Taxi driver Roberto Mantovani (aka Red Sox) has been excluded from the Board of Directors of Cotabo, one of the most important taxi cooperatives in Emilia-Romagna, after disciplinary proceedings against him. A decision that comes at the culmination of months of tension and controversy. In December 2023, Cotabo suspended Mantovani from the radio taxi service for seven days due to what the cooperative defined as «repeated conduct of disseminating untrue news, aimed at explicitly damaging the reputation of the cooperative, its administrators and the other members.” The accusations against Mantovani are not limited only to the dissemination of false information, but include what Cotabo defines as a real “media campaign aimed at openly denigrating the cooperative”.
Red Sox social media activity
Red Sox, in fact, is known in Bologna for his activity on social media, where he regularly publishes his daily earnings and denounces colleagues who refuse POS and credit card payments. He made complaints that offered him a certain visibility which, however, was not without consequences. In the past, Mantovani said he was the victim of intimidation, such as having the tires of his taxi found flat and receiving threatening letters. Furthermore, he revealed that he was excluded from a refresher course for volunteer taxi drivers who have a defibrillator on board. Now he is responsible for the choice of the Cotabo Board of Directors, which justified the exclusion of Mantovani by underlining “his profound and incurable opposition to the basic principles of the association”.
The Red Sox reply
Furthermore, for the cooperative, the taxi driver’s intention to obtain personal advantages to the detriment of the collective interests of the cooperative is not tolerable, as well as the reiteration of these behaviors “which denote a total lack of will to respect the cooperative’s regulatory regulations”. The reply from the person concerned does not take long to arrive, strictly where it all began: on social media. «Speechless… (for now) There is plenty of time to find them, in the appropriate places, together with the whole affair of transparent takings that has infuriated colleagues so much. Now in their secret chats they will have gone from insults to celebrations”, writes Red Sox on his X profile.
