Pietro Bosco (born 1959) was an Italian Lega Nord politician. Bosco served in the Italian Navy during the Gulf War, and was dishonorably discharged in 1992 after being framed for the death of a colleague. However, his heroic rescue of Lega politician Gianni Bortolotti from two thugs in a Milan alleyway just a few days after his return home led to Bosco being nominated as a Lega deputy, and he rose to become one of Umberto Bossi's right-hand men.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Bosco in 1992
Pietro Bosco was born in Milan, Italy in 1959, and he lost his mother and his younger brother when he was young, while he had a bad relationship with his father. Bosco had a troubled childhood, spending his days getting drunk, playing rugby, and getting into fights. Bosco played Serie B rugby to vent his frustrations at being unemployed, and he later decided to join the Italian Navy. He served in the Gulf War and targeted drug traffickers, but he was framed for the death of a colleague and was dishonorably discharged in 1992 after attempting to tell the truth.
A few days after returning home, he rescued Lega Nord politician Gianni Bortolotti from two Albanian thugs who were beating him up in an alleyway; Bosco was initially unaware of Bortolotti's identity. Bortolotti reported Bosco to party leader Umberto Bossi, who decided to invite Bosco to run as one of the party's parliamentary candidates. Bosco was initially uninterested, but, after seeing his crush Veronica Castello on the television, he decided to run for politics in order to impress her.
Political career[]
An anonymous letter sent to a newspaper revealed Bosco's troubled past, leading to him being relegated to the bottom of Lega's list and the cancellation of his participation in a major Lega rally. However, he attended the rally and gave a stirring speech, returning him to the top of the list. On 6 April 1992, he was elected to Parliament, and he was initially assigned to the Culture Commission. However, he met former Christian Democracy politician Gaetano Nobile, his new neighbor in Rome, who gave him advice on how to rise up in politics. He blackmailed Bortolotti, having found him attending a restaurant forbidden to Lega members, into assigning him to the prestigious Defense Commission.
Bosco was reunited with Castello at one of Nobile's parties, and he invited her to live with him, which she agreed to do after a few days. Bosco used his political influence with Nobile to secure Castello a position on the TV show Scommettiamo che...?, but he was forced to repay the favor by purchasing weapons for the Italian Army from a Camorra businessman. Marco Formentini, furious at Bosco's betrayal of Lega's trust, told him that he would no longer be on the Lega list, but he was returned to the list after agreeing to vote in favor of Nobile's arrest for his gang involvement.
Bosco's role in the party had deteriorated by 1993, as Veronica had left him after he almost strangled her to death for having an abortion, and Bosco was dedicated to prostitutes (whom he forced to wear red wigs to match Veronica's hair) and alcohol. He later began a sexual affair with Veronica's sister, the journalist Giulia Castello, after she interviewed him about his waving of a noose in the Chamber of Deputies hall. Bosco later blackmailed Bortolotti about his sexuality in order to join the Supervisory Commission, but he later discovered that the commission was soon to be abolished, and he was to continue being a marginal politician. He decided to court the friendship of Gianfranco Miglio and stir up discontent with Bossi's leadership, but, realizing that Miglio was an old man who was losing power, Bosco told Bossi about Miglio's plot, leading to Miglio's downfall. Bosco rose to become one of Bossi's most trusted men, becoming a senior Lega politician.