A teenage US student has admitted killing plain-clothes carabiniere Mario Cerciello Rega in a struggle which broke out as Cerciello Rega and his patrol buddy tried to arrest the student and his friend on Thursday evening in Rome’s elegant Prati area, close to Piazza Cavour.
According to media reports, the students – both 19 and on a study holiday in Rome – had gone to nightlife zone Trastevere is search of cocaine. They found a pusher to sell them the drug, but later discovered he had sold them aspirin.
They then snatched his shoulder bag, containing his telephone, and ran off. The pusher called them on his own number and arranged to meet the two in Via Pietro Cossa, agreeing to pay €100 for the return of his property.
But the drug dealer also called the carabinieri to say where the meeting was to take place, and the patrol converged on the rendezvous to arrest the blackmailers. In the ensuing struggle, Cerciello Rega was stabbed eight times, and was rushed to nearby Santo Spirito hospital, where he died. Cerciello Rega’s patrol partner was also injured, but managed to call for help, while the students escaped.
A manhunt was launched immediately with the help of footage from nearby security cameras, and the two US citizens were quickly run to earth and arrested (pictured) in a nearby hotel, the Meridian Visconti. The capture was just in time: the two were booked to fly home on Friday.
His funeral is to be held in the same church in Somma where he married just 43 days ago.
