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In a climate of predictable tension, yet another hearing in the trial against Francesco Pio Valda and six other defendantsaccused – for various reasons – of the murder of Francesco Pio Maimone, an 18-year-old aspiring pizza chef from Pianura, killed by a stray bullet on the evening of March 20, 2023, while he was near one of the many chalets on the Mergellina seafront.
During the previous hearing, the plaintiff’s lawyer for the Maimone family, Sergio Pisani, had denounced the “climate of intimidation” who had introduced the testimony of a witness and had it recorded the unjustified absence of the manager of one of the chalets, heard during today’s hearing: Giovanni Nacarlo, manager of the kiosk near which the quarrel between the two gangs began, during which a stomp stained the shoe of Francesco Pio Valda who shortly after took out a pistol and fired several shots at height of man, one of whom reached Francesco Pio Maimone at a distance of approximately 15 meters and who was therefore not far from the site of the dispute to which he was completely unrelated.
Nacarlo had been interviewed by the agents of the Naples Flying Squad a few hours after the murder and a second time, summoned to the offices of the Neapolitan Police Headquarters, a few days later and had provided precise and detailed information. He had even recognized some of the protagonists of the dispute in photos and had helped to shed light on the possible motive that had led Valda to take up the weapon: the stomp that had stained his shoe. Nacarlo had specified that that group, led by Valda, who had stood out for his rude behavior and “badass” attitudes, had come into conflict with another trawler from the Traiano district. In the courtroom he recanted everything, taking refuge in a reticent and submissive attitude, tainted by a flood of “it’s not like that”, “I don’t remember”, “they’re just regular customers of the kiosk”. The witness asserted that he would have limited himself to recognising, in the photos shown by the investigators, a series of regular customers, without however attributing any specific role to them in the dispute which then resulted in the murder of Francesco Pio Maimone. A testimony poised between false testimony and slander.
The Court of Assizes held his behavior during the deposition was omitted and the hearing was suspended to summon a court-appointed lawyer required to assist the witness. When the hearing resumed, in the presence of his lawyer, Nacarlo availed himself of the right not to respond and was therefore indicted.
The hearing continued by listening to the depositions of the scientific police who reconstructed the dynamics of the murder. A particularly touching moment for the family members present in the courtroom, so much so that Francesco Pio Maimone’s mother felt the need to leave.
The forensic reconstruction categorically excluded the possibility that the gunshots were fired by a person pointing the weapon in the air. The bullet that killed Francesco Pio Maimone was fired at eye level.
The next hearing will take place next Wednesday 17 April.
(From Napolitan)
