International Consortium of Investigative Journalists

Leo Sisti, Italy, holds a law degree from the University of Pavia and is a contributing reporter for the Italian newsweekly L'Espresso. In more than 30 years he has investigated corruption, financial crimes, mafia, politics, terrorism and organized crime.

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Sisti covered the so-called ‘clean hands’ investigation which lasted six years and was run by former prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro and other Milan magistrates to stamp out corruption in Italy. For his investigations into ‘clean hands’ cases, in 1966 Sisti was awarded the prestigious ‘Il Premiolino’ journalism prize. He revealed first that an off shore company used to bribe the late former Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi, was owned by the current Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s family company.
Sisti is also a contributing reporter of the new Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano since its foundation on September 2009, writing frequently on judicial matters. Sisti has co-authored six books, two of which were on bankruptcy-related scandals involving the Vatican and one investigating corruption in Italian soccer. In 2004 Sisti wrote his first solo book examining Al Qaeda’s financial dealings, entitled “Hunting Bin Laden -The sheik of terror.” In the summer of 2007 Sisti published a book on the Sicilian mafia, an account of how an Italian politician helped the “Corleonese” boss of bosses Bernardo Provenzano, captured in 2006 after 43 years on the run, build his criminal career.
In 2009 Sisti started researching and writing a new book on the Italian Justice system, due to appear in the Fall of 2011.
Sisti joined the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in 2000. With ICIJ he worked on cross-border investigations including the original tobacco series that uncovered tobacco companies linked to criminal organizations; Collateral Damage, a project that tracked military aid after 9/11; Tobacco Underground, and investigation into the booming trade of smuggling cigarettes; and Looting the Seas, an investigation into the black market of Atlantic bluefin tuna.  Collateral Damage, Tobacco Underground and Looting the Seas were awarded Investigative Reporters and Editors prizes in 2008,  2009 and 2011.