The Mogul

Silvio Berlusconi, Prime Minister of Italy

September 29, 1936 Born in Milan, Italy to a middle class family.

1940s and 1950s Has business on his mind even as a school boy, organizing puppet shows and charging an entrance fee. Later, he earns money as a singer on a cruise liner. He also does other students' homework - for a fee. He sells vacuums and works as a photographer in order to pay for his tuition to the University of Milan where he studies law. As a student, he meets and befriends Benito Craxi.

1975-1990 Creates Fininvest and with the help of Craxi, Prime Minister of Italy from 1983-1987, he grows it into a media empire called Mediaset. Currently he controls Italy's three largest private TV channels; Publitalia, it's leading advertising company, and Mondadori, it's biggest publishing house. Il Giornale, a national newspaper, and many magazines are also part of his empire.

1992 Craxi's career ends in the widespread corruption scandal known as Tangentopoli, which involve a large part of the political, economic and legal establishment. It leads to to the action called mani puliti (clean hands) started by Milanese judges.

1993 Berlusconi founds his own political party, Forza Italia (Let's Go Italy). The name is based on a cheer for his football team.

1994 He is elected Italy's Prime Minister but rivalries between the leaders of the coalition, coupled with Berlusconi's indictment for tax fraud by a Milan court, lead to the collapse of the government just seven months later.

2001 Regains the Prime Ministership as leader of the center-right Casa delle Libertý coalition. His government immediately reorganizes the state-run TV channels (claiming they are run by communists) so that around 90 percent of Italian television becomes controlled by people appointed by himself or his government. Several noted journalists who are critical of Berlusconi disappear from the media (like Enzo Biagi, Michele Santoro, Indro Montanelli) and a series of hiccups in the running of the state television channels allows his own company to increase market share.

2002 Forbes magazine lists him as the wealthiest person in Italy, with an estimated net worth of $7.2 billion. His official tax returns declare far less.

May, 2003 He enthusiastically supports the U.S. and British invasion of Iraq but sends no Italian troops until after Baghdad has fallen.

June 2003 Facing legal action, he pushes through a controversial law granting himself immunity from prosecution while in office. Several members of the judiciary are prosecuted for taking bribes to make a decision in favor of Berlusconi, but he is protected from prosecution by his new laws.

2003-2004 Judicial and customs investigators uncover large offshore slush funds controlled by Berlusconi and his companies. So far he has avoided prosecution, in part as a result of legislation he has introduced that de-criminalizes false accounting and makes it more difficult to obtain legal documents from overseas.

July 1, 2003 Berlusconi assumes the rotating EU presidency.

2004 He is indicted in Spain for a $25 million dollar tax fraud, but uses his status as a member of the European Parliament to gain immunity from prosecution.

January 2004 His "immunity legislation" is found to be unconstitutional by the Constitutional court. Berlusconi declares his intention to re-introduce the law using the correct procedure for modifying the constitution. Memorable quote: "Mussolini never killed anyone. Mussolini used to send people on vacation in internal exile."