Convicted fraudster murdered in Rome shoot-out

Silvio Fanella linked to 2 bn euros Telecom - Fastweb fraud

(ANSA) - Rome, July 3 - A convicted fraudster was killed and a second man was seriously injured on Tuesday in a shootout in an affluent neighbourhood in Rome. Silvio Fanella, 41, was shot dead in a flat in the northern Camilluccia district after a gang allegedly comprising three people opened fire. One of the alleged gang members, Giovanni Battista Ceniti, was wounded in the leg and pelvis and is now in critical condition in hospital. Investigators say he may have been hit when Fanella returned fire.

Eyewitnesses say Ceniti was escorted out of the flat by two men who subsequently fled the scene, leaving him in the road. Police have found the car allegedly used in the getaway, a Fiat Croma that is believed to have been stolen. Last year Fanella was sentenced to nine years for transnational criminal association for money laundering in relation to a two-billion-euro fraud involving Telecom Italia Sparkle and its competitor Fastweb.

Investigators say he was the 'treasurer' of an alleged criminal organisation headed by Gennaro Mokbel, a businessman who is considered one of the masterminds of the Telecom-Fastweb fraud and for which he was sentenced to 15 years. Prosecutors also claim Fanella was the target of a planned abduction for allged theft by a criminal organisation operating in the southern region of Basilicata, but which was never carried out. On Thursday Fanella was reportedly due to attend the funeral of one of his lawyers who committed suicide recently.

Ceniti is a former activist in the northern Piedmont region of the fascist-inspired social centre CasaPound. However on Thursday CasaPound president Gianluca Iannone said he had been expelled from the movement "for inappropriate behaviour" over three years ago.