We will never run out of stories of Diego Armando Maradona. The Argentine soccer player is considered one of the best of all time, and his personality and charisma made him win over a large part of the Argentine people.
However, despite the great milestones that the mass idol achieved, there is a not so happy anecdote for the one born in Villa Fiorito during his time in Italy. Maradona had already become world champion in 1986 and was spending another year in Napoli, when the incident occurred. robbery at Banco della Provincia.
What was the robbery of the Banco della Provincia like?
At 2:20 p.m. on Thursday, October 26, 1989 one of the most impressive robberies in Italian history took place. Eight members of the clan Giuseppe Missoin charge of mafia robberies The Camorrathey entered the Bank of the Province of Naples.
Disguised with masks of Disney and carnival charactersthe thieves entered through a hole in the wall that they made in the premises next to the bank branch, they dribbled through the sewers and went directly to the safe deposit boxes, of which 80 of the total (400) were opened. In the middle, there were gagged hostages.
In those years in Italy, Maradona had generated a link with some names of La Camorra, such as Licciardi, Contini and Lo Russoalthough when he contacted them they did not respond.
What objects did Maradona have stored in the Banco della Provincia
Diego’s safe was full of valuable items. his wife, Claudia Villafañereported what was stolen at a police station, among which were necklaces, earrings, bracelets and diamonds from her daughters Dalma and Gianinna, a Rolex watch with diamonds, one Cartier and six other watchesplus a tiara Guillermo Coppolarepresentative of Maradona.
In fact, Coppola himself described that anecdote in even more detail: “I told Diego about it and he wasn’t worried, he was calm. After a while he asked me ‘and what did we have?’. I told him that I had one with a clock that The King of Arabia had given me a gift, it was worth 10 or 15 lucas… and then Claudia got worried because he told her that he had everything: medals, cups, the scimitar that King Fahd had given him”. That sword was a gift from the King of Saudi Arabia to Diego in a charity match that took place in 1987.
However, the event would not end there. Two days later, Cóppola receives a message from Napoli at a training session. Carmine Giulianothe leader of La Camorra. “When we left, I told Diego who had come and he told me not to bother him. When we arrived for lunch, Claudia told us that maybe it had something to do with the robbery. The guy came the next day and I asked him if he had something to do with it. with the robbery. ‘Yes,’ he answered,” said the representative.
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Reuters
They went to Giuliano’s house at night, on a trip that included two trips in two different cars and another on a motorcycle. They arrived and all the belongings were there, except one: the Ballon d’Or for the best player in the 1986 World Cup. The mafia had cast in gold to sellsince it was too heavy to transport. Diego resigned himself but did not suffer the losses as much. “Then we stayed with Carmine and did a Lollapalooza, ha. We had house arrest… let the Police come and take us out,” explained Cóppola.
However, the priceless trophy was impossible to melt down, something that It was proven when it reappeared in 2016. Abdelhamid B., a former French-Algerian gallery owner who was a fan of auctions, decided in January of that year to enter a building that did not attract much attention. “Sales room, deliveries and removal of objects”read the sign on the façade.
Abdelhamid was there because, a week before, his mother asked him to buy something for his father-in-law, who had had an important medal stolen. “That morning I bought an army metal detector, about thirty Tibetan rifles and shields,” explained the Algerian. Yes, all that plus a shiny gold trophy.
It took him a year and a half to realize that it wasn’t a handball prize. There he began a search for the truth about the Ballon d’Or, from Google searches to analysis by sports articles experts. Abdelhamid was not taken seriously. He continued trying through an exhaustive investigation, until one moment he learned of the robbery of the Banco della Provincia.
“There I went crazy. I was a jeweler in my youth and quickly realized that it could not be cast. From that moment I wanted to take advantage of my discovery to meet Diego, my idol,” said Abdelhamid. Although that did not happen since Maradona died in November 2020.
Despite that bad experience, the Franco-Algerian kept trying. He published it on E-Bay at a price of $120,000, although it was not successful. Until In September 2023 he took it to the Aguttes auction house, where it was exhibited in May of this same year for a price of between 12 and 15 million euros..
Interestingly, as Abdelhamid was considered the original owner of the trophy, all proceeds went to him and not to the Maradona family.
Source: Ambito
