May 27, 1980: Rome
Vincenzo Totonelli, 48 years old, security guard
According to the accounts from the newspaper *l’Unità*, Vincenzo Totonelli, a 48-year-old security guard, was killed because he was too alert. It was 12:30 PM on May 26, 1980. Totonelli was on duty in front of the agency 14 of Banca Commerciale Italiana, known as Comit, on Via Bevagna in the Tor di Quinto area. Three young men exited a white Fiat Ritmo. A mere exchange of glances was enough. Totonelli realized they were robbers, and they knew they didn’t have time to approach and disarm him.
A shooting ensued, with all three robbers firing, ten shots in total. They peeked into the bank’s entrance but then decided against the robbery and fled. It was later discovered that the fatal bullet came from a .38 caliber revolver, which was seized a few days later from Elio Di Scala, known as “Kapplerino,” a minor already well-known to the Digos for his neofascist militancy. Cristiano Fioravanti later revealed that Alessandro Alibrandi was also involved in the attempted bank robbery that morning.
Forty years later, the same weapon was examined in a detailed investigation for the murder of Piersanti Mattarella, the President of the Sicilian Region. Although the rifling of the barrel matched the orientation of the revolver used by Mattarella’s killers, other details did not match. Experts from the RIS excluded the possibility that it was the murder weapon in Mattarella’s case.