To go all the way, always and at any cost: job and passions of Miriam Tomponzi, a woman and a detective TRUTH AS A PROFESSION Miriam è suo padre. Di Tomponzi ha gli occhi pieni di sospetto e intelligenza, la bocca grande e segreta, il modo simpatico che nasconde, mica tanto, la voglia di vincere. A fare la detective nell'azienda di famiglia ha cominciato a 20 anni: oggi ne ha 40. Miriam is like her father. She was studying to become a doctor. But hardly had she entered her second year at University when "some disturbing threats by the Red Brigades" convinced her to go abroad. Once in Cambridge, she thought about her own life. She realized that it was useless to run from her father and from that profession she had under her skin. So she took a masters degree in criminology and opened her first agency in Lugano. Today she is the most talked about and respected of the Ponzi heirs. "My father used to call it a "tough passion". The wish for truth: a virus. I was infected too. Today, however, investigations are changing. Along with love for work other things are required: the technology of investigation, a meticulous study of problems and steady attention to national chronicle." Consistently with her principles and desires Miriam Tomponzi opened her new Rome branch in Via Veneto a few weeks ago. GRAZIA Mrs. Ponzi, you're said to be revolutionizing the way of conducting investigations in Italy. Miriam Tomponzi Once, all we had to do with were cases of unfaithfulness and desperate wives. Today, investigations into personal business account for 18 percent. On the other hand, the number of firms that turn to us, trying to avoid being trapped in old tricks, is sharply rising. G. What do you mean? The "signature syndrome" has grown. Until recently, any corporation that assigned a contract eventually discovered, after signing the agreement, that the company selected was crime-related, or that it claimed unfounded assets. As a result, the first item in our program today is "Safe Contracts". Due to our intervention, the selected company is liable to autocertifications proving its record to be clean. A very risky job. Just think of those Russian Mafia members, recently arrested in Madonna di Campiglio, that laundered their "dirty money" with legitimate businesses. G. Another hot topic in investigations today are interceptions. Is there a way to discover that one's cellular phone is under control? M. P. By no means. Even if the customer suspects to be the victim of eavesdropping, there is no way to prove it, because cellular phones are not connected to a wire, but the transmission travels through the air. On the other hand, if we are talking about house phones, the storm starts: you hear voices, noises and screeching. That's when the victim comes to us and we start the reclamation. In the western world, industrial espionage has increased by 50%. G. How much does reclamation cost? M. P. If an apartment is involved, the cost ranges from two to three million. In the case of a firm, though, the cost could amount to thirty million. Today the most sophisticated bugs are inserted into computers and they can contain as many as two thousand hours of recording time, that is thousands of bits of information. G. After the Berlusconi's bug case it has been found that a lot of politicians investigate about their rivals. Is it true? M. P. It certainly is! Once, politicians used to ask us to watch their wives and lovers, suspecting them to be unfaithful. Today, first of all they want to know if their colleagues are faithful to the party. Guess what? It is not a difficult task for us. Regarding a politician it is known in advance who his adversaries or allies are and what his bad habits are.. G. You anticipated the case of false treasury bonds, too. How did you do it? M. P. I published a press release, in which I warned people not to buy treasury bonds, especially bearer bonds, if not from secure places like banks. I gave notice of no fewer than 2 billion and five-hundred million false treasury bonds: this time, they had not been issued as usual in Naples between Posillipo and Forcella, but in North-Eastern Italy. Well, a few days later a Japanese was arrested in Venice with a handbag full of false Japanese bonds, amounting to fifteen thousand billion lire. G. Did you have to completely dismiss your father's passion and adjust to new rules to get trained for an other kind of investigation? M. P. No, I believe that rules and the instinct should remain the same. With an additional amount of know-how, of course. You could not do a patrimonial investigation without knowing the bank law. But look, the professional investigator doesn't need specialization. The detective is a Zelig without sex. He or she must be able to enter a person's soul and business, to "breathe the world", as great Agatha once wrote. Just look at the incredible cases that arrive on my desk. G. Don't be mysterious, what cases? M. P. Cases of all kinds. Do you want the exotic one? At the moment we are carrying out a vast investigation into dog-traffic. Some excellent examples of Molossians are kidnapped and transported to the South, where dog fights are staged. Such medieval exhibitions entrain huge amounts of money in bets. Consider how pleasant it must be to investigate about certain gentlemen! Besides, did you know that almost all the largest car factories today are faced with the problem of spare parts counterfeit? Counterfeiters arrive from North-Africa, where a thriving trade is made out of spare parts destined to old French cars. To say nothing of the terrible, dramatic "Missing people" series. Desperate parents who have sought missing under-age children for years. Or even mothers maddened by the grief of discovering that their daughters have been involved in prostitution rings. Today, pedophily provides a huge ground for our investigations. And the surprises that these stories reserve are often horrific. In some cases, it even happened that we found out that the minor's mother or father were organizing the abuse or at least were aware of it. Horror in this job often plays the most important role. G. You quoted Agatha Christie, who said that she had to change passages in her own books a couple of times because "horror" carried her too far. She couldn't faced it. Has such a thing ever happened to you? M. P. Yes, once. Nevertheless, I had to go to the end. That time I suffered like a dog, but my job requires restraint and courage. In that case a child had suffered abuse and I myself have a nine-year-old son. That child was at mercy of a dreadful, sick family, all the members of which abused him. Lovelessly and painlessly. That case has changed my life. The only case which made me regard this job as maybe too hard. G. A question which will sound obvious: isn't the detective male? M. P. A legitimate question, indeed, just think of my father's time. Today, lots of women are standing in this business, in fact they are "outstanding". They have keen instinct ,great sensitivity and sharp eyes. It is easier for them to enter a story, to realize sorrow, to ease pain. To find out a culprit. They are more passionate than men. They can recognize passions, see them attached to people's clothes. To say nothing of their obstinacy. The stubborn will to get to the bottom of things at any cost. Finally, women are more honest, less corruptible. G. You inherited this job from your father. But what did he teach you practically? M. P. breathed this job in his tales. Dad brought me up at the school of suspicion. When you investigate about everybody, anybody could be a possible culprit. Imagination runs, the world becomes the land of thriller. I don't know. My father taught me everything without teaching me anything. Maybe he taught me courage. The courage of one who has a clear conscience. Author: Stella Pende