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Escaped Rome prisoners caught|18/02/2016|One prisoner gave himself up, the other arrested outside Rome.Two prisoners who escaped from Rome’s Rebibbia jail on 14 February are back in custody after one gave himself up on the afternoon of 17 February and the other was caught by police later that night.Both arrests were made in the Tivoli area north-east of Rome, ending a four-day manhunt that began after the prisoners sawed through window bars and scaled the prison walls using knotted sheets.One of the defendants, Catalin Ciobanu, handed himself in to Tivoli police station after realising he had “done something stupid”, according to his lawyer. Police discovered the other escapee, Mihai Florin Diaconescu, aboard a van in the Tivoli area. He was apprehended after a short chase by foot.Prosecutors in Rome have launched an investigation into the break-out from the city jail.
Rome manhunt for escaped prisoners|16/02/2016|Inmates remain at large after breaking out of Rome prison.A police manhunt is in operation in the greater Rome area for two prisoners who broke out of the city’s Rebibbia jail during the evening of 14 February.The inmates, who include a convicted murderer and are described as “very dangerous”, remain at large after evading capture for a second night.The pair escaped after sawing through window bars and scaling the prison wall using an improvised rope made from knotted sheets, before fleeing by foot on Via Tiburtina in the northeast Rebibbia suburb.They made their escape while attending a workshop at a new prison area, which was staffed by just two guards at the time and whose alarm system did not work, according to Italian news agency ANSA.Police are continuing with road blocks and bus checks around Rome in an attempt to catch the two who are named as Catalin Ciobanu and Mihai Florin Diaconescu, aged 33 and 28 respectively, from Romania.
Tortured body of Italian student found in Cairo|05/02/2016|Death of Italian student strains normally close Italo-Egyptian relations.Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi has called for the body of missing Italian student Giulio Regeni to be returned to Italy as soon as possible after the 28-year-old’s corpse was discovered with “signs of torture” outside Cairo on 3 February.A joint investigation has been launched by Italy and Egypt into the circumstances surrounding the death of Regeni whose semi-naked, partially-burned body was found with stab wounds and cigarette burns, indicating a “slow death”, according to Egyptian prosecutors investigating the case.Regeni had been in Egypt since September, carrying out research for his doctoral thesis on Egyptian trade unions and workers’ rights. The left-wing Italian newspaper II Manifesto said it had published his work under a pseudonym for his own security but on 5 February, after his body had been found, it ran an article on independent Egyptian trade unions, under Regeni’s real name.The normally close diplomatic ties between Italy and Egypt have been strained by Regeni’s death, causing Italy to cut short a high-level trade delegation to Cairo and the summoning of the Egyptian ambassador to Italy’s foreign affairs ministry at Palazzo della Farnesina in Rome.Regeni’s corpse was found on the roadside in a west Cairo suburb, nine days after he went missing on 25 January, the fifth anniversary of the popular revolution that toppled the nearly three-decade rule of former president Hosni Mubarak.Although his disappearance coincided with the detention of activists by Egyptian security forces, seeking to avoid anniversary protests, Regeni was not found in any of Cairo’s police stations or jails.Italy made the story public in an effort to pressurise Egypt into establishing the trutharound Regeni’s death, after a senior Egyptian investigator suggested that the University of Cambridge student had been involved in a road accident.See related news wantedinafrica.com
Rome opposes violence against women|25/11/2015|"A total of 152 women were murdered in Italy in 2014, with 94 per cent of the deaths attributed to men, according to a report into femicide released on 24 November. Of the 152 murdered women, 117 were killed within a family context.
However the findings by European research institute EURES reveal that the overall number of femicides in 2014 was down just over 15 per cent compared to 2013.Marking the UN-backed International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November, volunteers from the multi-lingual women’s helpline Telefona Rosa are organising an event at the Auditorium della Conciliazione from 09.30-13.00, featuring experts speaking on the theme “women uniting diverse worlds and cultures”.The Teatro Sistina stages X=Y, a play opposing violence against women, aimed at a young audience, on 25 and 26 November at 10.30 on both days.A “tango session with red shoes” takes place at Porta S. Paolo from 19.00-21.30 on 25 November. Organisers say the initiative, performed and overseen by Argentinian dancers, will use tango as a “beautiful metaphor for the harmony that is possible between men and women.” The Casa Internazionale delle Donne on Via della Lungara 19, in Trastevere, is holding a talk entitled Le donne di fronte al terrorismo on 25 November at 17.30. All events in Italian.Proceeds from the sale of prints at the Chiostro del Bramante between now and 29 November will go towards Donne in Rete contro la violenza (D.iRe), the national association of independent women’s centres and shelters against violence.Each pair of red shoes in the photo symbolises a murdered woman."
Mafia Capitale prosecutors indict ex-mayor Alemanno|07/11/2015|Rome’s ex right-wing mayor Gianni Alemanno accused of corruption.Prosecutors in Rome have sought an indictment for the city’s former mayor Gianni Alemanno on accusations of corruption, in connection with the so-called Mafia Capitale trial which opened on 5 November. The indictment does not contain charges of association with the mafia.The Mafia Capitale trial is the result of a major investigation into a mafia-style syndicate accused of infiltrating city hall, involving politicians, public officials and business people who allegedly helped mobsters to win lucrative city contracts in sectors such as immigrant housing, camps for Roma people, waste management, recycling and parks maintenance.Prosecutors suspect Alemanno, the capital’s right-wing mayor from 2008 to 2013, of receiving €125,000 in illicit funds between 2012 and 2014. They allege the money was funnelled to him in separate tranches by three of the highest-profile defendants in the Mafia Capitale trial.Prosecutors believe Alemanno received €75,000 in financing for electoral dinners, €40,000 for his foundation, and about €10,000 in cash, the last of which he allegedly received in October 2014, two months before the first wave of Mafia Capitale arrests.Prosecutors allege that Alemanno received the illicit funds via his Nuova Italia foundation in exchange for “acts running counter to his duties in office”. On 11 December the trial’s judge Nicola Di Grazia will rule whether or not Alemanno should stand trial. The ex-mayor maintains his “complete innocence.”The Mafia Capitale trial is currently based at the criminal courts in Prati’s Piazzale Clodio but on 10 November is scheduled to relocate to the high security court at the Rebibbia prison in the eastern outskirts of Rome, which is better equipped for handling large groups of defendants.
Mafia Capitale trial opens|05/11/2015|The first hearing in the so-called Mafia Capitale trial, the result of the biggest investigation into organised crime in Rome’s modern history, opened at the criminal courts in the Prati district on Thursday 5 November.The case involves 46 defendants, including the notorious Roman underworld figure Massimo Carminati – the alleged leader of a mafia-style syndicate accused of infiltrating city hall – who will follow proceedings via video link from a maximum security jail in Parma.A one-time member of a neofascist terrorist group as well as the former Banda della Magliana crime gang, Carminati lost an eye in a police shoot-out three decades ago.Also taking the stand is Carminati‘s sidekick Salvatore Buzzi who was caught on wire-tap in early 2013 boasting about how much money the mafia creamed off funds for emergency housing for immigrants and camps for Roma people. The mobsters are believed to have corrupted dozens of politicians, public officials and business people in return for lucrative city contracts in sectors such as waste management, recycling and parks maintenance.Prosecutors allege these contracts were awarded during the administration of former right-wing mayor Gianni Alemanno, who is under investigation for corruption but does not face any mafia-related charges and is not involved in this trial.Local politicians from right and left parties Forza Italia (FI) and the Partito Democratico (PD) are also under trial. These include Luca Gramazio (Lazio branch of FI), the one-time city councillor Giordano Tredicine (FI), a member of the powerful Tredicine family which has a virtual monopoly of the mobile sandwich bars around Rome, and the former head of Rome city council Mirko Coratti (PD).The trial is currently based at the courthouse in Piazzale Clodio but on 10 November is scheduled to relocate to the high security court at the Rebibbia prison in the eastern outskirts of Rome, which is better equipped for handling large groups of defendants. Image: Secolo XIX
Car thieves like small models best|04/11/2015|Over half of stolen cars never recovered.Over 300 cars are stolen a day in Italy, according to a report from the ministry of the interior.But it is not the luxury cars that are disappearing. It is the smaller ones that are most popular. Favourites include the Panda, followed by the Punto, Lancia Ypsilon, Uno, Fiesta, Golf and Smart.Most thefts are in Rome and Naples, followed by Milan.However thefts are going down, from a total of 126,441 in 2013 to 120,495 in 2014 but police only manage to recover under half the cars stolen.In 2000 police found 54 per cent of stolen vehicles compared with 45 per cent in 2014. In the last 15 years over one million cars have simply disappeared.
Mafia Capitale trial opens in Rome|20/10/2015|Former chief of Rome’s AMA rubbish agency faces corruption charges.The first part of the Mafia Capitale trial into alleged criminal infiltration of Rome’s city hall opens on 20 October when the former chief of the city’s rubbish collection agency AMA Roma, Giovanni Fiscon, faces charges of corruption, along with four other defendants.The outgoing mayor Ignazio Marino decided not to attend the hearing, despite previously declaring his “firm intention” of being there wearing his mayoral sash. The city was represented by Alfonso Sabella, the Sicilian magistrate and former antimafia prosecutor, and Rome’s current councillor for legality.The Mafia Capitale case centres mainly on the embezzlement of funds destined for emergency housing for immigrants and camps for Roma people, but also includes other sectors such as waste management, recycling and parks maintenance.Photo. Giovanni Fiscon
Anti-mafia protest in Rome|03/09/2015|"Capital stands up to organised crime following lavish Mafia funeral. Politicians, trade unions and civil society associations are staging an anti-mafia protest at Piazza Don Bosco in Rome’s Cinecittà district at 18.00 on 3 September.The sit-in takes place outside the parish church of Don Bosco, off Via Tuscolana, two weeks after the ostenatious funeral of Vittorio Casamonica, the head of the notorious Casamonica clan which is accused of extortion and drug trafficking. The protest will be attended by the governor of Lazio, Nicola Zingaretti, while the mayor of Rome Ignazio Marino, who returns from his US holiday today, has also pledged his attendance along with the city council and numerous councillors. Speaking from the United States on 2 September, Marino described the rally as “slamming the door in the face of organised crime”, saying he hopes it can be a “new beginning” for the capital. Marino also repeated that he inherited the corruption in city hall when he succeeded his right-wing predecessor Gianni Alemanno more than two years ago.At a meeting with the New York mayor Bill de Blasio at the end of his vacation, Marino said: “If you don’t have lots of enemies, it means that you have not done the right thing.” De Blasio praised his counterpart for being “courageous”, adding that Marino “deserves much credit for what he is doing in the battle against mafia and corruption.” Marino returns to a new command structure decided during his absence, which puts much of the control of Rome under the city’s prefect Franco Gabrielli, who describes himself as a “loyal collaborator” of the embattled mayor.The move comes in light of the so-called Mafia Capitale case which is investigating more than 100 public officials and business figures – including former mayor Alemanno – on suspicion of crimes including bid-rigging, racketeering, aggravated fraud, issuing false invoices, and tax evasion.It also follows the film-set funeral for the 65-year-old Casamonica boss, which took place on 20 August while Marino was on vacation and included a helicopter dropping rose petals on the large crowds. The “funeral show”, as it is referred to by local media, attracted widespread anger in Rome and led to today’s anti-mafia protest being organised by Matteo Orfini, the president of Marino’s Partito Democratico (PD)."
Mafia funeral in Rome draws protests|24/08/2015|Sit-in set for 3 September.A demonstration to protest the ostentatious funeral of the mafia boss, Vittorio Casamonica, is being called for 3 September. The heads of Rome’s 15 municipal districts have said that they will support the sit-in at the church of Don Bosco where the funeral of the head of the notorious Casamonica family was held in Piazza Don Bosco on 20 August, when most of the city was deserted for the Ferragosto holiday. The church of Don Bosco is off Via Tuscolana in the Cinecittà area of Rome.The lavish, film-set funeral, with black horse-drawn carriage, rose petals dropped from a helicopter and crowds of mourners, has further reinforced the image of Italy’s capital as a city without any proper leadership or control.Rome’s prefect, Franco Gabrielli, has called a meeting of the forces of law and order for Monday 24 August. He has already requested clarification from the police, the carabinieri and the city government about the event. The city’s mayor Ignazio Marino is still officially on holiday. In a visit to Naples in the spring Pope Francis came out strongly against the mafia and official Church policy is against lavish funerals for mafia bosses. The priest at the church Don Bosco is reported as saying that he had no control of what happened outside his church. The bishop in charge of that part of the city has said that he knew nothing about the funeral, that he had not been warned by the police and that if he had known he would have stopped the show.In an article condemning the spectacular aspects of the funeral the Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano has carried a comment from the archbishop of Catanzaro-Squillaci, Vincenzo Bertolone, that while the religious rites can not be denied mafia faithful, the funeral itself must be simple.Archbishop Bertolone is the postulant for the canonisation of Pino Puglisi, the priest who was murdered by the mafia in Palermo in 1993.
Police impound Rome marina|29/07/2015|Assets of €400 million seized at port in OstiaRome’s provincial finance police have impounded assets at Ostia’s Porto Turistico di Roma marina, including yachts, car parks, offices and shops worth a total of around €400 million, as well as making several arrests.The four people arrested include the port’s president, well-known entrepreneur Mauro Balini, and three of his associates including lawyer Sergio Capograssi, all of whom face charges of fraud, money laundering and use of unlawfully obtained money, assets or profits.The arrests follow a investigation into an alleged criminal organisation, headed by Balini, operating out of the Porto Turistico di Roma in the seaside suburb of Ostia.The port was built in 2001 on a 22-hectare site with 840 berths but under the administration of former mayor Gianni Alemanno it received permission to expand to 1,419 berths capable of hosting larger yachts.
Tourist caught carving initials on Colosseum|13/07/2015|Latest act of vandalism by tourists at Rome monument.A Lebanese tourist was caught defacing a pillar at Rome’s Colosseum on the afternoon of 11 July, according to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.The 22-year-old, who used a coin to scratch the initials “H.A.” onto the pillar, was caught in the act by security guards who handed him over to police.It is the latest in a string of similar incidents involving tourists damaging the ancient amphitheatre. Last November a 42-year-old Russian tourist was fined €20,000 for using a stone to engrave a 25-cm-tall letter “K” on an internal Colosseum wall.Previous cases involved a 45-year-old Australian man and his 12-year-old son scrawling on the monument in January 2014, and in May last year a Brazilian teenager was also caught carving his name.In March 2014 a Canadian teenager was apprehended while trying to leave the Colosseum with a brick from the monument in her backpack.The 45-year-old Australian was arrested on charges of vandalism but the minors evaded fines due to their age.
New wave of arrests in Rome mafia probe|10/06/2015|Rome mayor refuses to resign.Police arrested five people on 9 June as part of an ever-widening investigation into a mafia syndicate allegedly operating within Rome’s city administration.The five, most of whom are under house arrest, include the head of the technical office of Rome’s sovrintendenza ai beni culturali, which manages the capital’s archaeological sites, and legal representatives of three companies involved in the restoration of the city assembly hall where the city council convenes.The Giulio Cesare hall was inaugurated in September 2010 by then-mayor Gianni Alemanno, who is among the more than 100 public officials and business figures being investigated as part of the so-called Mafia Capitale case.Another 20 people were placed under investigation on 9 June on suspicion of crimes including bid-rigging, racketeering, aggravated fraud, issuing false invoices, and tax evasion.The cultural heritage official, Maurizio Anastasi, under house arrest is suspected of having given preferential treatment to businessman Fabrizio Amore, who is also under investigation for tax fraud, to win the €2.5 million restoration contract.Marino, who has so far refused calls from opposition parties and groups for his resignation, is supported by Italian premier Matteo Renzi who said recently that the current mayor could not be held responsible for a corrupt system which was already well-established by the time Marino took office two years ago.The Mafia Capitale investigation began in December 2014 and centres mainly on the embezzlement of funds destined for emergency housing for immigrants and camps for Roma people, but also includes other sectors such as waste management, recycling and parks maintenance.The case has seen dozens of public officials, business people and politicians from all sides of the political spectrum, arrested for alleged mafia activity, including the 44 arrests made in Lazio, Abruzzo and Sicily on 4 June.
Renzi intervenes in Rome Mafia case|08/06/2015|Junior government minister under investigation over alleged Mafia links.Italian premier Matteo Renzi has intervened following an investigation into a junior government minister as part of the burgeoning case involving an alleged mafia syndicate operating in Rome and elsewhere in Italy.Renzi said he will not request the resignation of the government’s agriculture undersecretary Giuseppe Castiglione, of the Nuovo Centro Destra (NCD) party, who is under investigation in relation to suspected bid-rigging of contracts for a large migrant centre in his native Sicily. Castiglione, along with six others in Catania, is suspected of manipulating the bidding process to ensure a particular cooperative was successful in winning the contract to manage the Cara di Mineo complex in 2011. The investigation is an offshoot of the so-called Mafia Capitale case which centres mainly on the embezzlement of funds destined for emergency housing for immigrants and camps for Roma people, but also includes other sectors such as waste management, recycling and parks maintenance.Referring to his own father who is currently being probed for alleged fraudulent bankruptcy in an unrelated case, Renzi says there is no reason for Castiglione, or any other suspect, to resign just because they are under investigation. However he added that if convicted “they must remain in jail until the last day” and “leave public office for good.”Since December the case has seen dozens of politicians, public officials and business people arrested for alleged mafia activity, including the 44 arrests made in Lazio, Abruzzo and Sicily on 4 June. They are also many under investigation, but who have not been arrested to date, including Gianni Alemanno who was mayor of Rome from 2008 to 2013 and is currently standing down from his rightwing party, Fratelli d’Italia (FdI). Renzi has also defended the reputations of incumbent Lazio governor Nicola Zingaretti and Rome mayor Ignazio Marino, both of whom are fellow members of the premier’s centre-left Partita Democratica (PD) party, neither of whom is under investigation.Renzi said that the present mayor could not be held responsible for a corrupt system which was already well-established by the time Marino took office two years ago. Marino himself has dismissed calls for his resignation, saying “that is what the Mafia would like”, and that under his administration “their criminal plans have failed.”Italy’s foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni (PD) has also weighed in behind the mayor, saying that he must remain in office despite the deepening investigation, adding: “The problem is not Marino.” Police say the central figures in the Mafia Capitale case remain the notorious Roman underworld figure and alleged leader of the capital’s mafia, Massimo Carminati, and his right-hand man Salvatore Buzzi, both of whom were arrested last December along with dozens of other suspects.In early 2013 Buzzi was caught on a wire-tap boasting that the criminals made €40 million a year creaming off funds for immigrants and Roma camps, a racket “more profitable than drug trafficking.”
More arrests in Rome mafia case|04/06/2015|Second wave of arrests in so-called Mafia Capitale investigation.Italian police have made 44 arrests in Lazio, Abruzzo and Sicily, in the second part of the ongoing case involving an alleged mafia syndicate operating in Rome.Police say there are still 21 suspects at large connected to the so-called Mafia Capitale case which centres mainly on the embezzlement of funds destined for emergency housing for immigrants and camps for Roma people, but also includes other sectors such as waste management, recycling and parks maintenance. The 44 suspects arrested in the dawn raid come from both sides of the political spectrum and include regional councillor Luca Gramazio of the Lazio branch of the Forza Italia (FI) party; the former head of Rome city council Mirko Coratti of the centre-left Partita Democratica (PD); Rome’s former housing councillor Daniele Ozzimo (PD); and vice-president of Rome city council Giordano Tredicine (FI), a member of the powerful Tredicine family which has a virtual monopoly of the mobile sandwich bars around Rome. The police investigation involves allegations of bribery, false invoicing and bid-rigging for public contracts between mafia-style criminals and public officials, business people and politicians, the most prominent of whom is Gianni Alemanno who was mayor of Rome from 2008 to 2013. Police say the central figures in the Mafia Capitale case remain the notorious Roman underworld figure and alleged leader of the capital’s mafia, Massimo Carminati, and his right-hand man Salvatore Buzzi, both of whom were arrested last December along with dozens of other suspects.A former member of the Nuclei Armati Rivluzionari (NAR) neofascist terrorist group as well as the former Banda della Magliana crime gang, Carminati lost an eye in a police shoot-out three decades ago and inspired the “Nero” character from the book Romanzo Criminale.In early 2013 Buzzi was caught on wire-tap boasting that the criminals made €40 million a year creaming off funds for immigrants and Roma camps, a racket “more profitable than drug trafficking.”
Guard dogs at Rome’s busiest metro stations|24/02/2015|ATAC increases security at Spagna, Colosseo and TerminiFrom 25 February security personnel at three of Rome’s busiest metro stations will be accompanied by guard dogs, as part of increased security measures by the capital’s public transport provider ATAC.The ten canine units will be on duty at Spagna, Colosseo and Termini, each day from 10.00-20.00.ATAC says the use of guard dogs is designed to act as a crime deterrent and it plans to extend the service to other metro stations in the future.Ph. La Repubblica, Il Messaggero
Dutch football hooligans wreak havoc in Rome|19/02/2015|Rioting Feyenoord fans vandalise 17th-century fountainFans of Dutch football team Feyenoord rioted in Rome’s Piazza di Spagna during the late afternoon on 19 February, ahead of a Europa League match against AS Roma which ended in a 1-1 draw.During the clashes the rioting hooligans smashed glass bottles against the 17th-century Barcaccia fountain, damaging the central part of the baroque monument which was unveiled in September following a year-long restoration.The chipped fragments of the fountain, which is accredited to Pietro Bernini with the possible contribution of his famous son Gian Lorenzo, were visible in the waters along with bobbing glass bottles and rubbish dumped by the hooligans.13 police were injured after the drunken Feyenoord fans pelted them with bottles and flares, leaving the entire Piazza di Spagna littered with broken glass and debris. A running battle ensued after police engaged in baton charges to move the Dutch fans towards Villa Borghese.Once they reached the park, the hooligans vandalised 15 city buses acquisitioned by the police to take them to the Olympic stadium which opened three hours early, before kick-off at 19.00. Bus provider ATAC said later that the buses were damaged so badly that they are now unusable for public transport.Despite the closure of bars and a temporary alcohol ban in place in the city centre, the Feyenoord fans still managed to get their hands on booze. Criticising the loss in trade to the city, Italian business association Confesercenti claimed the ban was being defied openly by “illegal vendors selling beer bottles around the crowds of fans, but no one says anything.”There were up to 7,000 Feyenoord fans in Rome for the game and many of them were already involved in unruly behaviour in Campo de’ Fiori on the night of 18 February. Throughout the next day they caused mayhem in the centre, vandalising property and vehicles, intimidating shopkeepers, urinating against apartment doors and jumping on cars.Police arrested 28 fans on charges of resistance, damage and violence, with an Italian court handing down fines of €45,000 each to several defendants, while others received jail terms of between eight and 16 months. They were among the 600 Feyenoord fans escorted to Fiumicino airport to board chartered planes back to Holland. Following the game, police escorted the Dutch fans en masse from the stadium in the Flaminio district to Termini station.Italian premier Matteo Renzi referred to the football hooligans as “barbarians” who were “full of beer”, saying that their behaviour was “a total insult to civility.” The prime minister said that he is awaiting an apology from Feyenoord, adding that the hooligans would be punished with “much severity and harshness.”The capital’s “furious” mayor Ignazio Marino tweeted: “Rome devastated and wounded. In contact with the prefect, police chief and Dutch ambassador. It won’t end here”. The mayor said he is ordering an investigation into why the Barcaccia fountain was not guarded by police, while Rome’s cultural heritage superintendent Claudio Parisi Presicce said the city would sue for damages once the culprits were identified. Marino also said he told Rome’s Dutch embassy: “Chi rompe paga” (Whoever breaks, pays).The Dutch embassy agreed that the damage to the historic fountain was a “disgrace” even though “only a few chips came off.” In a statement agreed with the foreign ministry of the Netherlands, the embassy said that Italian authorities “can count on the complete collaboration and commitment of the Netherlands to see the culprits are punished.”Andy Devane
Schettino gets 16 years for Concordia disaster|11/02/2015|Former captain guilty of multiple manslaughterThe former captain of the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia has been found guilty of manslaughter and was sentenced to 16 years in prison by a court in Grosseto on 11 February.Francesco Schettino was convicted on charges of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, abandoning ship and abandoning the incapable, for his role in the fatal shipwreck on 13 January 2012 off the Tuscan island of Giglio, which resulted in the deaths of 32 people.The court’s verdict was reached after a 19-month-long trial in which investigators blamed Schettino for the 32 fatalities after he brought the 292m-long luxury cruise liner too close to shore, in an apparent act of bravado, running the vessel aground on rocks.The chaotic evacuation that ensued saw Schettino abandon the ship before all his 4,200 passengers and crew members were evacuated, in what is Italy’s worst post-war maritime disaster.Prosecutors had requested Schettino be jailed for 26 years but in the end the three-judge panel sentenced him to 16 years and one month, although for the moment he is free. The court rejected a prosecution request for Schettino’s arrest, saying there was no evidence to suggest he would seek to flee Italian justice. The judges ruled instead that Schettino would not go to prison until the appeals process is completed, which can take years.Schettino and his former employers Costa Criuses were also jointly ordered to pay a total of €30,000 each in compensation to many of the ship’s passengers as well as millions of euro in damages to Italian government ministries, Tuscany’s regional government and Giglio.The 114,500-ton ship wreck was the subject of a complex and unprecedented salvage operation, during which a Spanish diver lost his life, before it was successfully towed away from Giglio and taken to Genoa for dismantling last July.Photo Telegraph
Rome mayor backs red light zone in EUR|08/02/2015|Controversial plan will see prostitution tolerated in non-residential area of EURRome’s mayor Ignazio Marino and his administration have approved plans for a red light zone in a non-residential area of the capital’s southern EUR district.The so-called “zoning” pilot project will tolerate prostitution in a still-unidentified red light area in EUR, beginning in April, in a bid to counter exploitation by pimps and traffickers and promote safer sex.Police will clamp down on the illegal trade on the other 20 or so red-light streets in the neighbourhood, imposing €500 fines on prostitutes caught working outside the permitted area, which will be supervised by health and social authorities.The plan, which will cost the city €5,000 a month, will see authorities effectively turn a blind eye to the criminal aspect of the business in the tolerated area, while operating a “zero tolerance” policy against prostitution in the rest of EUR.Marino says he wishes to “strike a balance” by tolerating prostitution in certain areas while keeping it away from “public parks where families go.”Police chiefs are reportedly sceptical about the success of the project which has met fierce opposition from the Catholic Church, from the centre-right opposition on Rome’s city council, and even from members of Marino’s own Partito Democratico (PD).
Rome unveils record seizure of looted antiquities|21/01/2015|Italian police display recovered stolen treasuresItalian art police unveiled their largest-ever single seizure of looted antiquities, comprising more than 5,000 archaeological items, during a press conference at Rome’s Terme di Diocleziano museum on 21 January.The recovered booty includes ancient Greek statues, amphorae, frescoes and vases, all illegally looted from southern Italy. Estimating the seizure’s total value at about €50 million, police say it was by far their “largest recovery in history in terms of the quantity and quality of the archaeological treasures.”The works, which date from the eighth century BC to the third century, were discovered during raids on Swiss warehouses belonging to Sicilian former art dealer Gianfranco Becchina, as part of a police investigation.Prosecutors accuse the Basel-based Becchina and his wife of belonging to a sophisticated antiquities trafficking ring involving tomb raiders in southern Italy and international dealers. Becchina protests his innocence and points out that he has never been convicted of such an offence.Police say the looted works were sent to Switzerland for restoration before being sold around the world using forged provenance papers, meaning in theory that museums and collectors could buy the artefacts in good faith.The most valuable piece recovered was a sixth-century BC Corinthian amphora showing the mythical hero Theseus who killed the minotaur, according to Greek legend. Italy’s ministry for cultural heritage believes the masterpiece was probably stolen from an Etruscan necropolis.The works are expected to go on public display in Rome before being sent to various museums in southern Italy.
Pepper spray for Rome police|18/01/2015|Six-month training and trial period begins January Italy’s interior ministry has issued Rome police with pepper spray as part of a six-month trial, with 650 officers in the capital beginning training courses in its use on 18 January.A ministry circular states that the device should be sprayed only in exceptional circumstances when police face “active resistance, threats or violence”, after all attempts of negotiation or mediation have failed.Two different types of spray will be tested, one for the first three months and the other for the second three-month trial.480 police in Naples will also be trained to use pepper spray under the same conditions as those set for the Rome police. Photo Corriere della Sera
Rome mafia exploited immigrants and gypsies|03/12/2014|Racket earned Rome mafia “more money than drug trafficking” Judicial documents have revealed that funding destined for immigrants and members of the Roma community was the main source of income for the alleged mafia syndicate operating in Rome, according to Italian news agency ANSA.There are currently about 100 politicians, public officials and business people under police investigation for alleged mafia activity, including Gianni Alemanno who was mayor of Rome from 2008 to 2013.Among the 37 arrests on 3 December is notorious Roman underworld figure Massimo Carminati, the alleged leader of the capital’s mafia which – according to prosecutors – operated independently of other mafia associations in southern Italy, such as the Camorra or Cosa Nostra.A former member of the Nuclei Armati Rivluzionari (NAR) neofascist terrorist group as well as the former Banda della Magliana crime gang, Carminati lost an eye in a police shoot-out three decades ago and inspired the “Nero” character from the book Romanzo Criminale.Also arrested was Carminati’s right-hand man Salvatore Buzzi who was caught on wire-tap in early 2013 boasting about how much money the mafia creamed off funds for emergency housing for immigrants and camps for Roma people. Buzzi was recorded saying that the criminals made €40 million a year from the immigrant funds, a racket “more profitable than drug trafficking.”The other sectors the Rome mafia infiltrated allegedly include waste management, recycling and parks maintenance. In the wiretap Buzzi is also heard saying that the mafia must try and get Alemanno’s successor Ignazio Marino onside, although he conceded it wouldn’t be easy, saying: “Nobody trusts Marino.”The so-called Mafia Capitale scandal has been condemned by Italian premier Matteo Renzi, who said he was “shocked and angry”, but noted that the case involved politicians from all sides. He has now put the Rome branch of his party under the administration of a specially appointed commissioner, Matteo Orfini.The corrupt practices in relation to the targeting of refugees and Roma people was also condemned by the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR).Photo Il Messaggero
Growing incidents of knockout attacks in Rome|20/11/2014|Some victims being assaulted with knuckle dustersPolice in Rome are reporting growing cases of the violent phenomenon known as “knockout”, whereby unsuspecting passers-by are punched in the face with the aim of knocking them unconscious.This so-called “game”, imported from America earlier this year, normally involves the attackers’ friends filming their exploits to upload on social media. The attacks happen both during the day and night and the attackers make no distinction between age or gender – usually fleeing the scene without stealing anything.Earlier in November an 80-year-old man was knocked out in the Vescovio area of Rome, near Villa Ada, leaving the pensioner with a fractured eye-socket, while in recent days another man was also knocked unconscious in the Centocelle district in east Rome. Neither victim was robbed.However in recent months the violent trend – first reported in Trastevere in February – has spread to other parts of Rome where a growing number of victims are robbed after being assaulted.Police in Quarticciolo in east Rome have reported an even more violent version of knockout whereby the attackers use brass knuckles or “knuckle dusters” to overpower their victims before robbing them. Police say this is an organised operation, comprising a man and a woman, and that there have been at least six such cases since the start of October.The police are currently studying CCTV footage in the area as part of their investigation into the crimes.
Anti-crime barriers for Rome’s Termini station|30/07/2014|Measures to protect tourists from pickpockets and fake portersRome’s Termini station is to install barriers at the beginning of platforms to allow access only to passengers with tickets. The measures are designed as protection against criminals masquerading as baggage porters.The move was announced by Rome mayor Ignazio Marino on 30 July following a meeting with security chiefs at the capital’s principal train station. Marino said the system will be a return to the “barriers that were there until the late 1970s, early 1980s. In this way, only those with tickets can access the trains.”Similar security measures are already in place at the S. Maria Novella station in Florence, installed for the same reasons.Rome’s police chief Giuseppe Pecoraro said that the numbers of police on duty in and around Termini will be increased, along with an advertising campaign warning tourists to be on their guard while passing through the station.Over the last year there have also been reports of criminals dressed in suits boarding first-class carriages at Termini and removing luggage just before the train departs. The security upgrade follows the recent report in the Rome daily Il Messaggero outlining the fake ticket controllers at Flaminio metro station. Dressed in red uniforms, they provide tourists with information in English before requesting tips.The newspaper also published a photo showing a group of gypsies stationed at Termini’s electronic ticket machines where they “help” tourists before demanding money. The image went viral on social media sites in Rome and led to calls for a clampdown on illegal activity at the station.Another newspaper, La Repubblica, recently quoted a representative from the Lazio branch of police trade union ANIP Italia Sicura who said that over 100 pickpockets are arrested each day at Termini despite the fact that less than half of the station’s security cameras actually work.Photos: Il Messaggero
Anti-semitic graffiti in Rome|30/07/2014|Rome’s mayor expresses solidarity with city’s Jewish community Police in Rome are investigating a spate of anti-semitic graffiti that has appeared on shopfronts and walls around the capital in recent days.The latest messages – removed from walls in the Prati district on 30 July – read “Giudei la vostra fine è vicina” (Jews your end is near) and “Fuoco alle Sinagoghe” (Burn the synagogues).On previous nights dozens of swastikas, slogans such as “Anna Frank cantastorie” (Anne Frank storyteller) and pro-Palestinian posters by a neo-nazi group reading “Stesso nemico, stessa barricata” (Same enemy, same barricade) appeared on Via Cola di Rienzo and Via Ottaviano in Prati and Via Appia Nuova in S. Giovanni.The anti-semitic graffiti has been widely condemned by Jewish leaders and local and state officials. Rome’s mayor Ignazio Marino described the affair as “a disgrace and an insult to all Romans.” He expressed solidarity with the city’s Jewish community, saying “Rome wants and must be the capital of dialogue and peace, and not the land of barbarity.”The vandalism in Rome follows reports of anti-semitic attacks and protests in other European capitals such as Berlin and Paris over Israel’s ongoing military operation in Gaza.Photos: Corriere della Sera
Rome postman hides undelivered letters|21/05/2014|Main areas affected include Ostiense and S. Paolo A Roman postman faces criminal charges after being found in possession of almost 4,000 undelivered letters and packages, some of which date back to 2012.The discovery came to light when police stopped the man’s private vehicle at Piazza di Porta Maggiore during a routine check in the early hours of 20 May. The officers discovered 836 packages and letters – both regular and registered mail – along with around 1,000 daily newspapers and some 2,000 subscription magazines, all of which are now being delivered to their recipients in Ostiense, S. Paolo, Trastevere, Monteverde and EUR.The postino initially said the mail belonged to him but later confessed that he would have burned it as it had become “too much.” Police are now trying to ascertain if other mail had previously been hidden or destroyed by the postman who also faces an investigation from Poste Italiane.The incident comes exactly a year after police on Rome’s Corso Italia found an abandoned stolen car containing four sacks of 1,000 letters, all of which had postage stamps affixed but had not been franked by the post office. In March 2013 police arrested a postman in Subiaco, to the east of the Rome province, for failing to deliver mail over a three year-period, in order to return home early.
Credit card cloning gang arrested|14/04/2014|Rome tourists defrauded of €100,000 per dayPolice have broken up a criminal gang that specialised in cloning the credit cards of tourists in the centre of Rome.The counterfeiting and “scamming” of tourists’ credit cards was generating about €100,000 per day for the criminals who were based between Rome and Bulgaria.The investigation into the gang began in 2012 and led to numerous arrests and charges in recent days, in a co-ordinated operation between the Italian fraud squad, Europol and the national security service of Bulgaria.
Growing violence in Trastevere|31/03/2014|Arrival of violent “knockout” phenomenonResidents and traders in Trastevere have met with city authorities to express their exasperation of the violence that is affecting their district. The group say that Trastevere is the scene of violent and anti-social behaviour almost every night but particularly at the weekends.The residents and traders say that the root of the problem is the cheap and ready supply of alcohol being sold to underage drinkers at fruit shops and mini-markets.What residents are most concerned about is the recent arrival of the violent phenomenon known as “knockout”, whereby unsuspecting passers-by are punched in the face with the aim of knocking them unconscious. This “game”, which was imported from America in February, involves the attackers’ friends filming their exploits to upload on social media.Residents say those involved in “knockout” are Italian teenage boys aged 15-18 who congregate in the area around Vicolo Dè Cinque, drinking and consuming drugs on the street. Much of the violent behaviour occurs on less-busy surrounding side streets such as Via del Cipresso and Via di S. Dorotea, according to local traders who told Italian newspaper La Repubblica they are tired of the “mindless violence.”The legal drinking age in Italy was raised last year from 16 to 18 by the former health minister Renato Balduzzi. Selling alcohol to minors in Italy carries a fine between €250 and €1,000.Photos La Repubblica
Jailbreak from Rome prison|11/02/2014|Prisoners escape from Rebibbia jailTwo prisoners escaped from Rebibbia prison in north-east Rome just before midnight on 11 February.A manhunt is underway for the two inmates who sawed through the bars of their third-floor cell and descended using sheets tied together.The prisoners were both serving time for armed robbery and were housed in the prison’s so-called terza casa (third house) where inmates receive treatment for drug addiction.It is the first time that anyone has escaped from that section of the prison, according to the Lazio branch of FNS CISL, the trade union that represents prison guards.
Major anti-Mafia raid in Rome|21/01/2014|Numerous bars and restaurants seized in central RomeA major police operation against the Camorra, the Naples-based mafia, has resulted in the seizure of 20 bars and restaurants in central Rome.Many of the premises belong to the Pizza Ciro chain and are located in areas around the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Campo de’ Fiori and Via del Corso.The dawn raids on 22 January took place in Rome, Florence and Naples and led to the seizure of €250 million of assets and 90 arrests.The operation was coordinated by Italy’s anti-mafia directorate.
Britain warns against dangers of drug offences overseas|24/11/2013|The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is launching a campaign, in conjunction with Prisoners Abroad, to highlight the consequences of drug use, abuse and smuggling by British nationals around the world. Hundreds of Brits are at present in prison abroad for drug related offences, often detained without trial.Prisoners Abroad, a charity that supports British nationals imprisoned overseas and their families, is currently helping 84 Brits between the ages of 18 and 30 imprisoned for drug offences. 62 are still waiting trial.In Italy nine British nationals were arrested on drug-related charges between April 2012 and March 2013, a 29 per cent increase on the previous 12-month period. In exceptional cases offenders in Italy may be held on remand for over a year without trial.Will Middleton, the British consular director for southern Europe says: “Being sent to prison overseas away from family and friends is very distressing and even more so if you don’t speak the language. We see people of all ages – from youngsters through to pensioners – who have lost their friends, their job, had to give up their studies or had their children taken into care and got into major financial difficulties because they did not think they would get caught. If you or someone you know is involved with illegal drugs in any way, then the message is clear: the consequences are simply not worth it.”Two British subjects – Terry Daniels (imprisoned for drugs offences in Spain) and Billy Burton (charged with drug offences in the Philippines) – describe just what can happen very graphically on this video called Drugs: Mess up, miss out.According to a Foreign Office report on figures for consular assistance abroad from April 2012 to March 2013 although total drug related arrests decrease over the previous 12-month (from a total of 816 to 653) they increased in the United States, Greece, the United Emirates, Portugal, India, China, the Philippines, Italy and Pakistan.
Bank machine thefts in Rome|14/10/2013|New outbreak of “cash trapping” in Rome Police in Rome have arrested a gang for stealing money on over 30 occasions from bank machines around the capital, using a system known as “cash trapping.”The six criminals were arrested on charges of aggravated theft after an investigation by police from stations at Monteverde and Trastevere. The arrests come a year after criminals were caught stealing money from bank machines in the Porta Portese and Corso di Francia districts.The cash trapping method involves inserting a metal fork into the banknote dispenser, in a manner invisible to the naked eye. The procedure of withdrawing money functions as normal until the appearance of the words “operation complete/amount paid”.After that however, the notes are not forthcoming. At this point the customer usually blames the malfunction on a technical failure, and leaves the scene, allowing the observing thieves to retrieve the metal device and with it all the banknotes trapped inside.Police have advised that if users of bank machines in Rome do not receive their requested notes when the bank machine says it has paid the money, they should not leave the ATM but call the emergency police number 112 instead.
Amanda Knox won't return to Italy|22/09/2013|Amanda Knox has told British television’s ITV that she will not return to Italy to attend her retrial for the murder of Meredith Kercher.However in an interview from Seattle for ITV’s Daybreak programme she said that she would be prepared to take a lie-detector test to prove her innocence.Knox was originally convicted, along with her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, for the murder in 2007 of her flatmate Kercher in Perugia. Both were imprisoned waiting a retrial and were subsequently acquitted in 2011. But earlier this year Italy’s Court of Cassation overturned the lower court verdict on procedural grounds.The retrial is scheduled for the end of September in Florence.Knox indicated in the television interview that the reasons she will not be returning to Italy are both emotional and financial. She said that she is innocent, that she is trying to rebuild her life and that she cannot afford the cost of returning.Knox’s book Waiting to be Heard, based on her prison experiences in Italy, is said to have earned her an advance fee of about €3 million, but she said in the interview with ITV that this had already gone to paying off the debts of her previous trials.The Knox interview with ITV comes shortly after a similar one in the US with NBC’s morning television show Today.
Racist attack against American woman in Rome|11/09/2013|An American woman of Indian origin was racially abused and physically attacked in the Testaccio area of Rome at around 02.00 on the night between Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 September.The 30-year old American citizen had been on her way home after a night out with her female Italian friend when she stopped to watch a group of male and female youths dancing on the street. Her gaze was met with racist taunts over the colour of her skin before she was grabbed by the hair and punched in the face by two girls, to shouts of “Vattene Banglaindia.”A bouncer working nearby intervened, allowing the American woman and her friend to take refuge inside his bar. When the pair went back outside ten minutes later, the same assailants ran towards them, shouting racial abuse at the American woman and trying to attack her a second time, but were stopped again by the bouncer.After being treated in hospital, the victim remained in a state of shock for three days before reporting the incident to police. She has worked in Rome for the last few months and speaks Italian. “I could not believe it – the victim told La Repubblica newspaper – I have never had problems in Italy. That group who danced in the street gave me a sense of joy and freedom. Never would I have thought of violence over the different colour of my skin.”
“Specialist of the 64″ banned from public transport|28/08/2013|A notorious pickpocket known as the “Specialist of the 64″ – in reference to his preference for targeting tourists on Rome’s 64 bus – has been banned from travelling on public transport in all Italian cities.In spite of being arrested multiple times over the last 20 years the serial pickpocket, originally from Puglia in southern Italy, continued to remove wallets from unsuspecting tourists on the 64, a normally crowded bus that travels from Termini train station to the Vatican and is synonymous with pickpockets.After police caught the 57-year old thief in the act for the umpteenth time – relieving an American tourist of a wallet near Largo Argentina – the courts decided to take decisive action to end the pickpocket’s “career”, barring him from public transport and confining him to within four blocks of his home between 06.00 and 17.00 every day.The “specialist” was one of five pickpockets arrested by undercover police aboard the capital’s buses and trams on 27 August. The other thieves included an Algerian, a Macedonian and an Italian male and female double-act.Earlier this month the 64 was identified by the British government in a safety guide for tourists coming to Rome. The British Consul David Broomfield warned “Visitors to Italy and especially to Rome should be aware of the high risk of personal theft, bag snatching, pick pocketing, that is endemic on public transport and at main tourist attractions in Rome.”The travel alert was rejected by Rome’s mayor Ignazio Marino who responded “The incidence of petty crime in several European and American cities is much higher than in Rome. The capital is complex like many big cities but it is hospitable.”See related news
Petty theft in Rome|12/08/2013|That Rome is a place where you have to be careful of your passport and credit cards is nothing new. The notoriety of the 64 bus, which many tourists use to get from the main railway station to the Vatican, is a classic piece of information in all guide books to the Eternal City.But this year pickpocketing seems to be worse than usual, probably because of the difficult economic situation.So the British consul in Rome, David Broomfield, decided to warn nationals to be careful in an official notice on the Foreign Office website, based in part on reports in the Italian media itself.This has upset Rome’s mayor, Ignazio Marino, and several English newspapers, The Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail and The Times have reported that Marino has reacted angrily.Perhaps the English newspapers don’t know how easy it is to suffer the same fate in London.The only time I have been robbed of my British passport was on London’s 19 bus, guess where…in Piccadilly. And I have only been burgled twice in my life, once when I lived in London, when my apartment was turned upside down, and the second time when I was staying at a London hotel.Perhaps this sort of theft is so common in London that the Italian consul wouldn’t even think of mentioning it, and the mayor, Boris Johnson, certainly wouldn’t bother to react.Mary Wilsey
Prelate, broker and spy arrested in Vatican Bank probe|27/06/2013|Italian police have arrested a senior prelate in charge of Vatican accounts, an Italian secret service agent and a financial broker, in connection with an investigation into allegations of corruption at the Vatican Bank, known officially as the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR).Monsignor Scarano, a former banker, who is the head of analytic accounts at the Vatican’s asset-management agency APSA, was arrested on 28 June on suspicion of corruption and fraud. The prelate was arrested along with Giovanni Maria Zito, an agent in Italy’s domestic intelligence agency AISI, and financial broker Giovanni Carenzio from Rome.Scarano is accused of paying Zito €400,000 to arrange for €20 million in cash to be flown to Italy from Switzerland on a private jet. The cash was destined for a family who were friends with Scarano.Scarano has also been under investigation by Italian police for several weeks over the recycling of €560,000 worth of cheques from his diocese, described as church donations, through the Vatican Bank. The prelate was suspended from his Vatican post on 26 June and is currently imprisoned in Rome’s Regina Coeli jail.The arrests come just 48 hours after Pope Francis established a five-person commission to investigate the bank’s affairs, granting them full access to all files. The pope is said to be determined to get to the bottom of long-standing claims of corruption and money-laundering by the bank, which has been the subject of two investigations in the last four years.The commission is led by Italian Cardinal Raffaele Farina. There are two Americans on the board, Monsignor Peter Wells from the Vatican secretariat of state, and Mary Ann Glendon, a former US ambassador to the Holy See and current president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. The two other members are French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran – one of the five cardinals on the Bank’s governing board – and Spanish canon lawyer Juan Ignacio Arrieta.The Vatican bank was founded in 1942 by Pope Pius XII to manage assets for religious or charitable works. Currently IOR has 112 employees and 19,000 bank accounts, with deposits totalling about €6 billion.
Tourists trapped in illegal taxi at Rome airport|26/06/2013|Two Swedish tourists were on the receiving end of an illegal taxi service at Fiumicino airport on 26 June, according to a report in Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.After meeting the Swedes in arrivals and convincing them to accept his service, the driver is reported to have locked the tourists in his nine-seater rental van for almost half an hour while he sourced seven other passengers to take into Rome.The trip would have earned him a total of €450 had the police not intervened. Instead the driver was handed a €2,000 fine and had his vehicle seized.A separate incident in recent days involves another illegal taxi operator who faces criminal proceedings for assaulting two members of a Bangladeshi family who realised they were being conned and refused to board the van at the last minute.Police say the modus operandi used by the illegal drivers always follows the same lines. They meet customers in arrivals, offering to take them into Rome for €50 each, then lead them to the awaiting vehicle in which the unsuspecting tourists are locked until the driver returns with a “full house” of clients.If you are being asked for €50 per head then it is advisable to take a white, Rome-licensed taxi. These fares are fixed. The official one-way fare for ordinary taxis between Fiumicino and the centro storico of Rome is €48. Taxi fares between the centre of Rome and Ciampino airport are also fixed, at €30.One other word of caution. Some of the taxis at Fiumicino airport are Fiumicino-registered instead of Rome-registered. The way to tell is by looking at the city registration on the driver’s door. If it is a Fiumicino-registered vehicle it is best to ask the price of the journey to Rome before starting off.
American air hostess with gun arrested at Fiumicino|24/06/2013|An American air hostess was arrested at Rome’s Fiumicino airport on 23 June after Italian border police discovered a revolver and ammunition in her hand luggage.The 60-year-old flight attendant – identified only by the initials JJ – had been about to board a US Airways flight to Charlotte in North Carolina but was apprehended during pre-flight security measures after officials became suspicious of her behaviour.The police found a disassembled 40-calibre SIG Sauer revolver in her carry-on bag, along with 40 bullets, of which five were discharged.The woman told the police that she had brought the gun to Rome from the US. She was subsequently arrested for possession of an unauthorised firearm and taken to Civitavecchia prison pending an investigation by the local prosecutor’s office.Tests are also being carried out on the bullets to ascertain when they were fired.
18th-century fountain destroyed in Frascati|17/06/2013|Vandals have destroyed an 18th-century fountain in the grounds of Villa Torlonia in Frascati outside Rome.The recently-restored fountain was shattered after being pushed over during the early hours of Sunday 16 June.Police are investigating the incident which has led to local opposition politicians making renewed calls for surveillance in the park at weekends, particularly during the summer months.However the city’s councillor for public works Francesca Neroni said it was “unthinkable to have to need 60 million police” to protect the country’s heritage.Instead she blamed a lack of civic courtesy that “begins with writing on [school] desks, moves on to walls and culminates in the destruction of an asset as valuable as this.”
Fiumicino baggage handlers arrested for theft|05/05/2013|On 3 May Italian police arrested 19 Alitalia airport baggage handlers accused of stealing cash, cameras, telephones, jewels and other valuables from passengers’ luggage, after a sting operation at Rome’s Fiumicino international airport.A further 30 Alitalia employees at Fiumicino are under investigation as part of the major Stive Pulite (“Clean Holds”) probe which was carried out at various Italian airports with the cooperation of the national airline.In addition to Rome, police are investigating 37 baggage handlers at airports in Bologna, Bari, Verona, Naples, Milan Linate, Palermo and Lamezia Terme in the southern region of Calabria where the investigation began 18 months ago.The alleged thefts occurred during the loading and unloading of luggage in aeroplane cargo-holds, where baggage handlers can normally work unobserved by others. However footage recorded by hidden cameras caught workers apparently breaking into suitcases and rummaging through passengers’ belongings before pocketing valuables.The accused have been charged with criminal offences including theft and aggravated theft. If convicted, they could face up to six years in prison. In some cases they have been charged with deliberately damaging luggage they were unable to break into.Alitalia stated that passengers who lost their belongings have been reimbursed.
Police investigate Etruscan Museum robbery|02/04/2013|A police investigation is underway following the theft of some 19th-century jewellery from Rome’s Villa Giulia Etruscan museum over the Easter weekend.The thieves gained entry after forcing open one of the entrance doors. They smashed two cabinets on the upper floor containing items from the important Castellani collection comprising more than 6,000 whole and fragmented artefacts including ancient and modern gold, and amber pendants dating from the early 7th century BC.However this activated the alarm system and before fleeing the thieves only stole some 19th-century jewellery, not among the museum’s most valuable items.Investigators believe that the thieves visited the museum before the robbery, possibly posing as tourists.The Castellani collection of Etruscan treasures was amassed by collector and antiques dealer Augusto Castellani, whose extensive digs at Cervetri in the 1860s were funded by Michelangelo Caetani, the Duke of Sermoneta. Five years after Castellani’s death, his son Alfredo honoured his father’s wishes and donated the collection to the state in 1919.
Knox and Sollecito face retrial in Florence|25/03/2013|Italy’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, has ruled that there must be a retrial of the case against Amanda Knox and her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito for the sexual assault and murder of the British student Meredith Kercher in 2007.At the time of the murder Kercher and the American Knox were flatmates in Perugia where they were both studying as exchange students.Knox and Sollecito, her Italian boyfriend at the time, were originally found guilty in 2009 of the crimes and sentenced to 26 and 25 years respectively. They were then acquitted in a retrial in 2011 on the grounds that the DNA evidence produced at the first trial was flawed.Prosecution lawyers subsequently appealed to the Court of Cassation to overturn the 2011 verdict on procedural grounds. The reasons why the court has granted the prosecution’s case are not yet known.The Court of Cassation has also confirmed the three-year sentence given to Knox for the libel of Patrick Lamumba, a local Perugia bar owner, whom she originally accused of committing the Kercher murder.The retrial of Knox and Sollecito, who became celebrities during their murder trials in Perugia, is expected to be in Florence.Knox will probably be tried in absentia. If convicted it seems unlikely that the United States would agree to her extradition from Seattle where she is now living.Rudy Guede, from the Ivory Coast, who was convicted of the Kercher assault and murder in a separate trial is serving a 16-year prison sentence.
Irish priest victim of hit and run in Rome|22/11/2012|An Irish priest, who has been missing for several days in Rome, has been found in Ospedale S. Filippo Neri in north-west Rome.Father Bart Kiely appears to have been the victim of a hit and run accident. Both his legs are broken, he is unconscious but not in a coma and his condition is critical but stable. The extent of his facial bruising made identification difficult. He was not carrying any form of identification when admitted to hospital.Kiely, who is 70 and teaches and lives at the Pontifical Gregorian University, had been missing since Wednesday 14 November.He left the university at 12.45 that day on his bicycle and was thought to be heading to a meeting at the American Episcopal Church of St Paul’s Within the Walls on Via Nazionale. However he did not turn up at the meeting. He was not dressed in clerical attire when he left the Gregorian.S. Filippo Neri was beyond the catchment area of the city hospitals that were searched initially.
Rome marks UN day to eliminate violence against women|22/11/2012|On average 120 women are killed by men each year in Italy, mostly by members of their own family or close friends. One woman in three will be subjected to violence by men, both physical and sexual, during the course of her life. These are the figures cited at a conference hosted in the Italian chamber of deputies on the eve of the UN day for the elimination of violence against women on 25 November.The day will be marked in Rome by a festival of music, photography, art and literature at the Lanificio 159, the ex-industrial space at Petralata, at the La Casa Internazionale delle Donne, at Città dell’ Altra Economia at the ex-Mattatoio in Testaccio, at the the Centro di Ascolto at Tor Bella Monaca.In Italy there have been some recent tragic and violent killings of women by men in the north and the south of the country, almost exclusively by men either close to or known by the women. According to the statistics from the help line Telefono Rosa, 85 per cent of the 106 dead so far this year have been victims of violence by close relatives or friends, 3 per cent up on 2011.Of the 1,000 women who have reported acts of violence to Telefono Rosa this year 44 per cent have experienced physical violence, the remainder psychological violence which includes stalking. Some 60 per cent of the women are between the ages of 35 and 54 and at least 12 per cent have been subject to long-term violence. It is thought the present economic crisis has led to increases in the level of violence against women in the home.In July this year a new help centre, part of the Associazione Giovanna D’Arco was opened close to Piazza del Popolo, Via Gabriele D’Annunzio 101, tel. 3479091265.Details of other help centres in Italy and events around the country on 25 November.See also Wanted in Rome related article
US student stabbed in Rome|01/11/2012|A 19-year-old American foreign exchange student was stabbed 25 times in Rome’s central Monti district at dawn on 1 November, following a night of Hallowe’en partying.The victim was stabbed with a kitchen knife as he slept at their apartment on Via del Cardello, a small side street off the Colosseum-end of Via Cavour.Another US student was injured while attempting to apprehend the alleged attacker, a 20-year old fellow American flat mate, who has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.The victim underwent emergency surgery for a perforated lung and multiple stab wounds at the city’s S. Giovanni hospital. His injuries do not appear to be life threatening.The flat is shared by five Americans, all students at one of the American universities in Rome.It is believed that the students had been at a club in the Laurentina district before returning home where the party continued. Police discovered quantities of marijuana, cocaine and ecstasy powder at the apartment, and say the motive for the attack remains unclear.
“Cash trapping” comes to Rome|30/10/2012|Police in Rome have discovered a new system used by thieves to steal money by tampering with bank machines.Known as “cash trapping” the method involves inserting a metal clip into the banknote dispenser, in a manner invisible to the naked eye. The procedure of withdrawing money functions as normal until the appearance of the words “operation complete/amount paid”. After that however, the notes are not forthcoming. At this point the customer usually blames the malfunction on a technical failure, and leaves the scene, allowing the observing thieves to retrieve the metal device and with it all the banknotes trapped inside.Police from Rome’s Porta Portese station happened upon three Romanians acting suspiciously at an ATM on Via Francesco Grimaldi in the Portuense district. After the police intervened they found that the bank machine contained some €1,400 of trapped notes that the thieves were attempting to free. Further investigations led police to another ATM on Via Stefano Jacini, near Corso di Francia, which had also been tampered with in a similar fashion. The three thieves were arrested on charges of aggravated theft.Police have advised that if users of bank machines in Rome do not receive their requested notes when the bank machine says it has paid the money, they should not leave the ATM but call the emergency police number 112 instead.While older forms of bank machine theft such as “skimming” and card trapping have generally decreased across Europe, incidents of cash trapping have increased from 240 cases in 2010 to over 10,000 incidents in 2011.
Flash fighting in Rome's Piazza Cavour|09/10/2012|The newly-restyled Piazza Cavour in Rome’s Prati district has become the scene of large-scale organised street fights over the last two weekends.Up to 300 youths congregated in the square on the night of Saturday 6 October after receiving an invitation through social media website Facebook that read “Everyone bring alcohol and we’ll get drunk, also to feel less pain, with a cocktail of a litre and a half of gin, rum, vodka and grappa. Then let the fight begin.”Witnesses described seeing hordes of youths fighting amongst each other, some wielding clubs, chains and motorcycle helmets as weapons.Rome’s police commissioner has ordered increased security around the square for the duration of the upcoming weekend of 13 October, following the concerns of local residents that the violent events of the past two consecutive Saturday nights could be repeated.Meanwhile police are studying closed circuit television camera footage from the area and technical officers are trawling through Facebook in an attempt to identify ringleaders of the “maxi-rissa“.
Public disorder in Rome's summer heat|12/07/2012|Over recent nights there have been a number of high-profile incidents on Rome’s streets, some of them involving tourists and foreigners. In the early morning of 11 July a 22-year old Australian woman was found suffering from a severe haemorrhage on a street near Termini Station. A Tunisian man, who organised an illegal “pub crawl” in which the woman and her four female Australian friends had participated earlier that night, is now under investigation for rape. The woman has told authorities that sex was with her consent but the medics and psychologists who examined her believe she was raped. Police maintain that the level of alcohol in her blood was so high that she would have been incapable of “consent” in the conventional meaning of the word. Separately, at 03.00 on 12 July, four tourists were arrested after brawling in Campo de’ Fiori, the scene of growing public disorder in recent years. Rome police charged three English men aged 20, 25 and 30, and one American aged 22, with rioting. Meanwhile during the same night, six youths, four of them minors, were arrested in Testaccio for violently attacking a passerby. After the man managed to take refuge in a nearby bar, the youths began vandalising the property before fleeing. Following witnesses’ descriptions, police caught the assailants who were aged 16 to 20. The incidents follow the city’s introduction of olfactory sensors into the 14 security cameras in the area around Piazza Trilussa in Trastevere. When these “electronic noses” detect a high concentration of drugs and alcohol, police stations are alerted by an alarm system connected to the cameras. The pilot project is expected to be extended into other areas synonymous with nightlife such as Campo de ‘Fiori, Piazza dell’ Immacolata in S. Lorenzo, Piazza della Madonna dei Monti in the Monti district, and the Colosseum end of Via S. Giovanni in Laterano.
"Centurions" arrested at Colosseum|02/07/2012|Two men dressed as centurions, who charge tourists for appearing in their photographs, were arrested on 2 July after an altercation with Rome police near the Colosseum. Police spotted the costumed men, brothers Manuel and Eugenio Sonnino, posing for tourist’s photos in the area directly in front of the Colosseum – something the city authorities banned the “centurions” and “gladiators” from doing three months ago. After being invited to move along, the two men reportedly threatened police with their wooden swords before fleeing the scene on foot. They were soon apprehended by motorcycle officers who charged them with violence and resisting arrest. The incident comes amid continued efforts by the city’s police to rid the Colosseum area of the costumed characters who pester tourists for large amounts of cash, on which they allegedly do not pay taxes. In March Rome’s superintendent of archaeological heritage, Maria Rosaria Barbera, ordered the expulsion of all costumed centurions from the area around the Colosseum. The city launched a task force of municipal police to crack down on the fake centurions as well as illegal snack-bar trucks and souvenir pedlars from the Colosseum’s visitor entrances and exits, and around the Arch of Constantine. The centurions and gladiators reacted by staging a number of sit-in protests and in April two of them briefly occupied the Colosseum. They are still permitted to operate elsewhere in Rome, such as along Via dei Fori Imperiali, in Piazza Navona and at the Trevi Fountain.
Rome reacts to Brindisi bombing|18/05/2012|Rome has cancelled all events associated with the city’s Museum Night on 19 May as a sign of respect for the victims of the bomb attack at a school in southern Italy on Saturday morning.The explosion occurred in Brindisi outside a girls
Costa Crociera captain released on house arrest|17/01/2012|The death toll from the shipwreck off the Tuscan island of Giglio north of Rome has risen to 11, following the discovery of a further five bodies during the afternoon of 17 January, four days after the Costa Concordia ran aground some 150-m from shore. The search for a further 23 people was suspended on 18 January because of a further shift in the position of the wreck, making it dangerous for the rescue teams to continue work.On 17 January the prefecture of Grosseto on the Italian mainland released the names of the 17 women and 11 men still unaccounted for, which include the five bodies found on 17 January
Knox flies out of Rome|03/10/2011|As the debate rages on about the merits and demerits of the Knox-Sollecito verdict in the Perugia murder case of Meredith Kercher the United States and British embassies in Rome are coping with both the overwhelming influx of journalists from each country but also with the needs of the families involved. The US embassy arranged the documents for the return of Amanda Knox to the United States on the evening of her acquittal and her family was reported to have had plans to fly her home immediately after the verdict on Monday night but she did not depart from Fiumicino international airport in Rome until midday Tuesday on a British Airways flight to London on the way to her home town Seattle.Meanwhile the British embassy is giving support to the family of the murder victim, now struggling more than ever to come to terms with the overwhelming question of who was responsible for the horrendous death of their daughter in 2007, as well as constant media interest in their case.While on the one hand the Knox family has managed to organise a massive and constant public relations case in favour of Amanda, on the other side the British family is struggling to cope with worldwide media attention at a time when they are also trying to come to terms with the complications of the Italian legal system, who killed their daughter, as well as their own personal grief.
Perugia under media seige for Kercher verdict|01/10/2011|Over 400 accredited journalists from all over the world have made camp outside Perugia
Hoax bomb threat causes Colosseum evacuation|07/08/2011|A phone-call from a civil defence volunteer at about 17.00 on Sunday 7 August warning of a bomb in the Colosseum caused security forces to evacuate and cordon off the monument. Fire-fighters found the suspicious package, wrapped in tape and with protruding wires, and carabinieri carried out a controlled explosion.A police spokesman later stated the package had been found in a hole in the wall of the first upper level. It contained a half-full can of white spirit and a 9v battery, but could not have caught fire, or even less exploded.About a thousand tourists were evacuated from the monument during the operation, and many remained to hear the muffled bang of the controlled explosion at about 18.30. Many also protested that they wanted their
Is Rome becoming a violent city?|05/07/2011|Rome is in shock after the recent shooting in the central Prati district of the city where a 33-year old Roman, Flavio Simmi, was riddled with ten bullets in front of his partner. The victim leaves two small children. The man had already been shot in the leg only a few months ago, in what now appears may have been a mafia-style warning. Police believe that the shooting could be related to the Simmi
Violence in Campo de’ Fiori|29/03/2011|An Englishman ended up in hospital on Saturday night after another night of weekend violence and drunkness in Campo de’ Fiori, in which a small drinking fountain (or nasone) in front of Giordano Bruno
Silvio Berlusconi sex charge trial set for 6 April|14/02/2011|An examining judge in Milan has served notice on the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, to appear before the fourth section of the criminal court to answer charges of abuse of power and involvement in prostitution with an underage girl, Karima El Mahroug, better known as Ruby. The charges apply to events in 2010 when Ruby was still only 17.The prime minister has been summoned before the criminal court on 6 April after prosecutors asked for an immediate trial. The court is presided over by Carmen D’Elia, Orsolina De Cristofaro and Giulia Turri. The prime minister denies the charges.
Rome’s pickpockets among world’s worst|16/09/2010|For the second consecutive year, the leading travel booking and information website TripAdvisor.com has ranked Rome as the second worst city in the world for incidents involving pickpockets. Tripadvisor arrived at this result by obtaining data relating to the amount of times the term “pickpocket” appeared on forums on the company’s website over the last 12 months. TripAdvisor has compiled some streetwise suggestions for tourists. They advise against the wearing of bags and purses over shoulders, and in restaurants, bags should be placed under chair legs as opposed to over chairs. A small amount of cash and only one bank card should be carried around the city; likewise jewellery and passports should be locked in hotel safes.The only city to fare worse than Rome is Barcelona, which was also awarded the unenviable top prize last year. In a separate survey conducted by the agency in 2009, which polled 1,400 users on the best and worst elements of Europe, Rome was ranked the third dirtiest city on the continent.
Rome updates CCTV surveillance system|22/03/2010|"A new centre for 24-hour video surveillance of Rome has been opened in Piazza Giovanni da Verrazzano. The Sala Sistema Roma, housed in a former cigarette factory, was opened by the mayor, Gianni Alemanno, who described the centre as being the first step in establishing an integrated security network to monitor the entire city. When the system is fully up-and-running it will receive footage from the city police as well as from public transport and all municipal authorities.
At present some 1,300 cameras are in operation, however within two months over 5,000 cameras will have been activated. The cameras will observe museums, monuments, bus lanes, car parks and train stations, in the hope of curbing violence, vandalism and associated anti-social behaviour. In extreme cases, the emergency services can be alerted to attend the scene immediately
The centre brings Rome a bit closer to surveillance standards in other European cities such as London, which has 100,000 cameras, and Paris which has 64,000."
Mills perjury conviction upheld|27/10/2009|"An Italian court of appeal has upheld a sentence convicting British tax lawyer David Mills of taking a $600,000 bribe to perjure himself in trials involving prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and his holding company Fininvest. The Milan court had also confirmed the original sentence of four and a half years in jail. Mills has said he will appeal against the ruling to the supreme court of cassation, Italy"
Corruption costs Italy billions.|30/06/2009|An audit by the state court of accounts estimates that bureaucratic corruption in 2008 cost Italian taxpayers between
New anti-stalking law.|26/04/2009|"Tough new anti-stalking measures were passed by parliament in mid-April as part of a package of measures to combat sex crimes. The new law makes stalking a felony punishable by up to four years in prison. It also takes into consideration a number of aggravating factors such as the stalker"
Rome gets tough on crime.|28/01/2009|"Plain clothes policemen on buses, armed traffic wardens and yet more soldiers patrolling the streets are among the measures soon to come into effect to reduce crime in Rome. A new squad of plain clothes police officers will be patrolling the metro, buses and trams to stop petty criminals such as pickpockets and molesters who take advantage of the crowds aboard public transport. The Rome police department says that for the first week, undercover officers will primarily be performing surveillance in order to assess lines most at risk. In addition, the city is offering free public transport to soldiers in uniform, in part to support the over 20,000 military personnel stationed in and around Rome, but also to increase their visibility in public as a deterrent to crime. Finally, the long discussed proposal to arm traffic wardens with pepper spray, night sticks and handguns has received approval from the city council. Starting in February, the first group of around 1,000 wardens will begin psychological evaluation and weapons training before coming under arms in June. While wardens will have the option of refusing to bear firearms, they"
Rome gets tough on crime.|28/01/2009|"Plain clothes policemen on buses, armed traffic wardens and yet more soldiers patrolling the streets are among the measures the city has announced to reduce crime in Rome. A new squad of plain clothes police officers are to patrol the metro, buses and trams looking out for petty criminals such as pickpockets and molesters who take advantage of crowded public transport. The Rome police department says that to begin with undercover officers will be on surveillance duty to assess lines most at risk. In addition, the city is offering free public transport to soldiers in uniform, partly to support the over 20,000 military personnel stationed in and around Rome, but also to increase their visibility as a deterrent to crime. Finally, the long discussed proposal to arm traffic wardens with pepper spray, night sticks and handguns has received approval from the city council. In February the first group of around 1,000 wardens begins psychological evaluation and weapons training before coming under arms in June. Traffic wardens have the option not to carry firearms, but they will be required to carry pepper spray and night sticks."
Family murders rise with hot weather.|23/06/2008|Suicides and murders committed by family members shoot up by 10-20 per cent in hot weather, the head of La Sapienza University
Venice bans street merchandise.|15/06/2008|"The mayor of Venice has decided to take what it hopes will be effective action against the hundreds of illegal peddlers, for the most part illegal foreigners, who crowd the narrow streets and bridges of the lagoon city selling counterfeit wares and other, generally non-Italian, artefacts. An inventive measure, signed into law urgently last week by mayor Massimo Cacciari following the Italian government’s recent decision to give greater powers to mayors in relation to security, prohibits the use of giant plastic bags, large duffel bags and other such containers for the transport of merchandise through and across the city. The new measure, the latest in a series of attempts to free the historic centre of Venice of what is generally recognized to be an eyesore, took effect on Monday, 16 June. The city has been trying to crack down on the phenomenon of “commercio abusivo” , illegal vending, for some time now but was spurred into additional action when first a local pedestrian, and then a tourist, were hurt seriously after being knocked down by peddlers fleeing police with the large sacks and/or valises the former use to transport their wares. The city had already declared the downtown area of “La Serenissima” off limits to the display of goods by unlicensed hawkers The new ordinance will also consider suspect a prolonged stay in any one spot by people carrying such containers. Sari Gilbert Stranitalia"
Judge expels three American students.|22/11/2007|"A judge in Florence has ordered the expulsion of three United States citizens, leaving a fourth awaiting trial, for assaulting a pair of off-duty carabinieri early Thanksgiving morning (22 November). The incident occurred following a minor accident involving the car of American college students, two of whom were in Florence on a study-abroad programme, and a car carrying two carabinieri. Police at the scene confirmed that the assailants were drunk and that one of them had a pair of brass knuckleduster. Both carabinieri were hospitalized for contusions and one had to be treated for a head injury. The presiding judge offered expulsion to three of the perpetrators instead of up to eight months in prison. The fourth is awaiting trial for aggravated assault. Because the perpetrators are not citizens of the European Union, their cases have been treated in the same legal framework as immigrant-related crime. Though expulsion for non-Europeans has become a common practice, its use against United States citizens is extremely rare."
Mob rules.|07/11/2007|The ten commandments for members of the Sicilian mafia have been found among the possessions of senior boss Salvatore Lo Piccolo, who was arrested by police in Palermo on 5 November. Lo Piccolo is thought to have stepped into the shoes of Cosa Nostra chief Bernardo Provenzano, who was arrested by anti-mafia police last year. Lo Piccolo is said to have carried the rules, which were typed out on a sheet of paper entitled