The Pope,His Butler The PI, A Hooker & The MP

Are the wheels about to come rolling of the wagon that besieged MP Craig Thomson has been lashed to by Fairfax Media and the Federal Opposition ?.
As the days go by and the dust settles, it seems Craig Thomson may have been the victim of a massive set-up that involves dirty political deeds to unseat a Federal Member of Parliament, which if successful, could have brought down Julia Gillard's premiership.

The sight of Coalition leader Tony Abbott sprinting to the doors in the Chamber 2 days ago, and hammering to be let out as Craig Thomson crossed the floor to vote with Abbott's party was one of the most extraordinary scenes witnessed in Canberra for some time.

Channel 7

Fairfax senior journalist Kate McClymont has written over a dozen tales about Thomson (without interviewing him ) including about  his alleged visits to bordellos and the money supposedly racked up on his union credit card. Where McClymont obtained the documents published in the original tale is a  mystery. Did they come from Thomson's union enemy Kathy Jackson?.

 Dark clouds are now gathering around Jackson and her partner, a judge with Fair Work Australia who investigated Thomson's spending of large sums of union money including contributions to Thomson's election campaign. Thomson has slammed the Fair Work report and the Electoral Commission has dismissed the claim about his electoral expenses.

It seems odd that a bordello that has changed hands twice in the 7 years since Thomson allegedly visited (long before he became an MP) would keep such pristine records. When it was pointed out to McClymont that the photocopied credit card slip showed the name as ThomPson , not Thomson, her Twitter reply was "ask him, he spent the money". Odd words for an investigative journalist.

However the website Independent Australia has been investigating while others like Fairfax and News Ltd have seemingly sung from the same song sheet.

 It appears all is not what it seems with the claims against Thomson and in particular, the documents from the bordello. IE have uncovered that the credit card slip actually carries a rejection code on it. In other words the card was rejected by Mastercard. The very idea that the bordello would keep a rejected slip for over 7 years seems like a fantasy.

Channel Nine's tabloid show, A Current Affair had been frothing at the mouth about it's interview with a hooker for which she was to be paid a $60,000 fee. She claimed to have slept with Thomson while working at the brothel. Yesterday ACA quietly announced they wouldn't be broadcasting the interview.

 Last Thursday noted private investigator Frank Monte was interviewed on 2UE's Drive Time.
Monte scorned the idea that a prostitute could possibly remember a client from 7 years ago particularly as Thomson was an unknown face.
When Frank Monte became involved with the David Jones $38M  harassment suit, within 4 weeks the matter was quickly settled for a 20th of that sum. The rumour at the time was that Monte had uncovered damaging information.

Frank Monte today refused to either confirm or deny if he was involved with Craig Thomson or investigating on Thomson or Channel 9's behalf. Yet within days of his interview, suddenly the Channel Nine interview, trumpeted by them so vocally in the media, vanished.
                                                                                                         Even more bizarre was the attack piece McClymont wrote 5 weeks ago about Monte, much of which was just a re-hash of a previous piece by a hack. She even dredged up the now tainted  Gianni Versace case in 2000 where Donatella & Santo Versace spent over $4M suing Monte in the Federal Court.

Monte had written a book Spying Game in which he said fashion great Gianni Versace was murdered by the Italian Mafia. Santo and Donatella were 'outraged'. Donatella, surrounded by lawyers and under oath, said via video link-up to the Federal Court that she had 'never ever' used illicit drugs. Two years later she gave a well publicised interview to Vogue saying she had 'been addicted to drugs before and after Gianni's murder" and that friends like Elton John has persuaded her to go to re-hab.
There is word the matter may be returning to the Federal Court. If it's found Donatella lied, she could face serious consequences let alone a gigantic law suit from Monte. At the moment, the ex-News Corp editor Andy Coulson is being interviewed in respect of possible perjury in a court case in Scotland. In the Scottish case, socialist MP Tommy Sheridan was jailed for 3 years (serving one) for perjury. Now Coulson is being questioned about evidence he gave in Sheridan's trial.


In 2010 Italy's most respected investigative journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi published a book in which he confirmed what Frank Monte had said 8 years previously-that Gianni Versace was indeed killed in a Mafia hit. Santo Versace vowed to sue anyone who repeated the claims. The Shuttle has received emails from 4 Italian newspapers that did in-depth stories on Nuzzi's Versace claim. Not one has heard a peep out of Santo and they don't expect to. Nuzzi says he is not worried by Santo's threats.

Last week as a result of Nuzzi's investigations of The Vatican in his book Vaticano S.p.A, Pope Benedict's butler was arrested.

And last night the Shuttle attended an Eastern Suburb's function and chatted to a local Liberal Party heavy. He mused that the Coalition's Thomson attack was a shambles and that he expected that, rather than Julia Gillard, it will be Tony Abbott who will be gone within 4 months. You read it here first.

Below is a reminder of Tony Abbott at work:

More On The Versace "Mafia Hit"

 An intriguing new theory about the murder of famous designer Gianni Versace has surfaced, this time from Versace's long time lover, the designer Antonio D'Amico.

Antonio D'Amico

D'Amico & Versace

D'Amico was speaking a few nights ago on the popular Italian entertainment program Verissimo.
In an interview with the host Silvia Toffanin he was asked about the murder and replied -"someone sent him"- referring to the alleged killer Andrew Cunanan.
 D'Amico says he struggles to believe that Cunanan would just turn up and kill Versace for no reason.

"In my opinion someone sent him (Cunanan)". Asked to elaborate, Antonio gives an enigmatic reply:
"it's my belief someone who knew Gianni very well, someone who was extremely close to him, sent his assassin. There is no evidence but the truth will come out one day"

D'Amico was a former model who began working in Versace's office in 1982 where he began a relationship with the designer that lasted until his murder. There is little love lost between Antonio and Gianni's sister Donatella Versace and brother Santo.

In Gianni's will D'Amico was left a legacy of around $26,000 a month for life and the right to live in any of Versace's several homes around the world.

Silvia Toffanin

By the time Donatella, Santo and their lawyers were finished, D'Amico received a fraction of his pension and never saw the inside of a Versace house again. Donatella is on record as saying she never liked Gianni's boyfriend. D'Amico now runs his own successful fashion design business.

And where does this leave the claim by two Mafia informants that Gianni Versace was murdered over debts to the Mafia who they say had invested earlier on in his fashion design corporation ?

P.I. Frank Monte

Those claims were published by the respected Italian investigative reporter Gianluigi Nuzzi in his 2010 book Metastasi which has been a best seller in Europe with an English version in the works.
At the time a furious Santo Versace threatened to sue anyone who repeated the Mafia hit claim. Nonetheless it was printed in hundreds of newspapers around the world and not one, including author Nuzzi has received notice from solicitors.

It's far cry from 2003 when Santo and Donatella hauled Australian private eye Frank Monte into the Australian Federal Court for making the same claim in his best selling autobiography Spying Game.
Monte had worked for Gianni in New York investigating Versace's fears that an insider was cooking the books. The Versace's spent millions of dollars to silence Monte and Pan McMillan had to pulp 26,000 copies of his book which was later published without the Versace Mafia link.

Frank Monte is restrained by the Federal Court from discussing the Nuzzi claims that mirror his own and the Australian media had a field day during the highly publicized Monte court case but oddly, have been largely silent over Nuzzi's book. Only weeks before Nuzzi published his book the Shuttle spoke to several tabloid writers who scoffed at Monte's original claim and were equally vocal when it was revealed he was investigating the David Jones sexual harassment claim. That turned out to be true.

Monte will not return calls about D'Amico's claim and our legal eagle expert says :
"Monte would still be restrained by the original court orders so probably steers clear of any discussion over the Versaces" " Mind you" he continued " I can't see Donatella or Santo taking him on again if he did speak to the media. Donatello could be called to explain the inconsistent evidence she gave to the Sydney court under oath where she claimed, surrounded by lawyers during a satellite link-up,that she had never ever taken drugs and then 2 years later gave an interview to Vogue magazine where she said she had been addicted to drugs before and after Versace's death. Courts don't take kindly to being treated like mugs"

Versace bargain : "it's just not etiquette"

Paris Hilton, Bono of U2, Mick Jagger and the Dubai Royal Family are just some of the slebs who have resided at Palazzo Versace on the Gold Coast.

 There isn’t another hotel or residential resort in Australia that can invoke such recognition and reaction with it's Italian extravagance.Now living the lifestyle of a celebrity is no longer exclusive for high rollers or the rich and famous at an establishment listed in the prestigious Leading Hotels of The World.

Gold Coast real-estate agent Rob Astbury has just listed a  three bedroom residential apartment at Palazzo Versace for just $1,450,000. Some would describe it as an unbelievable bargain but Astbury told the Shuttle “I have been informed that using the words “Versace and bargain” in the same sentence is just not etiquette.” 

The reality is after an unprecedented property boom the Gold Coast is now undergoing a major price correcting and nothing is exempt, not even Palazzo Versace. After a decade working with a property developer in Thailand  Astbury has returned to the Gold Coast where he was once crowned the top Ray White sales person in Queensland. Winning two prestigious marketing awards Astbury is renowned for his theme “still the ONE”. It was the call sign of Channel 9 where Astbury built a reputation as the top sports journalist in Australia.

Despite one of the toughest Gold Coast markets ever  Astbury has had nine sales in three months totalling over $8.7 million and attributes his success to thinking outside the square when marketing prestige real estate.

And who is buying into the Gold Coast ?. Just about everyone who is anyone in Sydney and Melbourne has a holiday unit on the Gold Coast but the word is that Middle East oil sheiks and millionaires are snapping up properties at the top end of the market viewing Queensland as one of the safest spots on earth to invest. The Shuttle also hears that billionaire James Packer is looking for the quintessential property to complement the extravagant Vauclause mansion he is currently building.

Elena Ioukhnovitch

Rob Astbury

Astbury recently teamed up with glamorous Gold Coast resident and agent Elena Ioukhnovitch. The pair is now making an assault on marketing properties in Mermaid Beach including Hedges and Albatross Avenues long renowned as “Millionaire Row” with some of the most expensive real estate in Australia.

In the past month Rob and Elena have listed several properties ranging from a three bedroom apartment at the tightly held Broadbeach On The Park to a spectacular three level residence at 203 Hedges Avenue, both boasting absolute beach frontage.

On The Park is a boutique six level building with one apartment per floor reduced from $3,000,000 to $1,625,000. Three years ago at the height of the boom 203 Hedges sold for $9 million and today it can be snapped up for $6,950,000. With three bedrooms, a private movie theatre and roof top swimming pool there is parking for six cars in the basement.

Astbury’s website www.robastbury.com.au has complete details, photos and videos of the large price range of properties listed including a spectacular 700 square metre Broadbeach Penthouse for $4.9 million and a stunning four bedroom beach house at La Sabbia for $4 million.

A "When Did You Stop Beating Your Wife ?" Moment

The verdict is in and Labor has been removed from the NSW political landscape having captured a probable 21 seats while the Coalition have at least 64 seats. There are oddities as usual in this state election. Although the Greens picked up over 10% of the vote they won no seats while the Nationals with just over 12% win 17 seats.

For all the doomsday predictions in the media this isn't too different to the '96 John Howard election when he crushed Federal Labor in a 'landslide' which reversed itself within 3 years with Labor winning over 50% of votes in '99 but still failing to take office. It does mean however that it will be a probable 8 years before Labor has a hope of winning although the voters belief that the Coalition is going to deliver them Paradise has the power to backfire badly.

 Common wisdom is that huge landslides really mean little in the way of a party's power to govern but do mean the electorate expects much and heaven help those who don't deliver. The claims of a mandate complicate matters when no-one actually knows what the Coalition intends to do apart from widen one highway as they announced. Labor had 11 new young MPs elected which gives them a chance to quickly re-invent itself.

As usual the local media-particularly the giant News Corp tabloids have performed woefully and spoken in soundbites that resemble Liberal Party press releases and have let new premier Barry O' Farrell slide into office without revealing one single policy.

The Fairfax Media, publishers of The Sydney Morning Herald and the Melbourne's Age newspapers seem desperate to descend to the same levels.

One report we noticed in the last days before polling was this piece about a well known personality who features on the Shuttle often-private investigator Frank Monte who stood unsuccessfully for the NSW upper house.

The Shuttle spoke to Monte yesterday and he was still annoyed. The previous week he had mentioned to us a tale of how the Herald had phoned him and asked why he was standing for politics.



Frank Monte







He gave them a quick run down of his policies and revealed that in the past he had worked for two state premiers and believed he could do a better job himself

The journalist's reply was "oh everyone around the office says it's only so you can get your hands on the electoral rolls."

Monte scoffed at the idea and responded that the majority of his work is now corporate investigation where local rolls are of little use and indeed, he spends more time working in the USA than Australia. And the very idea of spending $30,000 on a political campaign to get a copy of the electoral rolls was pretty silly.

Having set up the scenario (as our headline explains) -the Herald duly printed the outrageous slur without one scintilla of proof apart from some hacks in the Herald office deciding that must be the case. Office gossip became news.



Solomon Lew

 When the DJ's harassment case broke last year Monte announced (and it's presumed that it was a deliberate strategy by the client) that he was investigating the girl who made the claims which were eventually settled with no admissions made by the ex-DJs boss Mark McInnes who was recently described as the "disgraced" former DJ's CEO. Disgraced ?. Who says so ?. Certainly not Solomon Lew who just hired McInnes for a salary of $5.5M to oversee his fashion empire.

As we reported last year- during the infamous Versace court case, Donatella Versace said in an Australian High Court witness box in 2001 while being questioned by Monte's barrister, that she had never, ever taken drugs but just 18 months later revealed in Vogue that she had been addicted to drugs before and after Gianni Versace's murder.

Learned legal minds say that had Donatella told the truth about her drug use the trial's outcome may have been entirely different and in Monte's favour. The Herald amongst other newspapers got stuck into Monte at the time and have used every opportunity to bash him in print ever since.

They have gone strangely silent since the new verification that Gianni was indeed murdered as Monte had originally said-by the Mafia and which concurred with local confidential Miami police reports at the time that voiced the same suspicion .

Versace Mafia Murder Claim Heats Up

News comes that there may be some startling revelations about the mighty Versace fashion empire soon.

Earlier we reported on the new book "Metastasi" by respected Italian investigative reporter Gianluigi Nuzzi in which he said that the feared and  notorious Italian Calabrian mafia N'Drangheta had murdered the fashion house creator and designer Gianni Versace. The book has become a huge best-seller in Europe and the Anti-Mafia office in Rome immediately announced an investigation. Nuzzi's source was a good one- a former mafia godfather turned whistle-blower who a Rome mafia investigator said had always provided true and solid evidence which had helped convict dozens of mafia criminals.

Nuzzi's claims were similar to those made many years before by the Australian private eye Frank Monte who worked for Gianni in New York investigating employees who Versace thought was on the fiddle. Monte published an auto-biography The Spying Game which included the mafia murder tale and all hell broke loose.

He soon found himself in the Australian Federal Court being sued by Santo and Donatella Versace in a bizarre case where they spent millions of dollars to have Monte's book pulped. Ironically when Monte re-published his book without the mafia murder claims the publicity from the trial helped it become a best seller in Europe.

As we exclusively reported- Donatella while replying under oath via satelite and surrounded by lawyers- to questions from Monte's barrister Clive Evatt QC said she had "never used drugs" yet just a few years later she said in an interview in Italian Vogue which was reprinted throughout the world that she had been addicted to illicit drugs long before and after her brother's murder and that friends like Sir Elton John had helped her go to a clinic to recover.

At home Monte had been pilloried by the local media who hung off every word from the two Versaces seemingly bedazzled by their celebrity status.

 Not one of those who then wrote so forcefully of how Monte had allegedly defamed the good Versace name bothered to follow up on how Donatella appears to have thumbed her nose at Australia's highest court. Either she lied in court or she lied to Vogue. Santo Versace said he would sue anyone who repeated Gianluigi Nuzzi's claims. A spokesperson for Nuzzi's office says no lawsuit has been forthcoming.

The Shuttle can now exclusively report that an associate of the Versace company has been arrested in Italy and another high profile one is under investigation.

To be continued....

A Demure Shazza Heads Home

On Wednesday she was sunning herself on the beach at Acapulco.

Marketing manager Sharon Sargeant, the girlfriend of private eye Frank Monte is now on a plane after a four hour taxi  trip from Acapulco to Mexico City and a flight from there to Los Angeles where she was finally able to get a seat on a Qantas jet  back to Sydney.

Sharon has been watching in alarm as flood waters surged through Queensland and in Northern NSW and in particular Tenterfield where members of her family live. On Wednesday she reckoned she could wait no longer and decided to head home and  see if she could help out in the devastated flood areas.

Sharon may be pleased with a newspaper article that will greet her upon arrival. The Eastern Suburb's social bible, Latte Life has commented on her appearance at the Black & White charity luncheon for Christian the Lion's John Rendall in November last year.

Demure !

According to the tabloid : "thumbs up to a demure "Shazza" at BW  Women's  Luncheon , if she hadn't been with Mr Monte we may not have recognised her."

Demure ?. We present a couple of snaps of Sharon from the lunch. 

Meanwhile Frank Monte is spending a few more days in Acapulco before he heads to Italy. Monte has an appointment with the powerful AntiMafia Commission in Rome which investigates "organised crime of the Mafia type" and the dreaded Camorra and Ndrhangeta clans.

 

When the Shuttle managed to get Monte on the telephone today we asked him if his Rome visit was in connection with new claims by Italian  investigative reporter Gianluigi Nuzzi that Gianni Versace was murdered by the mafia.

"I can't discuss anything with you " said Monte. "excuse me, I have to take another call " he said before hanging up !

Did Donatella Versace Tell Fibs in a Sydney Court ?

The Social Shuttle attended an end of year get-together of city lawyers on Friday afternoon and talk  about the Versace / Mafia claims arose.

 

Respected Italian investigative journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi has just published a book Metastasi about a notorious branch of the Calabrian Mafia called the  Ndrangheta. 

Nuzzi says the annual turnover of the Ndrangheta is around €44Billion ( $A59B) and can "influence free trade between countries". 

Nuzzi  says he called his book Metastasi ( 'growing cancer') after the wife of his main informant died of cancer.  Much of Nuzzi's information comes from Giuseppi de Bela a former Ndrangheta godfather and supergrass who turned on the Mafia after the death of his wife and the realization that Ndrangheta was a growing cancer on Italian life. 

The journalist and his co-author Claudio Antonelli believe the Calabrian Mafia can only be defeated with the same forces used to defeat the terrorism of Al Quaeda.

The 2 writers submitted their manuscript to Italy's Anti-Mafia office in Rome. They've opened an investigation into the book's claims as they say di Bella has never been wrong with his information in the past and he has been instrumental in helping jail hundreds of mafia members.

Nuzzi & di Bela say that the fashion designer Gianni Versace, gunned down in front of his Miami house in 1998 was killed by a Mafia hit man and not the serial killer Andrew Cunanan.  di Bella says Versace was murdered because  he owed the Ndrangheta millions of dollars and the mob were laundering up to $200M a year via the Versace fashion empire.

Which brings us back to Friday drinks. One of the  lawyers worked on a legal matter nine years ago in the Federal Court when Gianni's siblings Donatella and Santo Versace  hauled the international private eye Frank Monte into court over a book  The Spying Game in which the PI basically made the same claims as di Bela.

Clive Evatt QC

Monte had worked for Gianni investigating thefts the designer thought where happening inside his empire.

The Versaces spent $4.3M pursuing Monte and won their case. 25000 copies of Monte's book were pulped.

Donatella Versace gave evidence via a video link from Italy, surrounded by lawyers. Under questioning from Clive Evatt QC, defending Monte, the subject of drugs surfaced. Evatt asked Donatella if she had ever taken illicit drugs. 

She emphatically denied that she had ever touched an illicit drug in her life.

Fast forward to 2005 and the May edition of US Vogue. Donatella is being interviewed. and reveals that she has been "addicted to drugs for 18 years"

She said "cocaine used to be a lot of fun . . . I had the best time of my life . You just feel more awake, more aware. Unfortunately, it doesn't continue like that. So I just kept doing it, every time I was in New York, in Los Angeles, mostly at parties," the then 50-year-old designer revealed. 

Donatella said she only refused drugs when Gianni was murdered in 1997  but the break didn't last long.

"Gianni wasn't there. I had to organize my company, my family. My whole life changed completely. I didn't even think about doing it. But it wasn't as though I was going to stop my behavior forever. I wish I had."   

Then she tried a new trick: she began mixing cocaine with Valium and Rohypnol. 

  

Says Donatella ".. if I wouldn't use the cocaine to have the fake happiness, I wouldn't be able to go to those people, because I'm so unhappy, so lonely, because I hate myself."  Friends including Sir Elton John persuaded her to enter rehab.

"And what does this mean" we asked our legal friend. 

"The word perjury springs to mind" was the reply."She was using drugs for years before and after her brother was murdered yet it appears she lied under oath".

Could Donatella end up back in a Sydney court to explain her denial ten years ago to Evatt QC that she "had never  ever used drugs" ?.

"Watch this space" said our legal eagle, "there is much more happening than that " was his enigmatic reply.

Santo Versace has emphatically denied the claims about Gianni's murder and that the Versace label was used to launder Mafia money. Gianluigi Nuzzi says he would have no problem defending his book and the claims in court.

 Will Frank Monte return to the Federal Court to have the orders lifted that banned him from discussing the Versace revelations that are now in the public domain ?. Last night he hadn't returned our calls.


                                    *************************************
Harpo Coughs Up :

the Shuttle has heard that the security guards laid off during the Big O tour of Australia will be paid for the days they worked after all.
 

The minders were relieved of their duties when one entered Oprah Winfrey's Sydney hotel room to check for intruders. It seems they had signed strict confidentiality clauses when hired to look after her which forbade them either engaging Oprah in conversation or entering her hotel suite.

So that's a Merry Christmas to the 12 from the great woman who took Oz by storm.

The Versace Mafia Claims & The Australian Link

The story is so hot in Italy that the media there has gone into meltdown. On December 2nd  respected investigative journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi published his new book Metastis; A Chronicle of 'Blood & Money".

Gianluigi Nuzzi

In Metastis Mafia godfather Giuseppe di Bella, now a police supergrass says that fashion designer Gianni Versace was murdered by the notorious Calabrian Mafia  N’drangheta, a little known but feared group with close ties to South American drug lords.
di Bella says that he and his fellow mobsters laundered billions of dollars for the South Americans by filtering it through legitimate businesses and one of them was the Versace fashion empire to the tune of $200M a year. 

He claims that Gianni Versace was taking so much money out of his fashion business and taking so much cocaine he was beginning to believe the money belonged to him. di Bella says a hit was ordered on Versace to teach others a lesson.

And he says the reported killer of Versace, Andrew Cunanan was a patsy and was himself murdered by the Mafia.

Giancarlo Capaldo, of the Rome based anti Mafia department, said: 'We have opened a file into what Di Bella says - he is an informer and his information in the past has always proved correct.'

In a statement the Versace family said: 'The declarations from the informer are false and shameful.

Gianni Versace, whose celebrity friends included Diana, Princess of Wales, Elton John,  Madonna and Naomi Campbell was shot at close range in the back of the head on the steps of his Miami mansion on July 15, 1997 in what detectives at the time speculated had the hallmarks of a mob hit.

Cunanan was found dead  several days later on a Miami houseboat. It was claimed to be a suicide.

Donatella

But the Versace Mafia claims are not new.
                                                                               
Ten years ago Santo and Donatello Versace took Australian private eye Frank Monte to court in Sydney after he published a book, The Spying Game in which he detailed the very same claims. The Versaces won their case and the book was pulped.

Frank Monte

While few questions were asked at the time about why the Versaces  bothered coming all the way to the Sydney Supreme Court to take on Monte something quite different was happening in Italy.

Numerous Italian publications said that  it was common knowledge that Gianni Versace and the Mafia were ln bed together.

While Monte was on the receiving end of criticism in the Australian media, the opposite was happening in Italy. He was being hailed as a hero for exposing the Versace empire as a fashion fairy tale just too good to be true. They treated him as the underdog in the Sydney trial. Meanwhile Italian newspapers published photographs of Gianni leaving by boat from his lavish villa on Lake Como accompanied by known Mafia members. 

The local Australian media has all but ignored the di Bello story but in Italy, the UK and the USA the story is gaining traction. At least 2 major British newspapers are to shortly publish new details about the Versace empire and both have contacted Monte.

Now the Shuttle has seen a copy of a manuscript written not long after the Versace shooting-The Miami Jigsaw. The author received several credible death threats at the time and decided not to publish. The manuscript contains  never before published details of the Versace and Cunanan deaths in Miami, much of it sourced from detectives who worked on the case.

There are details that possibly didn't seem that important at the time but with  the Gianluigi Nuzzi book now become very pertinent.

Such as the fact that ownership of the houseboat on which Andrew Cunanan's body was found , linked back to a known Mafia member and was a base for mob members. Despite the well publicised details of Cunanan's trip across the USA from California to Miami on a serial murder spree, no publication at the time mentioned  his stay in Las Vegas before the trip began.

In FBI records there are details of Cunanan receiving large sums of money  in Vegas despite having no job or income with photos of him meeting with mob members. In police reports the pathologist who examined Cunanan's body said that the claim that he had died 8 days after Versace was dubious and that he may have in fact, died before Versace.

Witnesses say the man who shot Versace yelled a known Mafia curse in Italian. Cunanan did not speak the language. Nor did any of those witnesses identify Cunanan as the shooter. Beside Gianni's bod lay a dead pigeon, a known Mafia symbol.

In The Miami Jigsaw it's clear that Miami police held little faith in the Cunanan murder theory, particularly as Versace had been killed in a classic Mafia style hit in broad daylight.   Added to this was the manner in which Cunanan had killed all his other victims-shooting them front on while facing them or torturing them first.

The book has  FBI records to show the federal agency thought similarly.

Last night Santo Versace confronted  Giuseppe di Bella on Italian television and poured scorn on di Bella's claims. But when di Bella said that he had met Santo on a number of occasions which Santo denied, he revealed intimate details of Santo's home. Today talk back radio in Rome was running hot with callers on the side of Giuseppe di Bella.

Journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi talks on Italian TV about the N’drangheta and the Versace murder.