Italian authorities, working with Tunisian officials, have frozen a bank account belonging to jeweler Mario Roggero and his wife. The move is part of a broader investigation into the 72 year old’s activities following his high-profile 2021 killing of two robbers.
The frozen funds had been sent from Italy to Tunisia through a citizen solidarity campaign intended to cover Roggero’s legal defense costs. However, Italian prosecutors say the jeweler was actually planning to travel to North Africa to dodge his trial.
According to press reports, the seized money will go toward an advance on the provisional compensation awarded to the families of the two robbers Roggero killed on April 21, 2021, as they fled his jewelry shop. That compensation, which also includes a payment to a third robber who was wounded, totals €480,000.
It also emerged that in 2005 Roggero had threatened his daughter’s then fiancé and the young man’s parents with a legally registered revolver. Following that incident, his firearms license was revoked and he received a two month prison sentence after admitting responsibility.
