Intercepted telephone conversations have lifted the lid for the first time on Silvio Berlusconi's so-called "bunga bunga" parties, with even the starlets who took part in erotic sex games and stripteases shocked by what they saw.
Mr Ferrigno claimed one of the women was Nicole Minetti an Anglo-Italian former showgirl turned dental hygienist who the prime minister propelled into politics Photo: EPA/REUTERS
Twins Imma and Eleonora De Vivo were recorded saying that Silvio Berlusconi 'had to cough up' as he was 'over the hill and ugly'
Topless women dressed in nurse and police costumes stripped for the prime minister and his friends in his palatial residence outside Milan, which was described by one participant as "a whorehouse", according to phone calls intercepted by investigators.
"It's unbelievable, you have no idea," one young woman was recorded as telling another showgirl. "All of them call him "love" or "darling". You can't begin to imagine what goes on there. The papers don't tell the half of it even when they're massacring him. You're either ready to do anything or you take a taxi and leave".
The evidence is contained in a 389-page dossier presented to Italy's parliament by prosecutors in Milan who want to bring Mr Berlusconi to trial on charges of having sex with an underage prostitute.
Of all the lurid claims levelled against him in the past two years, this is by far the most dangerous for his political survival.
The woman, Karima El Mahroug, claims Mr Berlusconi gave her £6,000 at the end of one of the parties but denies that it was in exchange for sex and also denies that she has ever worked as an escort.
In a taped conversation contained in the prosecutors' dossier, Carlo Ferrigno, a former head of a police intelligence service, described a party at Mr Berlusconi's mansion at which the prime minister and two associates who are under investigation for complicity in prostitution allegedly mingled with 28 young women.
"There were orgies in there, not with drugs as far as I know. But they were all drinking, half undressed. By the end...the girls had no bras on and were wearing only those tight knickers," said Mr Ferrigno, a former anti-racket commissioner and prefect of Naples who is not under investigation.
He claimed one of the women was Nicole Minetti, 25, an Anglo-Italian former showgirl turned dental hygienist who the prime minister propelled into politics. "She had her breasts out and she was kissing Berlusconi continuously, what a whorehouse." He said a "half-Arab" woman named Maria performed a belly dance for the men, after which the prime minister gave her a bracelet and a ring.
During another intercepted call, Miss El Mahroug said that she started seeing the prime minister when she was just 16, apparently contradicting her public statements that she attended only one or two parties last year and that she was 17 at the time.
"I've been going to his home since I was 16 but I've always denied everything," she said.
She had been trying to "protect" Mr Berlusconi, 74, but later allegedly demanded five million euros from the billionaire businessman to keep quiet about the encounters.
An influential Catholic newspaper described the investigation as a "devastating tornado" which was damaging Italy's international image.
Avvenire, which is run by the Italian Bishops' Conference, said in a front page editorial that "the mere idea that a man who sits atop Italian institutions is implicated in stories of prostitution worse yet, prostitution of a minor is offensive and unsettling." Leoluca Orlando, the spokesman for the opposition Italy of Values party, said: "What has emerged from this investigation is worse than Dante's Inferno." Massimo Donadi, another member of the party, said: "Compared to Berlusconi, Caligula was a prude."
Mr Berlusconi on Tuesday said he would not resign over the scandal. “What, are you all mad?” he said when asked if he would resign. “I’m absolutely calm, I’m enjoying myself.”
"There were orgies in there, not with drugs as far as I know. But they were all drinking, half undressed. By the end...the girls had no bras on and were wearing only those tight knickers," said Mr Ferrigno, a former anti-racket commissioner and prefect of Naples who is not under investigation.
He claimed one of the women was Nicole Minetti, 25, an Anglo-Italian former showgirl turned dental hygienist who the prime minister propelled into politics. "She had her breasts out and she was kissing Berlusconi continuously, what a whorehouse." He said a "half-Arab" woman named Maria performed a belly dance for the men, after which the prime minister gave her a bracelet and a ring.
During another intercepted call, Miss El Mahroug said that she started seeing the prime minister when she was just 16, apparently contradicting her public statements that she attended only one or two parties last year and that she was 17 at the time.
"I've been going to his home since I was 16 but I've always denied everything," she said.
She had been trying to "protect" Mr Berlusconi, 74, but later allegedly demanded five million euros from the billionaire businessman to keep quiet about the encounters.
An influential Catholic newspaper described the investigation as a "devastating tornado" which was damaging Italy's international image.
Avvenire, which is run by the Italian Bishops' Conference, said in a front page editorial that "the mere idea that a man who sits atop Italian institutions is implicated in stories of prostitution worse yet, prostitution of a minor is offensive and unsettling." Leoluca Orlando, the spokesman for the opposition Italy of Values party, said: "What has emerged from this investigation is worse than Dante's Inferno." Massimo Donadi, another member of the party, said: "Compared to Berlusconi, Caligula was a prude."
Mr Berlusconi on Tuesday said he would not resign over the scandal. “What, are you all mad?” he said when asked if he would resign. “I’m absolutely calm, I’m enjoying myself.”