Leader of anti-Semitic Italian soccer hooligan gang shot dead in Rome

A leading member of an anti-Semitic soccer group was shot dead in a park in Rome last Wednesday.

By Algemeiner

Prosecutors in Rome have launched a murder investigation after Fabrizio Piscitelli — a leading member of the anti-Semitic, far-right Ultras who support Serie A soccer team Lazio — was shot dead in a park in Rome.

The 53-year-old was shot in the back of the neck in broad daylight on Wednesday in Acqueduct park, in the Cinecittà area of the capital.

Nicknamed Diabolik (diabolic), he appeared to have been the victim of an execution-style hit, according to local media reports.

“Piscitelli had lots of enemies and lots of business with various criminal groups,” police sources told Ansa news agency. The sources described Piscitelli as a “central figure” with links to a range of criminal groups.

The Lazio Ultras are known for their far-right affiliations, making fascist salutes and subjecting black players to racist harangues and chanting during soccer matches.

Among the group’s offenses was the Oct. 2017 circulation of mocking images of Anne Frank dressed in the jersey of a rival team.

The image of the Dutch-Jewish child diarist who perished in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945 was used on stickers and graffiti sprayed by Lazio fans at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico. The image showed Frank wearing the jersey of Lazio’s city rivals, AS Roma.