Enego Mystery: Reporter Fabricated Attack, Investigated for Slander and Simulation

Vicenza – A personal and professional trajectory devastated by the very evidence that should have confirmed his status as a frontline reporter, threatened for his investigations and unwelcome positions. A sensational, and in some ways disconcerting, turn of events has emerged in the investigations into the intimidation reported in recent months by twenty-year-old aspiring journalist from Vicenza, Adriano Cappellari.

What for weeks was treated as a serious act of retaliation linked to organized crime has been revealed, according to prosecutors at the Vicenza Public Prosecutor's Office, to be a meticulous and independent set-up. Cappellari has been placed under investigation on charges of arson, slander, and criminal simulation: he is believed to have planned, organized, and executed the arson attack that took place on May 30th outside his home in Enego, on the Asiago Plateau.

The May attack and the first suspicions

The events date back to the night between May 29th and 30th. Shortly before midnight, a hooded individual approached Cappellari's home, leaving a threatening note in the mailbox and setting off a series of Molotov cocktails near some gas canisters. Only the prompt intervention of the Fire Department prevented serious consequences.

The incident sparked deep outrage. The young man linked the attack to his professed closeness to Don Maurizio Patriciello, the anti-Camorra parish priest of Caivano. Before the May bombing, Cappellari had already reported three alleged threatening letters (delivered in November, December, and February) containing death threats addressed to him, the priest, and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. This tense situation prompted the authorities to place him under special protection, with surveillance subsequently tightened.

Caught by online shopping and cameras

The house of cards collapsed thanks to the in-depth investigation conducted by the Carabinieri of the Bassano del Grappa Company, together with specialists from the RIS. Interviewed by investigators, the aspiring reporter had initially directed suspicions towards some residents of Enego, providing evidence that drew attention to a local individual consistent with the height of the attacker seen in the videos (between 1,69 and 1,75 meters).

However, scientific and computer tests revealed a completely different lead. The RIS's findings on the gas canisters and ethyl alcohol used for the fuse prompted the military to investigate the sales on a well-known e-commerce platform. The results of the investigation were unequivocal: the only deliveries of that type of canister in the municipality of Enego coincided with personal orders placed by Cappellari himself between April 25 and 29 (four gas cartridges and six bottles of ethyl alcohol), delivered to his home on May 4.

Searches and judicial epilogue

Completing the circumstantial evidence is the perfect physical compatibility between the masked attacker filmed by the cameras at 11:28 PM and the same twenty-year-old, who was then filmed a few minutes before and immediately after (at 11:35 PM) while filming the firefighters' firefighting operations with his smartphone.

Today, acting on a warrant from Chief Prosecutor Lino Giorgio Bruno, the Carabinieri conducted a personal, house, and computer search of the young man's home. The possibility of retaliation against the press has thus been dismissed, leaving room for the criminal hypothesis of a dramatic simulation of a crime.