Mani pulite (Italian for clean hands) was a nationwide Italian judicial investigation into political corruption held in the 1990s. Mani pulite led to the demise of the so-called First Republic, resulting in the disappearance of many parties. Some politicians and industry leaders committed suicide after their crimes were exposed. The corruption system that was uncovered by these investigations was usually referred to as Tangentopoli, or "bribesville".

Tangentopoli began on 17 February 1992 when judge Antonio Di Pietro had Mario Chiesa, a member of the Italian Socialist Party, arrested for accepting a bribe from a Milan cleaning firm. The PSI distanced themselves from Chiesa. Bettino Craxi called Mario Chiesa mariuolo, or "villain", a "wild splinter" of the otherwise clean Italian Socialist Party. Upset over this treatment by his former colleagues, Chiesa began to give information about corruption implicating his colleagues. It was the start of the Mani pulite (clean hands) investigation. News of political corruption began spreading in the press.

Marco Travaglio (Italian pronunciation: [ˈmarko traˈvaʎʎo]; born 13 October 1964) is an Italian investigative journalist, writer and commentator.

Travaglio was born in Turin and earned a degree in history from the University of Turin. In 1992 he began to pursue journalism as a career. He started out writing for Catholic publications such as Il nostro tempo ("Our time"), then worked under the renowned journalist Indro Montanelli for newspapers such as Il Giornale and La Voce and gained the attention of Montanelli himself who once used to say about him: "No, Travaglio does not kill anyone. With a knife. He uses a more refined and not legally punishable weapon: the archives"

Since 14 September 2006, Marco Travaglio has been a regular guest in the TV program AnnoZero, hosted by Michele Santoro (also mentioned by Berlusconi in the Bulgarian Edict).

Recently, Travaglio has contributed as a columnist to prominent national newspapers and magazines, such as La Repubblica, L'Unità (with his old columns "Bananas", "Uliwood Party" and "Zorro") and Micromega. He still contributes to L'espresso with the column "Signorno'". In September 2009 he contributed to the formation of the independent newspaper, called Il Fatto Quotidiano ("The Daily Fact").

Antonio Di Pietro (born October 2, 1950) is an Italian politician. He was a Member of the European Parliament, an Italian Senator, and Minister of the Prodi Government. He was a prosecutor in the team known in Italy as Mani Pulite (Clean Hands) in the early 1990s.

Born into a poor rural family from Montenero di Bisaccia (Molise), as a very young man Di Pietro would go to Germany to work in the morning in a factory and in the afternoon in a sawmill in order to pay for his studies. Back in Italy, he graduated from night school with a degree in law in 1978 and was admitted to serve as a police officer. After a few years, he started a judicial career as a prosecutor.

In February 1991, Di Pietro began investigating Milan's politicians and business leaders for corruption and kickbacks. Together with other well-known magistrates such as Francesco Saverio Borrelli, Ilda Boccassini, Gherardo Colombo, and Piercamillo Davigo, he worked on the Mani Pulite ("Clean Hands") team, which investigated political corruption. As part of this team, he investigated hundreds of local and national politicians, all the way up to the most important national political figures, including Bettino Craxi. The Italian press named the investigation "Tangentopoli" ("Bribesville").

Fabri Fibra (born Fabrizio Tarducci on 17 October 1976) is an Italian rapper.

Tarducci was born in Senigallia, Marche. He became interested in music from a young age; he wrote and performed his first piece when he was 17 years old.

In 1995 he recorded his first demo. He created the tandem Uomini di Mare with DJ Lato, beatmaker and deejay, and in 1996 they produced the underground CD Dei del mare quest'el gruv. In 1999 Fabri and Lato produced and distributed the LP Sindrome di fine millennio ("End of the Millennium Syndrome"), with collaborations from El Presidente (also known as Esa), Inoki, Joe Cassano and his brother Nesli.

Following his underground success, Fabri Fibra began performing around Italy. In 2000 he established his label and group Teste Mobili Records (Bobbing Head Records), and collaborated with various Italian rap groups, lending vocals as well as lyrics to the mixtape circuit.

In 2002 Fabri released his first solo album, titled Turbe giovanili (Juvenile Troubles), for which he wrote and recorded his lyrics under the production and arrangement of Neffa. A year later Fabri distributed Lato e Fabri Fibra which brought a close to the partnership with Lato and the Uomini di mare project with aky il grande.