Original subtitles

A NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY SERIES

What are you scared of?

Absolutely nothing. Why should I be scared? Look, no way.

I'm not even scared of the devil, not at all.

There is this biographical note on you

that obviously influences the perception of your involvement.

Sure. When I was 20, I was accused

of associating with the Camorra, according to law 416-bis.

In the big trials going on at that time in Campania,

I was associated with some of the big names in organized crime,

both the Cutolo clan and the New Organized Camorra.

I was in prison for 18 months.

They said that I had gone with Don Raffaele's son

to a certain stretch of road,

so I was convicted of aiding and abetting a fugitive.

Don Raffaele Cutolo,

the man who over just a few years became the head of the Camorra.

We can say that Raffaele Cutolo was probably...

Quite charismatic.

Charismatic, perhaps, but also ruthless.

I don't know, I...

Well, I know because that's what I'm told.

This could be described as a somewhat Camorrista attitude.

Not at all.

I know two things in life.

I don't harm anyone...

and I have my rules.

I want to show you some pictures of my shops

in Ozzano dell'Emilia, in the Bologna province.

JUNE 26, 1986

I want to invite you all to visit these wonderful shops.

I think it was 2:30 a.m., the police called me at home.

I run to the shop.

It was terrifying.

They had slammed an old car into the shop windows...

and set it on fire.

Let me remind you that the Wanna Marchi company is available for you every day!

MARCHI DESPAIRS IN FRONT OF BURNT-OUT SHOP

Everything was destroyed.

It was obviously strange.

VANNA MARCHI'S SHOP SET ON FIRE ONE BILLION IN DAMAGES

To be honest, for some time

I thought it was something to do with my father.

I'm ashamed to say it, but I thought it.

I couldn't help it.

I'll always tell the truth.

WANNA MARCHI'S DAUGHTER

The police asked us straightaway if we had had requests for money.

But the requests started later.

After a couple of days,

the phone calls started from people wanting money.

To be exact, at that time, they were asking for a billion old liras.

This thug said to me,

"Where do you think you're going to run?"

That same night,

they put a wheelchair outside the gate of the villa

with "Stefania" written on it.

When the wheelchair appeared,

I decided that she had to get away from there.

I sent her to Sardinia with one of our friends.

He took her and she stayed there.

So I was hiding, and she managed to deal with that.

It was a terrifying feeling. It toughens you up.

But I had to keep working,

so I carried on doing television.

It's an unusual day.

It's our usual time slot, live every day across Italy.

I must confess I got here today, I must say, a little tired, stressed.

"I'LL PAY A BOUNTY"

VANNA MARCHI WANTS TO FIND THE ARSONISTS

Her shop is here, her house is here.

But her life is that of a woman in showbiz.

She's not well-regarded here in Ozzano

because, in my opinion, she's not very fair,

as far as her work is concerned.

At the time, Ozzano was a small town of 5,000-6,000 people.

What happened to Wanna had significant media coverage.

We were all aware of what was happening.

They explained to me what was going on and I...

She said that

she could find the people who started the fire.

She said, "Look, I have contacts from the past,

so I can find out who did this nasty thing to you."

That's it, nothing more.

She turned to me because she knew that some people

would never say no to me and that they wouldn't stand against me.

In Ozzano, if I ask for a favor, it gets done.

I don't know if they do it because they want to

or for some other reason.

I cannot know that.

But a series of particular events in my past

has led some people to think that it's not...

It's not nice to say no to a lady.

KINDERGARTEN

Various events.

I was accused of starting the kindergarten fire.

I asked the police for a favor and they said no.

And that same night, the kindergarten was set on fire.

KINDERGARTEN PROBABLY DESTROYED BY ARSON

When the police accused me of this, I said,

"Me starting a fire?

If you treat me badly, I'll get back at you.

I'd set fire to the police station, not the kindergarten."

It probably wasn't the best answer, so...

Wanna knows that I...

I know a lot of people.

I had an idea of what had happened.

So I told those people to take a step back.

After a long chat, everything suddenly stopped.

It actually turned out

that the people who had set my business on fire

were a family from Calabria.

They used to come to our house.

Their son was friends with our children.

It was a guy who had grown up with me. I considered him a friend.

Years later, I found out

that that person got cancer and he was dying.

One thing is for sure. God always gives you what you deserve.

Some people say, "You have to forgive and forget."

No, I don't forgive and I don't forget, ever.

I will never forgive!

God forgives. Wanna Marchi does not.

I think that Wanna knew very well who was threatening her

because she used to eat out with those people.

At some point,

a curtain was raised

to reveal the behind the scenes of the Marchi-Nobili family.

Do we want to lose weight?

Sure, she was a simple yet ambitious beautician...

We use algae...

Sure, the concoctions and algae and potions...

She was the brazen girl who ran

with bare hands towards success.

JOURNALIST

Wanna Marchi is a lone revolutionary.

But then another side to her emerged that went way beyond that.

She's a pretty good swindler.

She's crazy.

-Crazy. -A con artist.

I don't think her products work.

How did they convince hundreds of thousands of people?

You can say they were gullible,

uneducated, lonely women as much as you want...

She had an incredible talent. She knew how to take advantage

of middle-class Italian housewives who wanted to grow.

What is it? Something wrong?

Italian housewives hold the purse strings of the family,

and Wanna Marchi knows this well.

Television has been used as a platform

to advertise a series of products

which has been a front

for sneaky, fraudulent activity

that went on for years.

Wanna, who's in this photo with you?

I met this wonderful man,

with whom I hope to spend the rest of my life,

on April 13th this year. And we fell in love at first sight.

MIAMI SEAQUARIUM

She met her new boyfriend, an IT technician

called Francesco Campana, in a restaurant.

WANNA MARCHI FINDS REAL LOVE LOVE BLOOMS

God sometimes paid attention to me too.

I was meeting a dear friend of mine.

We went to this restaurant.

I looked up and saw this gentleman.

And this is where my new dad came in.

I love him dearly.

Francesco Campana.

After my mom and Francesco started their wonderful love story,

I also met someone.

Unfortunately, a different person.

They offered to do a photoshoot for us, for the wedding.

We got an offer from Novella 2000.

They offered us a lot of money.

Ninety million liras at the time.

EXCLUSIVE MY DAUGHTER AND I HAVE GOTTEN MARRIED!

Clearly, a double wedding seemed more interesting,

more important,

more sellable, from the press point of view.

This double wedding

took place at the Hyatt Regency in Miami.

It was exhausting,

because they took millions and millions of photos.

I won't say it was a marriage between the two of them,

but it's a sort of bond, swearing eternal love

between mother and daughter

as well as to their partners.

And the daughter's partner sort of disappeared.

My relationship sadly only lasted three years and a bit.

So, yes, it lasted. Too long.

TO CELEBRATE WEDDING, I GOT MARRIED TOO.

I got officially married in Miami.

My mom and Francesco just did it for fun.

My ex and I still hadn't gotten divorced.

So, what did we do?

We just didn't register it. So, yes, it was just a sham.

THE QUEEN OF ALGAE GOT MARRIED

Campana Francesco, born in Spoleto,

on April 21, 1938.

What did you do before the arrest?

I was a computer programmer on IBM systems.

If Campana is not liable

for the criminal association and the scams,

he will have to be liable for money laundering

because he was hiding criminal profits.

You won't believe it,

but this is where work is underway for Ms. Marchi's new house.

What will you put here?

So, a beautiful Finnish sauna with an ice-cold swimming pool

because Francesco absolutely loves

plunging into ice-cold water after a sauna.

Then here, a beautiful pool table where he'll spend the evenings with his friends.

Where do you get the strength to keep rebuilding your life?

-Love! -Oh, right.

He is my true love!

Her standard of living gets undeniably higher and more impressive.

You want to prove to yourself and to others of course

that you managed to make that jump.

Cheers!

Of course this brings about a lot of management issues.

-I'm a bit worried. -About the cold? Me too.

No, about the things I read in the newspapers.

Look, I don't buy newspapers anymore,

since you journalists started writing about Wanna Marchi.

Because you hardly ever write the truth.

So I presume you never tell the truth about other people either.

This enormous success

started getting to Wanna Marchi's head.

Wanna Marchi went crazy and started making bad investments.

WANNA MARCHI'S EX-HUSBAND

Billions' worth of investments, like that infamous perfume, for example.

FLAG IMAGINES YOU

Wanna always tried to please her kids.

She couldn't say no.

Even when Stefania had the idea for the Flag perfume,

she wanted to put it into production at all costs.

They spent a fortune on TV advertising, ending up in debt.

Flag imagines you.

Eau de parfum pour homme, a Wanna Marchi exclusive.

The perfume wasn't actually my idea.

It was my mom's.

Sure, I later got engaged to the TV ad model.

I'm not stupid. He was Mr. Universe. I had good taste.

I never worked on those products for her.

It seemed to me as though... It's like you could take the highway

but instead you take the side streets.

To be clear, I wouldn't dare judge anybody.

My collaboration with her came to an end,

of course, due to financial tensions

between my company and Wanna Marchi.

I think, mathematically speaking,

the revenues didn't cover the expenses.

This was definitely one factor that led to...

the chaos.

At that time, I had an office and worked in business accounting.

One day, I saw Wanna coming to the office...

WANNA MARCHI'S CLIENT

...saying that she had to talk to me, but not in the shop.

She told me that she was struggling to pay her bills.

Electricity, phone bills, and so on.

I said, "How come? With sales going so well?"

"There are couriers who haven't paid me,

and someone is stealing money from me."

She told me lots of things,

and from there on I started helping her financially.

My mom's flaw is that she found herself lonely.

So she talked to Milva Magliano.

I never spoke to her. I've always hated her.

They talk about this person because of her past,

but it's not Wanna Marchi's past. It's this woman's.

Why? Because unfortunately,

journalists have very small brains.

At that point you start to work out,

or at least suspect,

possible connections, criminal connections.

And something more turbulent, more ambiguous,

even more dangerous.

I was in prison.

The reputation stuck with me. Even today, 40 years later,

I'm still treated like a Camorrista.

So, if someone talks about me,

they say I'm a die-hard Camorrista and they treat me as such.

Well, this character,

whose name I cannot bring myself to say,

so maybe put it in the subtitles because I won't say it...

She disgusts me.

She never did anything for Wanna Marchi.

I don't know...

what you think,

but she actually never had

anything to do with Wanna Marchi, you get me?

No.

At one point, there was a loan from Milva Magliano.

There's a private agreement in writing

between Milva Magliano and Wanna Marchi

for 315 million liras.

I know nothing about this.

-Come on! -Where did you see this?

-What are you saying? -I've never heard anything about it.

No way!

-If you want... -I swear!

-What are you saying? -I swear on ever seeing my mom again.

ORIGINAL COURT DOCUMENTS

This private document came about

because, in order to get the cream, her best-selling product,

from the suppliers, she had to pay them

or they wouldn't deliver the goods.

She told me that I could come in and help her sort things out,

and, as soon as she could,

she would pay me back the money that she borrowed.

So I loaned it to her.

And from there, I started having access to Wanna Marchi's offices.

I came in as a director,

so I had complete control over everything.

There were a lot of expenses

that had nothing to do with her business.

But she had no liquidity.

ACCOUNTS JULY '86 - MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS

Yes, we spent a lot of money, but we were earning a lot of money.

Really a lot.

Looking at the revenue, I couldn't believe it

when I was told about a potential bankruptcy.

MARCH 9, 1990

Ozzano dell'Emilia, in the Bologna province.

10,000 inhabitants, 800 businesses.

One of these, and not one of the biggest ones,

is Wanna Marchi Ltd., which went bankrupt last week.

Why did your main company go bankrupt?

Not the main one. One of my companies.

THE FRAGRANCE OF DEBT

THE COLLAPSE IS ATTRIBUTED TO UNSUCCESSFUL MEN'S SCENT

What happened? Well, the bankruptcy trustee said it all.

There were big deficits and shortages.

Some say it's 1,2 billion, others say it's 2 billion.

-Wanna, can you hear me? -Hi, Piero! I can hear you.

You sound euphoric, even though you're down by four billion liras.

-Imagine if you were four billion up! -No big deal!

You broke the eardrums of half of Italy.

Do you think you have any enemies? And who are they?

Many enemies.

I could give you names, addresses, phone numbers.

I'll do it one day, just not today.

MS. MARCHI APPEALS THE FOURTH BANKRUPTCY DIVISION

AN INFINITE WAR

That was many years ago.

I'm sure we did the right thing.

"JUDGES INFLUENCED BY TRUSTEE..."

But the bankruptcy trustee didn't like that.

"...WHO IS MY SWORN ENEMY"

He kept saying that he would have me arrested,

he would stop me in the street.

He said that I was going to be looking at the world from a little window.

I said, "So what? I already spent a long time doing that."

He tensed up

and asked the police who I was, what I did, information about me.

And from there, everything else happened.

On May 10, 1990, two months after Wanna Marchi's company...

went bankrupt,

the bankruptcy trustee was attacked.

In Bologna.

Someone tried to beat him, to lynch him.

He started screaming and the military arrived and saved him.

That's something that makes you think.

Listen,

who could do that?

Surely...

not me and my daughter.

There's Milva Magliano for that.

Well, people who know me know that I'm a rational person.

So, if... and I don't do it, I never will.

But if I need to intimidate someone, there needs to be a result.

I don't just do it for the fun of it.

When that happened, Wanna Marchi was already bankrupt.

There was no motive.

MAY 18, 1990

Eight days later, another very strange thing happened.

Someone tried to get into the accountant's office.

They didn't succeed,

so what did they do? They set fire to the doormat.

MAN ESCORTED IN EVERY MOVE.

At this point, the bankruptcy trustee said,

"There's something fishy here.

I'm scared."

He was scared of getting killed, as he later said.

So he tried to protect himself.

Eleven days after the first event,

three days after the second,

two months after the bankruptcy...

NEWS

Wanna Marchi, the seller of weight-loss products,

made popular by local channels,

has been arrested on charges of fraudulent bankruptcy

and criminal association to the ends of drug dealing.

I'm sent to Ferrara.

WANNA LOCKED IN CELL WHERE INFAMOUS TERRORISTS WERE HELD

I go into that prison.

It didn't even look like one, to be honest.

I had a very expensive diamond on my finger and a watch

and I handed them over to them.

Along with Wanna Marchi,

one of her collaborators, Milva Magliano, also ended up in prison.

The cosmetics company had accumulated

over four billion in debts.

THE CAMORRA TURNS UP IN WANNA MYSTERY

A hypothetical drug ring was suggested

because my husband and my brother-in-law

were using drugs.

So there were wiretaps

with them talking about heroin, I think.

It was personal use, so the case was dropped.

9 DAYS AFTER THE ARREST

Wanna Marchi has been granted house arrest

for a period of 30 days by the preliminary investigation judge, Giorgio Floridia.

When I got back home,

I found flowers everywhere

from clients, telegrams, sweets... everything.

The judge also extended the pre-trial detention

against Milva Magliano by one month.

I wasn't granted house arrest

because there was a lot of hype about my arrest.

And Wanna was only charged in relation to the bankruptcy.

MAGLIANO IN PRISON BECAUSE SHE IS DANGEROUS

I was accused of violent crimes.

The situation was different.

And I wasn't Wanna Marchi, I mean...

I was the bad sheep.

I never understood it.

I swear it, may God be my witness,

I have never understood what her role was.

Wanna was never scared of me because Wanna...

She knows that I'm...

I'm good at forgiveness.

It's difficult for me to get really mad at someone.

But I'm also someone

that, when the police tried to push me around in my own home,

ran after them with a club.

I was angry. I lost it. What can I say?

I spent nine days in prison.

I've never met such incredible and compassionate people

as those I met in prison. I still haven't.

I won't say I hope you go back there.

-No, no more prison! -For these friendships.

-But I wish you... -In life, never say never.

Never say never...

The bankruptcy took the wind out of her sails.

The Ozzano shop closed.

The famous perfume boutique, beauty salon,

shipping center and all the rest closed.

As is always the case, there were requisitions.

Stamped papers.

Look, we suddenly found ourselves with nothing.

Blocked accounts, a closed business, requisitioned houses, lawyers to pay.

We went straight to Hell

without passing through Purgatory.

Straight from heaven to hell.

We just went back underground.

Obviously, then, you have to find a way

to say, "No way."

"You took something from me, now give it back because it's mine."

Know what I mean?

Wanna Marchi and her daughter had the determination

to get back up.

WANNA WANTS REVENGE

Stefania Nobile, born in Bologna on November 16th, 1964.

Have you ever been convicted of a crime?

The charge was complicity in bankruptcy.

I negotiated a plea bargain. I don't remember the year.

If one believed their courageous defence line,

one would have to assume that the defendants, Ms. Marchi and Ms. Nobile,

are two little sheep who are lost

in this criminal organization that has exploited them

and their image for years.

Poor soul!

In the '80s,

before her bankruptcy, Wanna Marchi had a villa in Sardinia.

She was at the height of success, her first success

in her career and in her various lives.

And her villa neighbor was Attilio Capra de Carrè...

an aristocrat, or so he considered himself.

Very charming.

An ugly little man, very badly dressed and what have you.

But he could charm snakes.

Marquis, how did the partnership

with Wanna and Stefania Marchi come about?

It was a gamble.

I was never interested in teleshopping.

I was interested in real estate.

The Italian market was no longer growing,

and I had to change my business strategies.

When we went to his house in Milan,

in Via Senato,

to pitch our ideas to him...

We wanted to recreate our products

with the Wanna Marchi name

and sell them on TV as we had done previously.

They explained to me what this kind of work was

and the potential it could have, the risks I could face.

The lard melts and disappears.

Let's kill the fat! Let's kill fat cells!

You have a chunk of fat like this.

So let's declare war on fat!

So I said, "Let's give it a try."

He had thousands of ideas.

He created a company, Tivushop.

It's not magic. It's Wanna Marchi, that's the magic!

MILAN

So, all you have to do is call us.

We will call everyone back within the hour.

And the people who will call you back are all specialized in cosmetology.

How tall are you, ma'am?

5' 4". Weight?

158 pounds? You have a lot to lose, ma'am.

The marquis and I had a wonderful relationship.

I thought he was great.

I thought Marquis Capra de Carrè was a great entrepreneur.

He had a wonderful life. He loved having dinner parties.

One year he invited us to his place,

along with another man who pretended not to know us.

He was the owner of Rete Mia.

Let me greet you with a little slogan that has just come into my mind.

"Advertising for advertising." Long live advertising.

TV EDITOR

At one point,

I was asked

to meet this person

who was going to be managing Wanna Marchi.

And the request came from high up.

It was almost surprising.

Marcello dell'Utri had spoken highly of me

and asked me to meet this Marquis Capra de Carrè.

Marcello dell'Utri was one of the most powerful people in Italian television.

He'd been Silvio Berlusconi's right-hand man since the start.

And also, later on,

as CEO of Publitalia,

he was the most powerful man in Italian advertising.

So we organized that famous dinner.

We met at Marquis Capra de Carrè's house.

In a very pretentious way, he said,

"I want to discover the world of teleshopping.

I'm hiring Wanna Marchi

and you have to sell me some slots in your schedule."

In the end, we reached an agreement.

The dinner was very fancy

and was served by a man who

stood out, shall we say.

He was Brazilian. I dare say he was handsome.

The waiter

walked around barefoot, dressed in waiter's clothes.

And he served people at the table.

He said he was born in Bahia,

that he had a grandmother who practiced Candomblé,

a religion where they dress all in white.

He had a tremendous dislike for me, so he served everyone except me.

"Sorry, I don't understand.

What have I done?"

And the marquis replied, "Nothing, it's what he does.

He feels positivity and negativity."

The relationship with de Carrè's Tivushop

was going along well.

My God, how can this be? Every day it's the same!

He became an important client.

Hey, fat-ass!

Lard-ass!

Answer me!

Tivushop started up with slimming products.

You've eaten your neighbor as well!

You've eaten everything you could find.

What now?

One day, I see Wanna Marchi on air with her daughter Stefania

doing something new.

They're not selling slimming products anymore.

They introduce a guy as "Mago do Nascimento."

I have to call to me the great master of life, do Nascimento.

If I were you, I'd take this opportunity, because it won't come along twice.

Okè Arò!

He played the part of the psychic, the master of life.

Okè Arò!

Okè Arò!

And I recognize him.

"That's Capra de Carrè's waiter.

What's he doing on TV?"

Good morning, Master!

Good morning!

De Carrè said, "Why don't you take him on TV?

Look at him. He's really great at guessing things.

He's a talent. Take him on TV with you."

We took him on air and it was a huge success.

I was unsure at first, but then I said, "Why not?"

TRY OUT THE MASTER'S GREAT SKILLS

WAITER AND MASTER OF LIFE

-Life is a wonderful thing, dear. -Then let's have fun.

Okay, let's go.

PERSONALIZED NUMBERS GIVEN AWAY

Now...

Wanna Marchi taught me how to be on TV.

Go and don't ever stop!

"Raise your head..."

TUMMY MELTER

"Open up your chest, and speak.

Say what you feel. You should be..."

She always said, "What you say should be true."

That's how that sad partnership was born.

Dance, scream. Do something.

The Marchi women rose again from nothing,

from the ashes of their failures, we should say.

Let's listen to what the Master says. I'm going quietly, don't tell anyone.

With do Nascimento's help,

now they are selling you well-being for the soul.

Now they're even selling...

not quite a contact with the divine, but, well, luck, fate...

GOOD LUCK

Wait a minute.

What do you want? A love spell? No problem.

We started by selling horoscopes.

You have two very lucky weeks.

Did you take care of the horoscopes?

Yes.

But you don't need to work much for horoscopes these days.

There are programs, different things. The horoscope takes care of itself.

-You know? -So you didn't write the horoscopes?

-Do you understand? -Okay, but...

That's it, okay? That's enough. Let's move on.

All Italians played the lottery,

so we had the idea of selling numbers.

To find your lucky numbers,

I need your first and last name and date of birth.

Your numbers will be sent to your house.

Your lucky numbers.

A huge audience of people took to them.

Some were already taken by them,

and ready to swear on Wanna Marchi and Stefania's strength.

So now they grew fond of Master of Life do Nascimento.

Our life certainly changed a lot.

We were wealthy again. Everything was great.

Over 15 months, I built a company

that was the teleshopping leader in Italy.

I think that Wanna Marchi

hadn't fully realized the power that Capra de Carrè had.

When Wanna Marchi decided to meet him,

she knew that he had a lot of money and a lot of important friends.

INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST

The fact that he had a lot of money

is proven by one extraordinary fact.

Capra de Carrè is the man

who sold Villa La Certosa,

Berlusconi's amazing villa in Sardinia,

to Silvio Berlusconi himself.

What happened next?

We started hearing from people who told us

that they had gone into business with the marquis.

I asked the marquis to explain.

He started saying that he needed money.

To which I replied, "How do you need money? Are you joking?

With all the money you earn, how do you need money?"

And he went, "You know, in politics

you need a lot of money."

Once again, we found ourselves in business

with someone who wanted everything for himself.

LOCAL ELECTIONS '93 PROVINCE OF VARESE

-Good morning, Mr. de Carrè. -Morning.

What does Lega Alpina Lombarda fight for?

For real autonomy. Real local autonomy.

Attilio Capra always had strong links with politics.

He had run for office several times since the '60s,

first for the Monarchist Party

and then he tried with the Social Democrats.

Finally, in the '90s, he ran twice.

Thank you, Mr. de Carrè.

At that point, what happens?

The new partners who join Marquis Capra de Carrè's company

decide to offer to go into business with me and my mom

and to leave the marquis.

Then do Nascimento decided to follow us

for a very simple reason.

Capra de Carrè was no longer paying us or him.

After we left the marquis' company,

we had the idea of starting a new business.

VIA GIANFRANCO ZURETT GOLD MEDAL 1894 - 1936

They decided to take the leap,

which was to leave Capra de Carrè

and go their own way.

And what was their own way? Asciè, of course.

I chose "Asciè" because it's a positive word.

It's a synonym of everything that is positive.

It's good wishes.

Like a blessing, you know?

Capra de Carrè then became incredibly nasty.

Then came the day

we had our first live television broadcast on Rete Mia.

At 7:30 in the morning.

My phone rang.

It was him, and he said, his exact words,

"Are you still thinking of going on air? You still have time."

"No, Attilio, I'm going on air."

"Fine. But know that you will remember this live broadcast forever."

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