Mafioso attacks journalist

Warning: This video contains graphic content

 I've been researching the mafia for the last two years for a writing project.  What I've learned is probably not surprising.  The mafia of television and movies is not the mafia of real life.

They are not some sort of Robin Hood organization that helps the underprivileged and neglected in our society by standing up to a corrupt police state and government, 

The most famous TV and movie mobsters are presented as sympathetic characters who live by a strict code of protecting their real-life and mafia family.

The reality is that these men (99% are men) are thugs.  They attack anyone who speaks out against them and are willing to use the most violent means to get what they want.  They prey on the poorest and most vulnerable among us and their crimes hurt them the most.

They devastate poor neighborhoods by filling them with drugs and crime, forcing peace-loving citizens to move or hide in their homes.

They infiltrate government agencies rendering them ineffective and corrupt.  

They threaten and brutalize those that stand up against them, making other afraid to do the same.

Think I'm exaggerating?  The man in the video above, Roberto Spada, is the brother of a mafia thug who is currently in prison.  The reporter for RAI was asking him uncomfortable questions about the mafia's association with right wing political parties in Italy when Spada head-butted the reporter, breaking his nose.  He then beat the reporter with a truncheon.  

And why was the reporter asking these hard questions?  The region of Rome where the reporter spoke to Spada, Ostia, had its government disbanded two years ago because the mafia had infiltrated it. The entire city government, both left and right, it appears, has been infiltrated and compromised by the mafia, making it unable to accomplish even the basic of services for its people.