The conversations also suggested for the first time that he gave money to the women he allegedly slept with, contradicting his repeated insistence that he never paid for sex.
The taped conversations revealed in extraordinary detail how parties involving dozens of young starlets and escorts were organised for the Italian PM by a 36-year-old middleman, Gianpaolo Tarantini, a convicted cocaine dealer.
He was recorded telling Tarantini in October 2008 not to worry about paying the women too much, because they were already "well looked after". In one conversation taped by investigators in early 2009, Berlusconi told him, "Last night I had a queue outside my door, there were 11 of them. I only managed to do eight of them, I couldn't manage any more. You just can't get round to all of them. But this morning I feel great, I'm pleased with my stamina."
"If you have a girl -- two girls, three girls--to bring," Berlusconi is quoted as asking the southern business "Please don't get tall ones-... because we are not tall."
In another excerpt reported by major dailies, Berlusconi says "Gianpi" and his female friends could come along on the premier's flight to Milan. Yet another has him joking to a young woman that he works as prime minister during his "spare time". The conversations also offered the strongest evidence yet that the scandal-prone billionaire used taxpayers' money and state-owned aircraft to fly alleged prostitutes around Italy.
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