In 1999 Einaudi published Q, a historical novel signed Luther Blissett. Luther Blissett was no one: it was an open name — borrowed from an English footballer — which from 1994 to 1999 hundreds of people, in Italy and across Europe, used to sign hoaxes, campaigns, writings. No one could say "I am Luther Blissett"; no one could silence it by stopping a single person. Behind the novel were four Bolognese authors who, once the project was closed, chose another collective name, Wu Ming: in Mandarin, "nameless".
This is no literary eccentricity. Since 1935 mathematics has published treatises signed Nicolas Bourbaki, a mathematician who never existed, behind whom a collective of French scholars has worked for generations. And the American Constitution was defended in the New York newspapers, between 1787 and 1788, by a certain Publius: they were Hamilton, Madison and Jay, convinced that arguments should carry their own weight, without the name of the person advancing them.
"whitecollarcrimes" too belongs to this family. It is not a person: it is a collective byline. It is used by a number of practitioners of criminal law, and not only them — academics, lawyers, judges, public prosecutors — who for now prefer to remain in the shadows. The reason we declare in full: the freedom to write even what today is hardest to write. A collective byline removes the author from the picture and leaves on the table only the facts, the documents, the papers. We do not ask the reader to trust a signature: we ask the reader to verify.
Only one name remains in the open, as guarantor for all: that of the lawyer Luca Santa Maria, who answers for these pages.
Our standard
Our standard of proof is the document. Often that document is a judicial one: a judgment, a complaint, a decision to close an investigation. Not always. We also work on cases that never reached a courtroom, and on corporate, scientific and administrative papers. The rule does not change: every statement comes from a document, that document is cited, and the reader can check it. We say every time which level we are on: what a court has established, what a party has stated, what we infer.
Contact
For the press, for tip-offs and for any communication: Inga Santa Maria, spokesperson and director of communications. info@whitecollarcrimes.it
Tips may also be given in confidence: the source is protected.