Maniaci's stated intention was to turn his mostly family-run Telejato into a "miniature, amateur CNN", as he called it, and, therefore, "the world’s longest TV news programme"[3] was born, with a total of two hours of service, from 2:30 pm until 4:30pm.

[4] Telejato's owner and most of the people working there have reported receiving anonymous threats against their lives and their families' well-being, all of which, they claim, come from local Mafia bosses who are upset with the publicity caused by the station's anti-Mafia activity.

In 2007, Telejato's reporting on the unauthorised use of an extended land area by cattle barns that allegedly belonged to local, Mafia-affiliated families and had been operating there for more than twenty years, led to renewed threats.

After receiving first aid assistance, Maniaci left the hospital and, with bruises and cuts visible on his face, went on the air to denounce from Telejato, once more, the ostensibly Maffia-run cattle business.

[6] This episode is part of what Maniaci says is a constant process of threats, manifesting in "countless attacks", such as slashed tyres or severed brake cables in the cars he uses and even windscreens shattered by gunshots.

[11] On 21 April 2016, an article signed by Salvo Vitale on Telejato's Voce della Sicilia webpage alleged that the president of the Court of Auditors Luciana Savagnone got her sports journalist son-in-law hired by the radio station TRM through personal connections.

[12] In April 2016, Salvo Lo Biundo and Gioacchino De Luca, the mayors of Partinico and Borgetto respectively, submitted a complaint against Maniaci, accusing him of demanding bribes so that Telejato "would go easy on them."

[13] In May 2016, Palermo Deputy Prosecutor Vittorio Teresi detailed the accusations against Maniaci in a news conference where he attacked the journalist's status as "a champion of anti-corruption," stating: "The fight against the Mafia is done without personal interests.

Chief Prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi also appeared before the media, claiming Maniaci "has repeatedly shown a total disregard for established authority, the police and the judiciary."

He sentenced Maniaci to 1 year and 5 months of prison time for defamation of journalist Michele Giuliano, painter Gaetano Porcasi, Nunzio Quatrosi, and Elisabetta Liparoto.

[23] In 2015, in "The Mafia Hunter" episode of Channel 4's Unreported World, Krishnan Guru-Murthy and director Paul Kittel traveled to Sicily to meet Maniaci and the group of volunteers who run Telejato.