* “You either do everything or you take a taxi and leave. It’s a real whorehouse there. Berlusconi is touching all the girls’ bottoms. It’s worse than the papers say.”
— Unidentified girl who went to party, to a friend
* “If you do these things in your own bedroom, fine. But in front of everyone else? I ask how [he] can go to work the next day?”
— Unidentified girl who went to party, to a friend
* “[Berlusconi] called me and said, ‘Ruby, I’ll give you whatever amount you want. I’ll pay you. I’ll cover you in gold, but the important thing is to keep everything under wraps. Don’t say a thing to anyone.’ ”
— Karima El Mahroug, a k a Ruby Heartstealer, to former boyfriend Sergio Corsaro on Oct. 7, 2010
* “It’s unbelievable. You don’t know. 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.”
— Unnamed party guest
* “There were orgies in there – not with drugs, as far as I know. But they were all drinking, half undressed. Berlusconi started singing and telling jokes. Three [men] and 28 girls. By the end . . . the girls had no bras on and were wearing only those tight knickers.”
— Carlo Ferrigno, a former head of a police intelligence service and anti-racketeering commissioner
* “I thought he’d put on weight; he looked uglier. Last year, [Berlusconi] was looking fitter; now he’s looking over the hill. And he’s ugly with it. He’s just got to cough up. Let’s hope he’s more generous.”
— Showgirl Imma De Vivo, to her twin sister, Eleonora, on Sept. 25, 2010
* “I told Silvio I wanted 5 million euros for all this. He said that I should just keep making things up and pretend I’m mad — but not reveal anything and stay quiet.”
— El Mahroug, to a friend
* “I’ve been going to the prime minister’s house since I was 16 years old, but I have always denied everything to protect him.”
— El Mahroug, to a friend on Oct. 26, 2010
* “She [Karima] said she was very friendly with the Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. She often went to his house for dinner, to sing, dance, and she had sex with him, for which he gave her lots of money.”
— El Mahroug’s roommate Caterina Pasquina, to investigators