He had holed up in the basement of a building on the northern outskirts of Turin, in the Barriera di Milano neighborhood, protected by a group of friends. No smartphone in hand, no live broadcast, no video to turn into viral content.
It was there that the Turin Police Headquarters' Flying Squad, coordinated by the prosecutor's office, arrested Said Alì, 24, known online as Don Alì, the self-proclaimed "king of the maranza."
The young man, an Italian of Moroccan origin, had been wanted for several days. His escape ended with him being arrested on Friday evening, following an investigation that has him charged with stalking and aggravated defamation.
From threats in Naples to social fame
The name Don Alì is no stranger to the news. Last year, the TikTok user made headlines—and horrors—for a series of videos in which, in bellicose tones, he threatened a sort of "descent of the Nibelungs" from Northern Italy to Naples, announcing a hypothetical "invasion" and alluding to violence against women in the city.
This narrative of defiance, flaunted violence, and aggressive language has built an audience of over 200 followers on TikTok and Instagram. Edited videos, insults, and intimidation: an extreme form of communication that, according to investigators, has no longer been limited to on-camera drama, but has spilled over into real life.
The ambush of the teacher in front of his daughter
The incident occurred at the end of October. According to the prosecutor's reconstruction, Don Alì, along with two members of his "team," waited for a teacher at the school exit where the teacher had gone to pick up his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter.
As soon as he was outside the school, the attack began: the TikToker insulted him, accused him of bullying a student, and slapped him on the back of the head, right before the little girl's eyes. The frightened girl clung to her father's legs.
The images were filmed and edited into a reel posted on Don Alì's Instagram page. The overlays were heavily titled: the maestro was labeled a "pedophile" and presented as the "prey" of the attack.
In the video, the TikTok user claims that the child he allegedly bullied is his nephew and utters a phrase that, according to the prosecutor, fully constitutes a threat: “Teacher, the next time you bully a child and mistreat him, this video will become public.”
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However, the investigators' investigations, coordinated by the director of the Flying Squad, Davide Corazzini, completely disprove this story: the school where the teacher teaches does not have any children of Moroccan origin linked to Said Ali's family enrolled.
The television echo and the new intimidations
The story doesn't end with that first video. In early November, capitalizing on the visibility he'd gained, Don Alì released excerpts from an interview he gave on the TV show "Le Iene" on his channels. In the new content, he reiterates the need to "punish those who abuse minors" and raises his voice even further: "The next time you abuse children, it will end much worse," he says, addressing, albeit indirectly, the same teacher.
The teacher, meanwhile, goes to the police. He also attaches a medical certificate to his complaint attesting to a state of anxiety related to the intimidation he suffered and the violent media exposure. For the prosecutor, at that point, the picture becomes clear: unfounded accusations, social media pillorying, and a campaign of delegitimization that transcends the screen and impacts the real life of the alleged "target."
The attack on the "Dritto e Rovescio" crew
The investigation's developments don't just concern the teacher. The investigation, coordinated by Deputy Prosecutor Patrizia Caputo and Prosecutor Roberto Furlan, also links Don Alì to the November 11th attack on a crew from the Rete 4 program "Dritto e Rovescio," who had come to the Barriera di Milano neighborhood to interview him.
According to the reconstruction, a disguised individual armed with a nailed club struck the windshield of Mediaset's car, shattering it. This intimidating message, investigators believe, fits into the same pattern of flaunted violence and refusal of critical discussion that characterizes the TikToker's actions.
Two alleged accomplices of Said Ali, a 24-year-old and a 27-year-old, who allegedly accompanied him to the school during the attack on the teacher, were placed under a sign-in order by the investigating judge.
The Don Alì case and the boundary between social media and crime
The Don Alì case reopens the debate on the increasingly blurred line between online sensationalism and criminal liability. Content crafted to capture attention, hyper-violent language, targets identified and pilloried: a formula that generates followers, but which, as judicial challenges demonstrate, can lead to persecution, defamation, and violence.
For the "king of the maranza", this time, no reel, no filter, no clip to relaunch: just an arrest warrant executed in a cellar, far from the light of the smartphone that had made him famous.
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