1985
April 30, Tivoli (RM)
Giovanni Di Leonardo, 33 years old, chosen officer of the State Police
It was 1:40 AM on May 1, 1985, at kilometer 24+800 of the “Rome – L’Aquila” highway, when the attention of the radio patrol of the “Rome East” Highway Detachment, composed of Chief Patrol Officer Di Leonardo Giovanni and the driver, Officer P.T., was drawn to a VW Golf stopped with the hood up on the road in the direction of L’Aquila. A short distance from the car were two people who, upon seeing the patrol, gestured to the officers for help. According to the reconstruction by DIGOS investigators, as soon as the police car stopped, a third person suddenly appeared on the right side of the service vehicle and fired at the chief patrol officer with a large-caliber weapon, while one of the accomplices fired a shot at the driver, which was deflected by the hinge of the regulation jacket.
Both officers were forcibly removed from the vehicle, immobilized with their own handcuffs, and then rolled down the adjacent embankment; the assailants fled with the Golf and the service vehicle, which was later abandoned in a nearby tunnel, disappearing with the officers’ weapons.
Shortly after, the driver managed to get back onto the road and raise the alarm. Chief Officer Di Leonardo, who had requested to work that shift in order to celebrate his daughter’s 2nd birthday, which was on that day, died a few hours later at Tivoli Hospital due to the severity of his injuries (N.B.: The assault was claimed by the “Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari” (NAR)).
All investigations carried out immediately and in the following years have never allowed the identification of the responsible parties. The investigations were reopened in 2014 when DIGOS, in collaboration with the Scientific Police, periodically reviews “Cold Cases” (i.e., unresolved investigations into serious crimes that, despite being dated, are never forgotten), acquiring solid evidence of responsibility against the accused. The investigative hypotheses formulated were widely accepted by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and on October 2, 2017, DANTE Fabrizio was indicted by the Preliminary Investigative Judge of the Rome Court Dr. Massimo Battistini, and the trial proceedings began on December 11.
On December 14, 2019, the President of the 1st Section of the Court of Assizes of the Rome Tribunal, at the end of the hearing for the trial regarding the murder of the chosen officer of the State Police in service at the “Lazio” Highway Police Compartment “Di Leonardo Giovanni,” after deliberation in the Council Chamber, pronounced a sentence of life imprisonment against the accused DANTE Fabrizio, as well as provisional compensation orders immediately enforceable in favor of the constituted injured parties.