Synopsis

Article 416 bis defines "external complicity in mafia-style association" and applies to anyone who, while not affiliated with the criminal organization, knowingly facilitates its activities. It is this charge that the protagonist stumbles upon, following a series of more or less random events—a minor accident, a dinner invitation, an absent-minded friend, a university lecture. These are the "facts" that, according to the prosecution's interpretation, lead the protagonist from one phase of the criminal trial to the next with the speed with which a spider spins its web and catches a fly. An "exemplary tale," harsh, precise, and relentless, it is also an experiment in "fast-reading" (essential writing, no punctuation, short sentences) anchored to the times and methods of the criminal trial. The author is a judge, who knows this matter well and recounts a judicial episode, somewhere between reality and fable, keeping us in suspense from the beginning: "I wanted to invite him to dinner" to the end: "In the name of the Italian people.".