One dead, 57 injured and ten million lire in damages is the toll of the very serious accidents that occurred there Vestuti stadium in Salerno during the meeting between Salernitana and Potenza. The victim is a 48 year old man, his name is Giuseppe Plaitano, father of four children, former warrant officer of the Navy. The match is decisive for Salernitana who aspire to promotion in series B. Almost twenty thousand spectators were present, of which three thousand came from Potenza. It’s a special Sunday, it coincides with the political elections (the vote will be the decisive one for the birth of the centre-left). The drama begins around the 42nd minute of the first half when the Lucanian left wing Vincenzo Rosito he scored the first goal amidst lively protests from the Salerno players who demanded it be annulled due to an alleged offside.
During the interval of the match the tension rises to its maximum. In the second half the grenade assault starts, the stadium heats up. But the boos of the referee Gandiolo they seem to only ever go in one direction. A fan enters the pitch midway through the second half but two carabinieri grab him without violence and luckily everything seems to be back on track. Ten minutes later, the situation worsens: in the 31st minute the Granata attacker Visentin he is brought down in the area, Vestuti expects the penalty but the referee says it isn’t there and we move on.
At this point a fan enters the lawn and, holding the post supporting the corner flag, tries to hit Gandiolo but is promptly blocked by the police. The game becomes a mess when another fan, to protest for a handball by Potenza not seen by the referee, enters the pitch and is stopped by two agents who stop him they beat the hell out of it. The man asks the crowd for help, the fences fall everywhere. It’s chaos. The referee suspends the match.
At least they come in in 200 on the lawn where they now run seven police vans. The two teams manage to reach the changing rooms where they remain barricaded for seven hours. The police launch tear gas to disperse the crowd and they leave from midfield three shots from a 7.65 caliber gun and one hits in the temple and kills Giuseppe Plaitano, who was sitting on the steps of the grandstand at that moment. An absurd death for which no one responsible has ever ended up before a judge or been convicted. The man who shot, a policeman, Gaetano Parasole, he is transferred to Sardinia and nothing more will be known about him. The ballistics report and the autopsy report were never found again. After the funeral, Plaitano’s coffin was taken from his family and taken to the prefecture as a sign of protest. Mayor Alfonso Menna decides to hire the widow to the Municipality, Maria Vigilante, but his place was taken by his son Umberto. The League judge ruled it 2-0 for Potenza and Vestuti received a four-match ban.
