18 January 1977 - 18 January 2010. Ciao Cecco

18 January 1977. It’s a cold afternoon in Rome when Re Cecconi can finally smile again. Three months had passed from the injury that kept him away from the pitch for so long. Three sad months, spent without football, with the mind to Maestrelli dying in his bed.
“He has completely recovered. He’s fit and he can play” says Dr Ziaco. Luciano is very happy; he sings and dances under the shower, like that day when Lazio won her first Scudetto.

After the training, Luciano leaves with a teammate, Pietro Ghedin; they decide to go to have dinner together. It’s the closing hour for the shops in Rome, a dangerous time, when robberies are most likely. Luciano would like to cut his hair, but it’s too late and there is already a huge cue at the barbershop. They go to another shop, which however is too crowded as well. So, they finally decide to go to a profumery, whose owner, Giorgio Fraticcioli, is a friend of Luciano.

It’s about 7.30pm. Mr. Fraticcioli has to deliver a couple of deodorant bottles to some jewelry nearby, in Francesco Nitti road. The jeweler is Bruno Tabocchini, from Marche; his favorite hobby is hunting, he rarely buys newspapers, and he never reads about sports. He is not a fan and he does not know footballers. He owns three guns and a rifle. One year earlier, there had been an attempted robbery in his shop: Tabocchini had been faster than the burglars; he had shot at them, hitting one.
Fraticcioli, Re Cecconi and Ghedin are in front of the jewelry. Fraticcioli shows the perfume bottles from outside the window, and the jeweler Tabocchini let them in. Fraticcioli leaves the bottles on the desk. Next to him, Re Cecconi keeps his hands in the pockets.

“Now I’m going to make a joke” whisper Re Cecconi to Ghedin.
“Everybody down, this is a robbery!” yells Re Cecconi.
It’s matter of a second. The jeweler grabs his gun, the Walther. The gun’s safety is already off. Firstly he points the gun towards Ghedin, but he is very quick to raise his arms. Now, the gun is pointed towards Re Cecconi, 28 years old. The finger touches the trigger, the gun shoots, and the bullet hits Re Cecconi’s chest. Luciano turns white, he moves one step forward “It was a joke, it was just a joke”, he has the time to say this before falling on the ground.

Ghedin is next to him. “Ghedo, don’t go away, wait” says again Luciano, but his voice is already a rattle. “Luciano, what do you do, are you playing? Come on, don’t be silly, get up!” yells Ghedin. But Luciano does not answer anymore. “What did you do!” says Ghedin to the jeweler. “I would have shot you too if you had not raised your arms” he replies. “But these are Lazio players, that guy is Re Cecconi!” says Fraticcioli.

Now Tabocchini understands, and starts screaming, desperate.
There is not time to waste, Luciano is immediately brought to the hospital by car, but there is nothing to do. At the beginning, the news is not very clear, and the rumors are that Re Cecconi’s father has been killed. At the hospitals, the journalists find out what really happened.

The day of the funeral, the applauses are the same he could hear in the stadium that day when he scored against Juventus, a goal that Re Cecconi dedicated to his Maestro seriously ill. The process will be a very important one, lead by one of the best judges in Italy. Tabocchini will be acquitted of the murder, with the motivation that “his action is justifiable as legitimate defense”. Despite the sentence, many shadow and doubts still remain over that tragic episode. Same people said that Tabocchini wanted to joke as well, and shoot Re Cecconi by mistake; some others talked about a tragic revenge planned by the jeweller.

Such a tragic story... ciao Cecco.

It is an incredibly tragic story but still one that inspires hope...

R.I.P.

Really sad story.

RIP Angelo Biondo

RIP Cecco...never forgotten.

RIP Cecco - you're a never forgotten hero!

RIP Cecco!

Ciao Cecco.

Ciao Cecco

RIP Luciano

RIP

I remember reading this story a while ago. Tragic.

RIP Luciano Re Cecconi

Damn, such a tragedy. Ciao, Cecco!