Six robbers, including four aged between 66 and 75, known in Italian criminal circles, were recently arrested by the Italian police.
The gang is believed to be responsible for robbing a post office in the Roman district of San Giovanni.
Same operating procedure and same team as almost 30 years ago, in Rome,
“historic robbers do not retire”
, underlines the Italian daily
Corriere della Sera
this February 18.
200,000 euros were allegedly stolen in this heist dating from May 3, 2023. The figure of the gang, Italo De Witt, aged 70 and nicknamed
“the German”
, was also arrested
.
Well known to the Italian police, De Witt and his gang have extensive experience in banditry.
According to information from the Italian police, three of his accomplices are men aged over 65.
Raniero Pula, who plays the role of lookout, is even 75 years old.
Sandro Baruzzo, another 66-year-old accomplice, is also the subject of investigations for thefts and robberies.
Antonio Talinucci, 66, specialized in reproducing keys to open the back doors of postal agencies, while the two “masons” of the gang, Tonino Cornazzani and Luciano Di Luca, aged 50 and 53, dug in at night or on weekends, holes are made in the walls communicating with other premises to allow their accomplices to surprise the employees inside the post offices.
The
“old glories”
still active
On November 3, 1995, "the German" - so nicknamed because his name was actually of Dutch origin - De Witt became famous for his robbery of the Credito Italiano bank, in Plaza de España, in the historic heart of from Rome, fleeing with an accomplice, 210 million lire in his pocket, or around 110 million euros.
The robbery was a landmark, both for the location chosen and for the method of operation: the gang went into action during the lunch break, surprising the employees behind the back, by having secretly opened the back door with a set of false keys.
15 people were then taken hostage.
The sixty-year-old robbers arrested for the post office heist last May carried out a series of other robberies in the 1990s. Italo De Witt's first theft dates back to December 1972. Five years later, he carried out his first robbery in Pistoria, near Florence.
He was sentenced to several prison terms, the longest of which was 15 years for jewelry store thefts and robberies in Rome and Milan.
Far from being senile, he is still described as very meticulous in his operating methods.
He also had a close relationship with Manlio Vitale, known as
“er gnappa”
(to designate a small person, in Roman dialect), aged 75 and leader of the Magliana gang, a criminal organization based in Rome, particularly active in years of lead.
While the historic bandits of the Italian capital, the
"Vecchie glorie"
(old glories) - as they are nicknamed in the name of an Italian investigation targeting them - still do not seem to want to withdraw, Italo De Witt has found his succession for several decades.
His son Claudio is already recognized as one of the best-known cocaine traffickers in the Italian capital.