Castellammare, today in Pavia the last farewell to Gigi Bici. His daughter 'I miss you so much'

Castellammare. White balloons with the names of his loved ones and a long round of applause for the last farewell to Luigi Criscuolo. Six months after his body was found in the undergrowth, the funeral of the 60-year-old bicycle dealer, who was known to everyone as Gigi Bici for his business, was held in Pavia, killed with a gunshot to the temple and then hidden in Calignano, a hamlet of Cura Carpignano, near Barbara Passetti's home.

The woman, a 40-year-old physiotherapist who knew him, has been in prison since January 20, accused of killing him because he refused to teach his ex-husband a lesson. A death impossible to accept for the victim's children, in tears in front of the light-colored wooden coffin, over a bouquet of colorful flowers including dahlias and lilies. "A generous man, a little gruff, but who knew how to get emotional," recalled Don Marco Labate, a young priest and family friend who officiated the funeral. "A gentle giant, always available."

It was the priest, at the end of the mass, who read the message written for her father by his daughter Katia. “I always think of you, I miss your hugs, when you held me tight and I, small as a grain, disappeared in your arms – these are the words of the girl -. I pretend that you are still here, and I am still a child, and you, with your reassuring hands, console me when I cry… I miss you so much, I always miss you… You are distant, but always present, a step away from my heart… I love you dad!”.

In the church of the Holy Family in Pavia, with the victim's partner, his mother and his brother Vincenzo, 75 years old, who arrived from Castellammare of Stabia (Naples), there were also his ex-wife and many relatives and friends, tightly embraced during the blessing of the coffin. Among the pews of the church of the Citta' di Giardino district, also Ramon Christian Pisciotta, contacted several times by Barbara Pasetti after Criscuolo's disappearance.

Gian Andrea Toffano, the ex-husband of the physiotherapist who, claiming to be threatened, had asked Criscuolo to teach him a lesson, was not there. The alleged threats, at the moment, have not been found any evidence by the investigators who arrested the woman on January 20, accused of attempted extortion and aggravated murder and now incarcerated in the Piccolini prison in Vigevano. And when Gigi Bici went to the suspect's house, to return the 7,65 caliber pistol that she wanted her to use against her ex, he was killed with the same weapon.