Istalia

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Breaking News: Ambush in Terebbìa: journalist Salvo Picone murdered

Killed in front of the editorial offices of the "Il Mattino di Terebbìa": Ndragatìa is suspected. Political storm, an Anti-Mafia Commission is called

The murder scene
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February 5667

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TEREBBIA - Salvo Picone, one of the most well-known and respected investigative journalists in the country, was killed last night in a brutal attack, fifty meters from the entrance to the editorial offices of the "Il Mattino di Terebbìa", the newspaper for which he had worked for over twenty years and that few years ago was already targeted by a car bombing, which fortunately didn't caused casualities. 
Salvo Picone was opening his car, parked nearby, when two motorcycles stopped in front of him. Four men, two for each vehicle, dressed in dark clothes and with their faces covered. The passengers pulled out machine guns and opened fire on Picone who died instantly. The killers then took off again, disappearing into the night.

The images from a surveillance camera of an adjacent bank captured the scene, a spine-chilling video, now being examined by the Judiciary, which immediately opened an investigation for aggravated homicide against unknowns. The investigators, a few hours after the attack, however, seem to have no doubts: it would be an execution commissioned by the Ndragatìa, the organized crime of the North of the Peninsula, already under the spotlight of the investigations carried out by Picone himself.

The journalist, in fact, had become a renowned figure in Istalian investigative journalism in recent years. With his articles, he had brought to light illicit trafficking, money laundering, economic infiltration and dangerous links between business, politics and transnational ramifications, in particular between Istalia, Solentia and Dovani continent.

According to sources from the Prosecutor's Office, the Ndragatìa has expanded its network in a capillary manner over time, in particular during the institutional crisis that followed the end of the Seventh Republic and then in the era of the Socialist Republic and the chaos generated by the conflicts between this and the last century, from which it gained enormously.

The Minister of Internal Affairs and Public Security, Rosina Pantaleoni (PNC), defined the murder as "an act of extreme gravity, a frontal attack on the State and on freedom of the press". She assured that the Government "will not remain silent" and that "all necessary measures will be taken to counter this threat".

But the Minister's words have not calmed the controversy. The editorial staff of Il Mattino di Terebbìa, deeply shocked by the loss of their colleague and friend, published a joint editorial this morning denouncing "the hypocrisy of institutional reactions" and calling for "concrete facts, not rhetoric! We need resources, strategies, new laws and protection for those who fight the mafia with pen or toga", the article reads.

The opposition too made its voice heard. It called for the immediate opening of a debate in Congress and the establishment of a Special Anti-Mafia Commission. "Picone was left alone" declared a member of the National Liberals "and today we find ourselves mourning him. This cannot happen again".

The majority reacted harshly to these critics, and from their benches, the Democratic Socialists responded by accusing the opposition of hypocrisy and opportunism:

In fifteen years of government they have not lifted a finger a gainst the Ndragatìa! Never happened also after the Events of Torre d''o Sulento, and today they are shedding crocodile tears.

Beyond the controversy, one fact seems irrefutable: organized crime is no longer afraid to act in the city center, under the cameras, and now strikes with the coldness of those who feel unpunished. No longer just intimidation and threats, but cold-blooded murders.

While the editorial staff of Il Mattino is united in grief and prepares a silent march in his memory, the wait grows to understand if this time politics will be up to the task. And if, beyond words, it will be capable of taking up the baton of those who sacrificed their lives to tell the truth.