“Here without us, only guns and drugs .” This is what Lino Silvestri , a boxing instructor and owner of the Napoliboxe gym , 'prospected' to the mayor of Naples . Silvestri is at risk of eviction due to rent arrears contested by the municipality , which owns the premises.
Lino Silvestri defends himself: "I have always paid what was expected"
“I have always paid the full amount stipulated in the contract we signed more than 23 years ago ,” defends Silvestri , son of Geppino, a boxing pioneer in Naples who raised champions like Oliva and Cotena , “ taking kids off the streets and also fending off threats from the Camorra clans, who have always been annoyed by the presence of the gym here in the Montesanto district.”
“Mayor thinks I have a rich gym, you are wrong”
"I have 50 kids to train in sports, and only one in ten can afford the fees. I'm entrusted with 'difficult' minors, some of whom even become champions, and in response, this morning, " he laments, while some of his kids train while awaiting eviction, " I find myself besieged by the police, municipal officials, and firefighters."
“Maybe the mayor thinks I have a gym in the rich Via Chiaia or in Posillipo. So I invite him to come down from his Palace and come here to Vicoletto sottomonte ai Ventaglieri, an alley of weapons, drugs and for now of boxing that helps the kids”.
