Two Italian football hooligans have been jailed for four and five years for launching a brutal assault on Tottenham Hotspur fans in Rome last year which left 13 injured and one fan fighting for his life after a near-fatal stabbing.
The English fans were drinking peacefully at a pub in the centre of Rome last November before Spurs’ Europa League match against Lazio when thugs launched what police described in court as a well planned “urban guerrilla warfare” operation using smoke bombs and tear gas to help “neutralise” their victims. The Italian gang tore through the pub, in the romantic Campo de Fiori piazza, smashing windows and attacking fans with knifes, iron bars and even ripped off chair legs, the court heard. Essex fan Ashley Mills suffered massive blood loss when one hooligan plunged a knife into his thigh, and was raced to hospital where doctors fought to rebuild his femoral artery. Damage to the Drunken Ship pub was estimated at 18,000 euros.
Yesterday (MONDAY) a Rome judge sentenced Francesco Ianari, 27, to four years and five months and Mauro Pinnelli, 26, to five years and six months for assaulting 12 of the 13 people injured. Both fans of Rome side AS Roma, they formed part of a larger group of 20 which took part in the raid. Ianari, a door to door salesman who has previously been banned from attending football matches, and Pinnelli, a builder, were arrested on the night of the attack after being seen behaving suspiciously near the pub.
Hardcore, ‘Ultra’ fans of Rome team Lazio were initially accused of organising the raid. Known for their racism, Lazio fans sang anti-semitic chants at the match against Spurs the night after the raid, boosting suspicions the attack was linked to the London team’s Jewish heritage. But the court heard that Roma fans first spotted the Spurs fans drinking at the pub and then called on Lazio fans they knew to join them in the attack, suggesting hard core fans from the two traditional rival teams have forged a violent alliance.
In February, police said they had identified nine others suspected of taking part in the raid, and took three men into custody, including two Lazio fans. A police spokeswoman today said that investigations into the suspects continued. Police used CCTV footage to build their case as well as bringing in anti-terrorism police who used cell phone records to identify the assailants and track their movements on the night from the location of their cell phones. Officers concluded that the gang first put the bar under surveillance then gathered in nearby Piazza Navona to plan the raid.
British football fans visiting Rome have been warned to watch out for local hooligans stabbing victims in the thigh or buttocks, leaving a painful and bloody wound which is believed to risk little permanent damage. A Manchester United fan in Rome for the 2009 Champions League final was stabbed in the leg. Two years earlier, Rome police were accused of brutality after they stormed a section of Rome’s Olympic stadium holding Manchester United fans during a Champions League game with Roma.
Lazio fans earned their team a £32,500 fine last September after Uefa found them guilty of chanting racist abuse towards Jermain Defoe, Andros Townsend and Aaron Lennon in Lazio’s Europa League 0-0 draw with Spurs at White Hart Lane.
