call the Salvini "a buffoon" and "minister of the underworld."
A fierce critic of Salvini for his anti-immigration policies, Saviano posted a picture on Twitter this week of a dead woman and child floating in the Mediterranean, questioning "how much pleasure" the interior minister took from the image.
"The hatred you have sown will overthrow you," Saviano wrote.
The tweet drew the ire of Salvini, who then announced on Twitter that he was taking legal action against the author.
"I filed a lawsuit against Saviano, as promised. I accept any criticisms, but I do not allow anyone to say that I help the mafia," Salvini wrote.
Saviano denounced Salvini's lawsuit announcement and accused accusing the far-right minister of being "afraid of critical voices".
"Salvini in court will be called to tell the truth," the writer added.
After months of negotiations, Italy finally has a government with Giuseppe Conte at the helm. Conte's swearing in ended weeks of turmoil that rocked financial markets, but concerns among Italy's EU partners remain.
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Conte: Novice at the helm
Giuseppe Conte, a little-known law professor with no political experience, was picked by the League and 5-Star Movement (M5S) as their candidate for prime minister. He was forced to temporarily give up his leadership bid after the parties' cabinet selection was initially blocked. However, after the two parties struck a deal with President Sergio Mattarella, Conte was eventually sworn in on June 1.
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Mattarella: President with the final say
President Sergio Mattarella faced calls for his impeachment after he prevented the populist alliance from taking office. He singled out its choice for finance minister, Paolo Savona, warning that an openly euroskeptic minister in that position went against the parties' joint promise to simply "change Europe for the better." After the parties agreed to replace Savona, Mattarella gave the go-ahead.
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Di Maio: Anti-austerity advocate
M5S chief Luigi Di Maio secured his party 32 percent of the vote in the March election. With the populist M5S-League coalition in power, Di Maio assumed the role of joint deputy prime minister and took over the economic development portfolio. The M5S leader has come under fire for his anti-immigration rhetoric, including calling rescue missions to save migrants from drowning a "sea-taxi service."
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Salvini: 'The Captain'
Matteo Salvini is the leader of the anti-immigrant, euroskeptic League, which won 17 percent of the vote in the March election. A former MEP, he and his party have no experience in governing. Salvini has taken on the position of interior minister within Conte's Cabinet. Known for his hostile rhetoric toward immigrants and the EU, Salvini once described the euro a "crime against humanity."
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Savona: Anti-euro radical
Paola Savona, initially tipped to lead the Finance Ministry, has called the euro a "German cage" and said that Italy needs a plan to leave the single currency. The 81-year-old's stance won him the backing of most Italian lawmakers but that wasn't enough to stop his appointment being vetoed. In his place steps Giovanni Tria, an economics professor without any previous government experience.
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Cottarelli: Temporary caretaker
Carlo Cottarelli was set to become Italy's caretaker prime minster after the M5S-League alliance failed to have its controversial cabinet picks approved. The former IMF economist's time in the spotlight was short-lived, however. Political uncertainty in Italy rocked Europe's financial markets and prompted Mattarella to swiftly renegotiate and approve Salvini and Di Maio's governing coalition.
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Berlusconi: Vanquished enabler
Silvio Berlusconi (right) and his Forza Italia entered a four-party electoral alliance including League in the March election that secured the bloc 37 percent. Berlusconi is now upset at his right-wing ally Salvini after the League leader moved to work with M5S. Berlusconi has said he would act as a "reasonable and scrutinizing opposition."
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Saviano is best known for his 2006 mafia best-seller "Gomorrah." The book is a non-fiction account of the Camorra mafia, a crime organization that operates in the Italian region of Campania, which surrounds the city of Naples.
Salvini had denied that his policy to review police escorts was aimed at removing Saviano's protection, but simply that Italy had currently a record number of people under police protection.
The author felt his own protection threatened by this, and reminded Salvini that for the last 11 years, he had been living "under tremendous pressure, the pressure of the clan of the Casalesi, the pressure of the Mexican narcos," Saviano said.
