A supporter attending Inter–Sampdoria in Curva Nord on Saturday describes scenes of violence and ‘kids crying’ as ultras forced ordinary fans to leave after the murder of their historic leader Vittorio Boiocchi.
Baiocchi was shot repeatedly in an ambush outside his house on the outskirts of Milan, and the news spread while the Nerazzurri were playing against Sampdoria at San Siro.
Many of the organised ultras groups in the Curva Nord pulled in their banners and walked out of San Siro at half-time. They also forced ordinary fans to do the same, threatening them.
“At the end of the first half, we were told that we had to leave the Curva. A young guy put his hands on a man with a daughter who was six or seven years old and started crying,” one of the witnesses in Curva Nord told La Repubblica.
“So other people arrived and many were shouting: ‘There is a kid!’
“Another man who was protesting about the way he was obliged to leave was threatened. One of these young guys told him: ‘You don’t know who I am, I am going to cut your throat.’
“Those insulting and threatening were 25 years old, and some of them were not even in their 20s. One of them shouted: ‘Get out of here or we’ll kick you out, we are ruling this place.’
“I feared people would be crushed while trying to leave. I tried to console a girl who was crying. It was dangerous to evacuate thousands of people, we left because there was no alternative.”
Baiocchi had strong connections with organised crime and spent over 26 years of his life in prison for among other things drug trafficking, theft and kidnap.
He had been banned from the stadium and was forced to remain 2km away from the Stadio Meazza during Inter matches.
Italy’s new Minister for Sport Andrea Abodi has promised to ‘look into’ the incident.