# I pit Italian Mafia-bastard prosecutors (Amanda Knox-related) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 16, 2011, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-italian-mafia-bastard-prosecutors-amanda-knox-related/571537 "2011-02-16T03:14:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-italian-mafia-bastard-prosecutors-amanda-knox-related/571537/1 "2011-02-16T03:14:04Z")
Italian prosecutors have indicted Amanda Knox’s [parents](http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/02/15/amanda-knoxs-parents-indicted-alleging-italian-police-abused-daughter/?test=latestnews) on libel charges. The “crime” is that they claimed that Italian police abused their daughter. They said this back in 2007 (ie, over three years ago!) and the claim was made in a British (ie, not Italian) newspaper. Jesus, does corruption get any more obvious than this? :mad: You could gouge out Ray Charles’ eyes, and he could still see that they’re just trying to intimidate the parents into keeping quiet and stop making a fuss about the deplorable railroading that was the Amanda Knox trial. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-italian-mafia-bastard-prosecutors-amanda-knox-related/571537/2 "2011-02-16T05:59:26Z")
What’s the statute of limitations regarding criminal libel in Italy? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Presidente](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@El\_Presidente](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Presidente)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-italian-mafia-bastard-prosecutors-amanda-knox-related/571537/3 "2011-02-16T06:02:51Z")
I find the phrase “Mafia-bastard” in reference to Italians to be a bit sterotypical and potentially offensive. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-italian-mafia-bastard-prosecutors-amanda-knox-related/571537/4 "2011-02-16T06:13:26Z")
Yes, we would prefer, “Dago,” or if you must, “greaseball.” ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-italian-mafia-bastard-prosecutors-amanda-knox-related/571537/5 "2011-02-16T06:18:27Z")
My father prefers “greasy guinea” or “wop”. And he takes great offense at being called Italian (descent). He’ll tell you that his parents came from SICILY, not Italy. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-italian-mafia-bastard-prosecutors-amanda-knox-related/571537/6 "2011-02-16T06:56:50Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > Jesus, does corruption get any more obvious than this? :mad: Sorry, but what exactly is wrong with this indictment? Do you have any reason to assume that it was improper under Italian law? ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-italian-mafia-bastard-prosecutors-amanda-knox-related/571537/7 "2011-02-16T09:18:45Z")
The problem is an attractive American woman has been locked up. Only uglies and men can be prosecuted for murder. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-italian-mafia-bastard-prosecutors-amanda-knox-related/571537/8 "2011-02-16T09:51:14Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > The problem is an attractive American woman has been locked up. Only uglies and men can be prosecuted for murder. I might buy that. There’s a lot of noise here about a similarly attractive French woman sentenced to 60 years in Mexico. I’m pretty sure she isn’t the only French citizen who has been sentenced in a foreign country, but I don’t hear much about any other. (That said, either or both could really have a good case. In the French case too, it’s said she’s been railrolled. But surely the sentence of others we don’t hear about might be equally disputable) ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-italian-mafia-bastard-prosecutors-amanda-knox-related/571537/9 "2011-02-16T09:58:35Z")
There’s no convincing evidence that Knox was railroaded. We’ve done this before a million times on the board. It’s not like Italy is a third world country with a sham of a legal system, and indeed there’s a current appeal going on examining the forensic evidence that partly convicted Knox. ---
**Author:** ![Fuji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@Fuji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-italian-mafia-bastard-prosecutors-amanda-knox-related/571537/10 "2011-02-16T11:06:15Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > Jesus, does corruption get any more obvious than this? :mad: You could gouge out Ray Charles’ eyes, and he could still see that they’re just trying to intimidate the parents into keeping quiet and stop making a fuss about the **deplorable railroading that was the Amanda Knox trial**. What a crock of shit. She (and the other two) are nasty pieces of work and are in the right place for vicious, murdering scumbags - prison. Hopefully they’ll be there for another couple of decades. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-italian-mafia-bastard-prosecutors-amanda-knox-related/571537/11 "2011-02-16T11:25:23Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > The problem is an attractive American woman has been locked up. Only uglies and men can be prosecuted for murder. Yes, but exceptions can be made in extreme circumstances: [Judge Rules White Girl Will Be Tried As Black Adult](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84phU8of02U) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Jay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b77776/32.png) [@The\_Jay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Jay)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-italian-mafia-bastard-prosecutors-amanda-knox-related/571537/12 "2011-02-16T11:38:19Z")
Are there any threads on this case that I have missed that lay out why corruption just has to be at play? I kind of missed this case… ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-italian-mafia-bastard-prosecutors-amanda-knox-related/571537/13 "2011-02-16T12:09:42Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Sorry, but what exactly is wrong with this indictment? C’mon. The parents make a stupid allegation, once, that the police improperly questioned their daughter, and they get put on trial themselves? You put a parent in jail because they believed something their daughter told them? I don’t care if it’s technically legal for them to indict the parents, it’s a dick move. Frankly the prosecutor should be ashamed of himself, and our government should get off its ass and put pressure on the Italians to quit with this crap. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-italian-mafia-bastard-prosecutors-amanda-knox-related/571537/14 "2011-02-16T12:14:02Z")
Specifics of this case aside, governments prosecuting private individuals for libel in response to criticism is a common tactic employed by autocratic regimes - Singapore in particular has been guilty of this on a regular basis. It’s sad that the Italians have begun using these methods, but it’s not all surprising under the rule of Duke Silvio Berlusconi-Borgia. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-italian-mafia-bastard-prosecutors-amanda-knox-related/571537/15 "2011-02-16T12:23:53Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > I don’t care if it’s technically legal for them to indict the parents, it’s a dick move. Frankly the prosecutor should be ashamed of himself, and our government should get off its ass and put pressure on the Italians to quit with this crap. They knew exactly what they were doing. They accused the Italians, in a newspaper with a large international audience, of failing to provide a translator, not providing their daughter with food or water, and claimed their daughter had been virtually beaten into a confession by a police officer hitting her with a pair of handcuffs. The whole charade was a method of using the media circus surrounding the trial to throw doubt on the reliability and impartiality of the Italian legal system. Is it really any wonder that the Italian legal system itself would come down hard on them? The effects of this calculated act are still felt today. Witness this very thread, and others like it, where idiot after idiot have managed to convince themselves that the only reason that Knox was convicted was due to some corrupt railroading at the hands of an outrageous Italian legal system. Further, why should the US government get involved? They’ve either committed a crime or they have not. Is the US the only country allowed to have an independent legal system? ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-italian-mafia-bastard-prosecutors-amanda-knox-related/571537/16 "2011-02-16T12:28:40Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > It’s sad that the Italians have begun using these methods, but it’s not all surprising under the rule of Duke Silvio Berlusconi-Borgia. This has nothing to do with Berlusconi. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-italian-mafia-bastard-prosecutors-amanda-knox-related/571537/17 "2011-02-16T12:41:53Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > They knew exactly what they were doing. They accused the Italians, in a newspaper with a large international audience, of failing to provide a translator, not providing their daughter with food or water, and claimed their daughter had been virtually beaten into a confession by a police officer hitting her with a pair of handcuffs. The whole charade was a method of using the media circus surrounding the trial to throw doubt on the reliability and impartiality of the Italian legal system. Is it really any wonder that the Italian legal system itself would come down hard on them? Luckily for them, they live in a free country and can say what they want. If the Italian police wants to respond, they should give their own interview. > [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > This has nothing to do with Berlusconi. The fish, as they say, stinks from the head. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-italian-mafia-bastard-prosecutors-amanda-knox-related/571537/18 "2011-02-16T12:45:55Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > They knew exactly what they were doing. They accused the Italians, in a newspaper with a large international audience, of failing to provide a translator, not providing their daughter with food or water, and claimed their daughter had been virtually beaten into a confession by a police officer hitting her with a pair of handcuffs. The whole charade was a method of using the media circus surrounding the trial to throw doubt on the reliability and impartiality of the Italian legal system. Is it really any wonder that the Italian legal system itself would come down hard on them? > > The effects of this calculated act are still felt today. Witness this very thread, and others like it, where idiot after idiot have managed to convince themselves that the only reason that Knox was convicted was due to some corrupt railroading at the hands of an outrageous Italian legal system. > > Further, why should the US government get involved? They’ve either committed a crime or they have not. Is the US the only country allowed to have an independent legal system? Regardless of all the above, would they have been prosecuted for such actions in the US or UK? Of course not. It’s intimidation by prosecution. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-italian-mafia-bastard-prosecutors-amanda-knox-related/571537/19 "2011-02-16T12:46:45Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > This has nothing to do with Berlusconi. This particular case doesn’t, but I’d argue he perpetuates the aura of political/judicial interference. The way he behaves makes such things appear plausible, if not likely. [obligatory link](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0M2e-td-_c) ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-italian-mafia-bastard-prosecutors-amanda-knox-related/571537/20 "2011-02-16T12:50:12Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > The whole charade was a method of using the media circus surrounding the trial to throw doubt on the reliability and impartiality of the Italian legal system. We wouldn’t want someone to make the Italian legal system look bad. Let’s throw them in jail to prove how impartial we are. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-italian-mafia-bastard-prosecutors-amanda-knox-related/571537.md?page=2)