REVEALED: the plot to kidnap Totti's newborn son
This news has emerged from the confession of Luca Odevaine, one of the defendants in the Mafia Capitale trial.
What is Mafia Capitale?
The trial saw the arrest of dozens on public figures and organised crime members last December, on charges of misappropriating funds destined for public services in both Rome and the surrounding region, Lazio – with a special emphasis on the influx of immigrants.
Odevaine himself is a defendant in this trial, as he used to be the cabinet chief to Walter Veltroni, who was mayor of Rome from 2001 to 2008.
So what happened?
According to Il Tempo, Luca Odevaine confessed to magistrates (in Italy some magistrates are responsible for the investigative side of police work) that an ex-convict and ultrà had revealed that there was a plot to kidnap Francesco Totti’s son when he was just one year old.
The ex-con is alleged to have told Totti’s right-hand man - and trainer - Vito Scalia that he’d been offered €50.000 to kidnap his son, Christian.
Odevaine then revealed that Totti countered this threat by paying six local policemen to protect his so when off-duty. All under the table, of course, at least until last year, when the Roma captain moved to a new, high-security villa and started sending his children to the local American school – also carefully guarded.
Is this true?
We’re not sure yet, especially as the carabinieri’s own investigation has found no evidence to corroborate this account. Odevaine told magistrates about this supposed kidnapping last October in Terni.
The former mayoral chief of staff only heard of this from Scala, who himself was told by the former ultra, who claimed to have refused because “the captain is the captain”.
“At the time Totti only had one son, I think Scalia told me he was one year old” Odevaine told magistrates.
“Scalia asked me to check if there could be any truth in this, as the parents were very worried”,
So how did Totti go about paying them?
Odevaine claims to have spoken with a carabinieri officer, and a member of the local prefecture’s top brass, who confirmed that something was brewing.
Odevaine chose not to raise too much of a ruckus, however, and rejected both the notion of a one-year-old being given an escort, and that of employing a private agency, as the local prefect couldn’t attest to their reliability.
He eventually settled on the Pics (Pronto intervento centro storico), a group of policemen who reported directly to the mayor’s chief of staff, Odevaine himself, without having to go through the police hierarchy.
“They were a group of about twenty officers who acted as the mayor’s armed guard, or took care of delicate situations. I eventually asked them, ‘does anyone fancy doing some extra work?’”
Odevaine went on to confirm that Totti paid for them, handing him the money directly.
