Last September the Venice Surveillance Court rejected the request Chico Forti to be able to take advantage of external work permits. Four months later, however, the second yes arrives Article 21 of the penitentiary regulations, which grants permission to work and carry out voluntary activities outside.
After a year and a half of detention in the Montorio prison, the former Italian surfer and producer sentenced to life imprisonment by the Florida Supreme Court for the murder of Dale Pike he will be able to work as a pizza chef, English teacher in courses for the elderly and surfing instructor for the disabled. “Chico can go out,” he confirmed to The Gazzettino Don Carlo Vinco, guarantor of prisoners for the Municipality of Verona.
The decision of the Court of Venice opens a new chapter in the legal case of Chico Forti, welcomed in 2023 upon his return to Italy by Premier Meloni and already the recipient of a permit in February 2025 to visit his elderly mother in Trento. Last June Forti also obtained the management of Montorio authorization to attend study rooms of prison for the writing of his biography.
In the lawyers’ request we further read that Forti participated in the «Pizza in Teglia» training course and collaborated with the teachers in the English language courses organized by the Cpia (the provincial center for adult education). Among the documents filed in support of the request for conditional release, the declaration of availability to be hired by a company as a windsurfing instructor (with a salary of 1,500 euros per month) and the statement of a sailing club in the Malcesine area on Lake Garda willing to welcome him for surfing lessons for disabled children.
The volunteer associations that have been calling for Forti’s release for some time rejoice. But public opinion is divided: the Court’s new decision is sparking controversy over the supposed favoritism in the prison treatment of the former surfer from Trentino, sentenced to life imprisonment in 1999 for the murder of Dale Pike, son of the tycoon Antony Pike, with whom Forti was negotiating the acquisition of the Pikes Hotel in Ibiza and on the drastic change of direction compared to what was established four months ago, when the rejection of the requests of Forti’s lawyers was supported by clear reasons.
