Like Al Capone, tax proves the downfall for Silvio Berlusconi, the 'man who never dies'

His vanity and his delusions of being an international statesman have taken a knock from which they’ll never recover

Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi has been sentenced to seven years in prison (Getty Images)

In the end they got Al Capone on his taxes.

And so, after 20 years’ of court warfare and claims involving bribery, corruption and the mob, three-time premier Silvio Berlusconi will die labelled a criminal because he dodged one of the two things in life that we know are unavoidable.

Friends and foes alike are not expecting the grim reaper to come calling just yet, though, his most bitter detractors have often been heard exclaiming “he never dies”.

But a bit of the Silvo Mythhas passed away – that of Silvio the Untouchable, the Telfon Tycoon. His vanity and his delusions of being an international statesman have taken a knock from which they’ll never recover.

And by confirming the conviction - and only delaying the ban on public office - the Supreme Court judges have paved the way for him to be kicked out of parliament.

And out in the real world, without parliamentary protection magistrates won’t need special permission to arrest him. With an indictment for bribing a former senator on the cards later this year, and with the spectre of charges for mafia association never entirely out of mind, Il Calvaliere knows, like Al Capone, that prosecutors will be tormenting him till the day he dies.