ROME — Plans for an alleged financial institution heist in Rome have been thwarted this week when a tunnel being dug to the financial institution vault collapsed, leaving one of many would-be thieves buried for hours, Italian media report.
On Thursday, Andrea Grassi, a 33-year-old bricklayer, was excavating within the tunnel underneath Via Innocenzo XI with a pickaxe and shovel when the roof of the tunnel gave method, leaving him buried underneath the rubble.
Firefighters managed to free Grassi after some 8 hours underground by digging a parallel ten-meter tunnel to extract him alive. He was taken to the San Camillo hospital the place he’s thought of to be in severe however not life-threatening situation.
Grassi, together with accomplices collectively referred to by Italian media because the “gap gang” had rented a defunct laundromat on the road. The basement of the laundromat served as the start line for the tunnel, believed to be directed to a close-by financial institution, of which there are three inside a 200-meter vary.
The excavated passage had almost reached a sewer tunnel that results in a spot simply 4 meters from the Monte dei Paschi di Siena financial institution, their possible goal.
A avenue vendor stands outdoors a department of the Monte dei Paschi di Siena financial institution in downtown Rome on February 9, 2017. Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena S.p.A. (BMPS), the oldest surviving financial institution on the planet, was based in 1472 by the magistrates of the city-state of Siena as a “mount of piety,” and has been working ever since. (FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP through Getty Images)
Investigators found dozens of baggage of grime within the basement of the store, which is barely a half mile from Vatican City.
Two of the gang of 4 are from Naples (Italy), 57-year-old Mario Mazza and 46-year-old Antonio Pinto, whereas the opposite two — 35-year-old David Sciavarrello and Andrea Grassi — are from Rome. All 4 have police data from prior convictions.
Mazza reportedly has a report of theft, starting with an arrest in 2004 for 15 counts of armed theft within the Italian area of Liguria, the place he and his cohort would hire an condo subsequent to a financial institution or publish workplace. Breaking by means of the wall, the armed gang would maintain up the institution and empty its coffers.
In 2010, Mazza stole gems price one million euros from one of the vital essential jewelers in Naples. Pinto, then again, was half of a giant cigarette smuggling gang who most likely met Mazza in jail in 2011.
The two Neapolitans have been apprehended by plainclothes carabinieri — army police — as they tried to flee the scene. They have been detained for resisting arrest however later launched, to await trial set for December 20.
While the 4 denied understanding one another, video footage and police investigations reveal that they have been usually seen collectively.
Local media additionally report that the “gap gang” was possible working with a mole inside a neighborhood financial institution. The diggers had maps of the sewers, routes to take between cavities and cellars, and exact data, together with timetables to be revered to empty the vault of the financial institution.
Some have speculated the proposed heist may have been deliberate for the August 15 feast of Ferragosto, when shops are closed and many individuals are out of city.
Andrea Grassi’s dad and mom have defended their son, telling police that he “labored for 50 euros a day. They informed him to dig and he dug.”
