Bettino Craxi

He was the Prime Minister of Italy from 1983 to 1987, and head of the Italian Socialist Party from 1976 to 1993. He revitalized the party, which had been troubled by factionalism, and tried to distance it from the communists so that it could participate in coalitions with Christian democrats and other parties. The party reached its height when it won the general election of 1983, after abandoning the coalition with the Christian democrats.

Though he was one of the longest-serving prime ministers in Italian history, he was discredited by corruption charges during the mani pulite (Italian for clean hands) police investigation. His party was utterly destroyed, falling from 20% to almost 0% of votes.

He fled to Tunisia in 1994, and there lived until his death from diabetes complications. He repeatedly declared himself innocent, but never returned to Italy where an arrest warrant was waiting for him.