Chico Forti He is no longer held in prison in Miami and the 65-year-old from Trentino, sentenced to life imprisonment in Florida for the murder of Dale Pike on 15 February 1998, is expected to return to Italy in the coming weeks. The Farnesina has announced this. The authorization for the transfer was announced by the prime minister Giorgia Meloni during his visit to Washington on March 1st.
In Forti’s file from the Florida Department of Correction, today’s date has been added to the date he began custody, July 7, 2000, indicated as the date of release. In the last few hours, in fact, the hearing was held in Miami in which Forti signed the agreement with the US federal judge to serve the rest of the sentence in Italy, where the Trento Court of Appeals has already converted in recent weeks the US ruling.
It is the last step before returning. In the meantime, Forti is being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. According to sources close to him, he should be able to be transferred to Italy within two or three weeks.
«We learn with great satisfaction that Chico Forti is no longer detained in the Miami prison», commented the group leader of the Brothers of Italy in the Chamber of Deputies, Thomas Foti. «After years of announcements that remained just that – he added -, we can finally welcome another victory for the Meloni government which has followed the matter since its inauguration. We renew our thanks to all the Italian and US institutions involved in the case. Our happy thoughts go out not only to Chico’s family and friends, but to all those who supported his cause with determination and commitment.”
