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Ambulance driver suspected of killing patients to make money from their funerals

Police in Sicily have arrested an ambulance driver suspected of killing at least three patients in order to make money from their funerals.

Published: 21 December 2017 16:54 CET
Ambulance driver suspected of killing patients to make money from their funerals
File photo of a police car outside a Milan hospital. Photo: Giuseppe Cacace/AFP

The deaths took place while terminally ill patients were being driven to their family homes from hospital in the Sicilian town of Biancavilla.

The scheme had reportedly been going on since 2012, and the 'Ambulance of death' operation, as it was named by investigators, has looked at over 50 deaths in the area to establish whether any could have been homicides.

Of these, 12 were considered “particularly meaningful” to the operation, the Catania deputy prosecutor told a press conference, but only three were presented to the investigating magistrate as evidence.

The magistrate issued an arrest order for the 42-year-old driver, who is suspected of voluntary homicide aggravated by the alleged mafia involvement.

READ ALSO: Italian firemen accused of starting fires for bonuses

Catania's public prosecutor opened the investigation after an informant gave them details about the scheme and alleged local mafia groups' involvement. He had previously spoken about the case on Italian TV show Le Iene.

According to Italy's Rai News, the informant said that the driver injected air into the patients' blood using a needle, and that they died of embolism. He then allegedly took advantage of the family's grief to recommend a funeral company which paid him €300 for each job it got through his recommendation.

READ ALSO: Five ways to fight the mafia

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REVEALED: Where in Italy you’re most likely to be a victim of crime

From theft and home burglary to cyber fraud and extortion, the latest figures reveal where in Italy you are most likely to fall victim to crime and the most common types of offences in major cities around the country.

Published: 17 September 2024 11:15 CEST
REVEALED: Where in Italy you're most likely to be a victim of crime

While Italy is among the safest countries in the world – it ranked 33rd out of 163 in the latest Global Peace Index report, right above the UK – crime is still a concern, especially in metropolitan cities and tourist hotspots.

According to the annual crime report from newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, which collated the most recent data from Italy’s Department of Public Security, Milan was the Italian city with the highest crime rate in 2023.

Overall, some 230,394 crimes were reported in the northern metropolis last year, which corresponded to 7,094 offences for every 100,000 residents.

Milan was followed by Italy’s capital, Rome, with 6,071 reported crimes for every 100,000 residents (up by nearly 600 compared to 2022) and Florence, with 6,053.

The top ten was completed by Rimini (6,002 reports for every 100,000 residents), Turin (5,685), Bologna (5,539), Prato (4,887), Imperia (4,838), Venice (4,825) and Livorno (4,743).

At the other end of the spectrum, Oristano, Sardinia, was the Italian city with the lowest crime rate in 2023 as it ‘only’ saw 1,511 offences for every 100,000 residents. 

Oristano was followed by Potenza, Basilicata (1,934) and Treviso, Veneto (2,258).

Single-offence rankings

While the overall crime rate ranking provides a picture of Italy’s major crime hotspots, it doesn’t allow for any insight into the types of offences committed locally, which is why it is worth looking into single-offence rankings. 

Milan, Rome and Rimini (a popular seaside resort on Emilia Romagna’s Adriatic coast) were the Italian cities with the highest theft rates in 2023, with the northern city registering nearly 3,900 reported thefts (furti) for every 100,000 residents and the capital stopping just shy of the 3,500 mark.

Milan was also Italy’s least-safe city when it came to petty theft and pickpocketing, with over 900 such offences reported for every 100,000 residents.

READ ALSO: How bad is pickpocketing in Italy’s major cities?

Florence was the Italian city with the highest robbery rate (rapine), with 136 offences for every 100,000 residents. 

The Tuscan city was followed by Milan (128) and Prato (124).

Outside of big cities and popular tourist destinations, a number of smaller and, perhaps, slightly unassuming Italian cities had their own crime ‘specialisations’ in 2023. 

For instance, Ragusa, Sicily, ranked first in vehicle theft, while Pisa, Tuscany, came in first in reported home burglary offences.

Trieste, Friuli Venezia Giulia, had the highest sexual assault rate (24 reports for every 100,000 residents) in the country, whereas Crotone ranked first for attempted murder.

READ ALSO: The 8 red flags to look out for to avoid rental scams in Italy

Turin came in first for cyber fraud and online scams, while Isernia, Molise, was Italy’s extortion capital. 

National picture

At a national level, reported crimes were up by 3.8 percent compared to 2022, with online fraud and robbery registering 10.3- and 9.5-percent increases respectively. 

Assault offences also registered a 3.1-percent year-on-year increase, while there were 341 murders in 2023 – up by 13 against 2019. 

According to Marco Dugato, a researcher at the Crime Observatory of Milan’s Cattolica University, the latest increases “must be monitored, particularly for certain types of crime”.

In particular, “the rise of more impulsive, less planned, but more aggressive forms of criminal activity” such as assault and robbery “is of concern”. 

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