Italy police foil plot to steal Ferrari’s body for ransom

Italian police said they caught a criminal gang on Tuesday that had been plotting to steal the body of Formula One racing pioneer Enzo Ferrari for ransom. Detectives in Sardinia said they had stumbled across the plot while investigating a group of 30 or so crooks who were involved in drug and arms trafficking on the Italian island but were exploring other cash-making ideas.

One was a plan to steal the mortal remains of the racing driver -- who founded the Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team and prancing horse brand before dying -- and demand money from his family for the body’s safe return. They had plotted in detail how to steal the coffin, hide it, and contact the family, police said.

Ferrari, who died aged 90 in 1988, is buried in a cemetery in Modena behind a plate of marble in a large chapel secured by a heavy iron gate. Some 300 officers armed with over 30 arrest warrants clapped the gang members in cuffs early Tuesday morning, police said. Italy is no stranger to body-abduction cases. Among the most famous was the theft in 1992 of the body of four-year-old Raffaele Bagni -- the son of a former football player -- a month after his death in a car accident.

It was Italian cases that inspired the theft in 1978 of Charlie Chaplin’s coffin in Switzerland by a Polish and Bulgarian grave robber.

HAMILTON WANTS TO MAKE FILM ON HIS LIFE

London: Formula One star Lewis Hamilton wants to make a biopic on his life and his journey to the top of the racing world. The British F1 champion says he wants to both produce and star in the movie, reported Contactmusic. “I would probably play myself. I have not seen an actor that looks like me or that I’d particularly want to represent me,” Hamilton says. The 32-year-old star says the screenplay would focus on his rags to riches story and how his dad worked three jobs to support him as a young driver who went on to become three-time world champion. “My story is about coming from humble beginnings. I am probably the last of a dying breed because pretty much every other driver I’m racing with has come from wealth.”

Hamilton believes his life story can inspire people to follow to their dreams.

US GP BOSS SAYS F1 SHOULD OWN CIRCUITS

London: US Grand Prix promoter Bobby Epstein says it would make sense for Formula One’s new American owners Liberty Media to buy some circuits as part of their long-term strategic plans for the sport. The Circuit of the Americas (COTA) co-founder and chairman whose Austin, Texas, track is the country’s sole purpose-built F1 facility, said he would be happy to do a deal “at the right price”.

He added, however, that there had been no discussions with Liberty. “I do think it makes a lot of sense for them to own some circuits. It would have to be part of any long-term strategy for them,” said Epstein, whose race is the only US round on the current calendar, in a telephone interview.

“I see a lot of logic and business reasons for them to own some circuits.”