It's March 23, 2015. Pope Francis, on a pastoral visit to Naples, receives a special pizza in the Vatican's colors: buffalo mozzarella, yellow cherry tomatoes, and the words "Long Live the Pope." Delivering the pizza to the Pontiff in the Popemobile is Vincenzo "Enzo" Cacialli, then 43, a pizza chef and entrepreneur known in the city for running a pizzeria in the historic center of Naples. From that day on, Cacialli becomes "The Pope's Pizza Chef" and is celebrated by newspapers and television channels, including CNN. Last Monday, Cacialli was arrested by the Genoa Flying Squad on charges of serially defrauding elderly and pensioners. The police investigation began after a series of checks conducted in the Ligurian capital and in Turin, where the man was arrested red-handed on Corso Vittorio Emanuele for defrauding an 85-year-old woman. Cacialli was found in possession of rings and jewelry that belonged to the woman. The story is told by Secolo XIX. Cacialli used the fake lawyer technique: he pretended to be a lawyer specializing in car accidents and told the elderly people he targeted that he was the assistant to their young relatives involved in accidents. "I'm Demichelis, your nephew caused an accident and urgently needs money because he's in prison." He pocketed the money and disappeared. In Genoa, he's accused of defrauding four elderly people. For the police, Cacialli is a classic traveling con man. He was caught by a series of photographs that captured him under the homes of the defrauded people and at the train station. The investigation is not concluded: investigators are looking for his accomplice, a switchboard operator who would initiate the approach to the elderly people. Cacialli would then go to their homes to collect the money and return to Naples by train.
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