19 Facts About Maurizio Abbatino

Maurizio Abbatino became a pentito, a collaborator with justice after his arrest in 1992.

Maurizio Abbatino began committing crimes in the early 1970s, and in 1972 he was arrested for the first time for robbery, resistance to arrest and possession of burglar's tools.

Maurizio Abbatino had a strong passion for fast cars, and since the beginning proved himself to be a highly capable driver, so much that several batterie regularly employed him as a getaway driver in their robberies for his skills in evading the police.

For example, Giuseppucci was involved with money laundering and bookmaking, while Maurizio Abbatino's crew was more practical of robberies and was intent on getting into drug trafficking.

Maurizio Abbatino became one of the main killers for the gang, alongside Edoardo Toscano, Raffaele Pernasetti, Vittorio Carnovale and others.

Unlike Giuseppucci however, Maurizio Abbatino was not interested in politics, but he did take part in a series of meetings with criminologist, psychiatrist and neofascist professor Aldo Semerari, and has been directly involved in the corruption of doctors, judges and politicians.

Maurizio Abbatino even went so far as to order the death of Danilo Abbruciati on behalf of Selis.

Maurizio Abbatino's group, referred to as "i Maglianesi" was not informed of the decision to kill Balducci and they requested an immediate meeting with the Testaccini.

In contrast to the Testaccini which invested in legit businesses and became involved in money laundering, Maurizio Abbatino's group was the one most responsible for murders and drug trafficking, activities which attracted much more police attention.

Maurizio Abbatino had almost succeeded in being granted permanent house arrest until Fulvio Lucioli, known as "Er Sorcio", decided to cooperate with authorities and Abbatino was accused of over a dozen murders, and so he was moved from the private clinic back into prison, alongside most of the high-ranking members of the organization.

Rumours and accusations abounded: Maurizio Abbatino was accused by his men of ignoring their needs, spending the organization's money for his medical equipment while not doing enough to help those who had gotten in trouble for earlier crimes.

Maurizio Abbatino tried again and again to obtain house arrest, feigning cancer and leg paralysis, managing to get himself hospitalized into a private clinic whose owners he had bribed off, when another high-ranking member of the gang decided to turn informant: Claudio Sicilia.

Unlike Lucioli who had been a low level member, Sicilia was the main organizer of drug shipments and revealed much more than Lucioli: one of the first things he revealed was that Maurizio Abbatino was in fact perfectly healthy and was only simulating an illness to obtain house arrest.

On 15 March 1991, Roberto Maurizio Abbatino disappeared without a trace after leaving his house.

Maurizio Abbatino's killers wanted to find out where Maurizio Abbatino was hiding, but despite the enormous suffering, Roberto did not reveal the location of his brother, and was thus killed and dumped at the river.

Maurizio Abbatino's father had previously been threatened into revealing the location of his son.

Maurizio Abbatino later admitted that he was fully aware he would have been traced by making that phone call.

Maurizio Abbatino testified at other trials, including the trials for the murder of Duke Grazioli and the journalist Mino Pecorelli.

Maurizio Abbatino was given a new identity and lives in a secret location.