An explosive device detonated outside the home of journalist Sigfrido Ranucci, host of the Rai program Report, on October 16, 2025. Ranucci's car and his daughter's car were destroyed. On June 30, 2026, four people were arrested as suspected material executors of the attack: Pellegrino D'Avino and his wife Marika De Filippi (placed under house arrest), Saverio Mutone, and Antonio Passariello, 53, considered one of the group's leaders. According to the investigating judge, there are serious, precise and concordant elements indicating their participation in the criminal action, carried out in exchange for money. D'Avino was the only one interfacing with the intermediary.

Six people in total are under investigation at various levels, including Valter Lavitola, a former businessman and former director of newspaper Avanti. The Rome Prosecutor's Office accuses him of being the mastermind of the attack, charging him with bombing (strage) and mafia-type criminal association. Lavitola's home was searched and his computer and phones were seized.

According to investigators, the intermediary between Lavitola and the criminal group would have been Gomes Clesio Tavares, 47, an employee of Lavitola who handled contacts, vehicles and cover for the attack. Tavares is currently in Cameroon. Lavitola stated before prosecutors that Tavares frequently stays in Cameroon, as verifiable from his passport, and is in his country of origin for a carbon credit business deal.

On July 8, 2026, Lavitola was interrogated for approximately two hours by Rome Chief Prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi. He exercised his right not to respond to questions but made lengthy spontaneous statements, declaring: I was not the one, I do not know who could have done it, and I have no idea about the motive. He expressed being dismayed given the fraternal friendship he has with Ranucci. He acknowledged having been near Ranucci's home about a month before the attack, stating he frequently visited him there. At the end of the interrogation, Lavitola left the courthouse through a secondary exit with his lawyer Sergio Cola.

Ranucci said he was stunned and dismayed. He called Lavitola a friend and said he was certain Lavitola would never have wanted to harm him or his family. He also said the device might have been a message intended for someone else and that its purpose was to stop a news story for Report. Ranucci's lawyer Roberto De Vita stated that if Lavitola's involvement were confirmed, Ranucci would be a victim twice, and criticized some journalistic reconstructions and political statements that risk being instrumental to a delegitimization of the journalist and his program. De Vita urged waiting for the developments of the investigation conducted by the Rome Prosecutor's Office and the Carabinieri investigative unit.

Lavitola's lawyer Sergio Cola said his client is devastated by the accusations, given the close and fraternal friendship with Ranucci, which the journalist himself has confirmed.

Various hypotheses have been advanced regarding the motive. According to an interview given by Lavitola to journalist Giacomo Amadori of La Verita, the former businessman said he had worked on a project aimed at launching Ranucci as a potential prime minister candidate for the center-left coalition, commissioning a poll whose results reportedly attributed to Ranucci the ability to gain significant points for the coalition. The poll was reportedly suspended after the arrests of the suspected executors. Ranucci confirmed having received from Lavitola a questionnaire to review but denied ever having considered entering politics, saying that for him Report is worth more than the presidency of the Council. Lavitola himself noted that the attack dates to October while the poll was launched only in June and then suspended, a sequence that according to him would not make sense if the goal had been to build a political case.

Ranucci accused the Rome Prosecutor of not having investigated the possible link between the attack and Report's investigations into the camorra, announcing that important things will emerge by October.

The political party Fratelli d'Italia asked for clarity on the case and stated that shameful theories about government involvement have been denied, demanding the truth. Some political commentary took a sarcastic tone regarding the friendship between Ranucci and Lavitola.

Regarding Ranucci's possible successor at the helm of Report, according to press reports the favored name would be Federico Ruffo, a Rai journalist who grew up professionally on Report under Milena Gabanelli and now hosts Mi Manda RaiTre. The name of Giorgio Mottola also circulated but was later denied.