Gianni Bortolotti was an Italian Lega Nord politician who served in the Chamber of Deputies from 1992 to 1993.
Biography[]
Gianni Bortolotti was born in Milan, Lombardy, and he became known for his militant nationalist and regionalist views. In 1989, he was one of the co-founders of Lega Nord, becoming one of its leaders. Bortolotti's nationalist views led to him being assaulted in an alleyway by two Albanian thugs one night in 1992, and the Gulf War veteran Pietro Bosco rescued him after beating down the thugs. On television, Bortolotti called on Bosco to run for Parliament as a Lega Nord candidate, as he said that he had acted like a hero, and that Lega needed heroes like him. The two of them were elected to Parliament that year, but Bortolotti decided to put Bosco towards the bottom of the list to decrease his role; this was done due to Bosco's controversial service record. Bosco later blackmailed Bortolotti into placing him in the most prestigious parliamentary defense commission, and he took on former Christian Democracy politician Gaetano Nobile as a mentor. Bortolotti later found out about this and intended to remove Bosco from the party list, but Bosco remained on the list after threatening to reveal Bortolotti's homosexuality. Bortolotti later decided to leave Rome due to the stress, especially caused by a situation in which a transsexual prostitute pretended to die from a drug overdose while spending time with Bortolotti. Bosco encouraged him to return to Milan and join the city council, but he attempted suicide after the prostitute blackmailed him. Bosco later freed the prostitute from his pimp in order to prevent Bortolotti's reputation from being ruined.