the revenge of Filippo Ferretti, the …
by Iacopo Nathan
In Italy he sold shoes, delivered pizzas and worked as a porter in a hotel. In the United States it is the Oscar winner of television journalismwith an investigation on Elvis Reyesa Shepherd religious who cheated in America a thousand immigration. It is the history of the Florentine Philip Ferrettianchorman of the Univision television channel and winner of the award Emmy Prize awarded by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The award, like the Oscars for cinema and Grammys for music, is the most important television award in the world. And Filippo Ferretti managed to conquer it by bringing to light a story of rights, of helping others, of supporting people in difficulty, just like him when he first arrived in the United States.
Ferretti, from Florence to the Emmy Awards, tell your journey.
“I start by saying that I am very Florentine, born and raised in Florence, where I began to take my first steps in the world of journalism, which has always been my great passion. I have also done many other jobs in the meantime, given the initial difficulties in joining. So I wrote for some neighborhood newspaper, and in the meantime I worked in a shoe shop, delivered pizzas or as a porter in a hotel. I must say that it has been a long and beautiful adventure, because I have always sweated everything I have achieved. Then one day, finding it more and more difficult to express myself in the field of journalism, I decided to make a big bet with dollars I left for the Florida 1000 in my pocket, thanks to a contact I had over there. I started writing for a local Italian-American newspaper, and that’s where it all started ”.
Then he switched to television, where he got his statement.
“Yes, after a period in this newspaper I was called by Univisìon, which is one of the most important media in the US in the Spanish language, and is really very popular. Initially my Spanish was not good, and being Italian in a Latin channel was also not easy. I have thanked my being Florentine many times, it is only thanks to what I never gave up, that I always fought to the end believing in what I was doing. With television, things went well, and now I am started, I work in New York and I direct the main news program of the station. Every now and then I look at the audience figures and I shudder to think that a few years ago I was selling shoes in via Cerretani ”.
And the Emmy has also come to close a circle, what feeling is it for you to have been crowned in such a represented context?
“Incredible, I really couldn’t believe it. I’m telling everyone, I’m really living the American dream everyone’s talking about. Of course I had to dare all my energy, but it paid off. It also makes me proud because, on balance, I am the only Florentine to have won “.
Tell the story that crowned you.
“I won thanks to an investigation that lasted almost two years. Thanks to my contacts in the Florida years, I discovered that a pastor, by harnessing his religious position, had defrauded nearly a thousand people, all immigrants or with problems with American citizenship. I was also an immigrant, in my own way, and I wanted to dare my contribution, trying to really help these people. They turned to this person as a last resort, to be saved, and he destroyed them. This is a millionaire scam, and thanks to my investigation this person was sentenced to 20 years in prison. A really bad story, it ruined people’s year life. I am happy to have made my contribution, although mine is not one of the largest media in America, but I have been able to give a voice to people who generally do not have any. My luck is that the story was picked up by the New York Timesrising to the fore throughout the United States “.
What do you see in your future, again the US or a possible return to Italy?
“I have to say it’s something I ask myself every day. In America I live very well, there are many possibilities and this is where I am growing personally and professionally. I must say, however, that I miss Italy so much and especially Florence, which is my home. I would also like to be able to do something for my city, where I have not been able to express as I wanted. I would like to go back to Florence one day, to live and finally do my work at home “.
“En la boca del lobo”, the investigation by Filippo Ferretti on the fraud of the pastor Elvis Reyes
The Tampa, Florida court ruling arrived on Monday, April 12, 2021: Elvis Reyes, the pastor who swindled migrants in the United States, was sentenced to over 20 years in prison. Fraud and identity theft, among the charges. Elvis Reyes, 56, had in fact pretended to be a lawyer and he had been paid by issues of South American families for the drafting of over 200 immigration applications, which later turned out to be false. According to Tampa court documents, the man who owned and operated EHR Ministries Inc. described himself as a competent immigration attorney, although he never had a legal license to do so. Reyes specifically targeted undocumented immigrants from South American countries seeking to obtain driving licenses and work permits valid in the United States. In total, the man had submitted about 215 fraudulent applications, for a total of over a million dollars stolen.
It was Filippo Ferretti who unmasked the affair who, with an investigation that lasted two years, managed to collect the testimonies of the defrauded families. “He stole from me 4 thousand dollars”, comments Ignacio Lòpez of Ruskin, one of the many people duped by Elvis Reyes. “We are humble people with families“, Pointed out another victim of the pastor. But in the end the man was unmasked and sentenced to 249 months in prison by Judge Hernàndez, who after the sentence commented: “The most serious thing about this case was that Reyes, not only had stolen thousands of dollars from over 290 victims, but above all he had taken away from these people their peace, their dreams, their dignity ”. But ultimately justice was done. And the Florentine journalist Filippo Ferretti, with his investigation, earned the Emmy Award, the Academy Award for television journalism.