“I PLANNED TO KIDNAP ZOLA”
Reformed hoodlum reveals ransom plot to capture the miniature maestro
When Fabrizio Maiello’s football career turned bad, he came up with a sinister solution to his problems.
Once a youth team player at Monza in Italy’s Serie B, Maiello sustained a cruciate ligament injury and was told he couldn’t play football any more. Then came drugs and prison. Then, in 1991, he was locked up in a criminal asylum in Reggio Emilia.
He was granted special leave three years later, but didn’t return to the asylum. As a fugitive, he instead decided to plan the kidnapping of a top Serie A star.
The victim was planned to be Gianfranco Zola, then playing for Parma, who were owned by Calisto Tanzi and the Parmalat company. Maiello hoped that Tanzi would pay a big ransom to release the diminutive star.
“We often used to go to Collecchio to watch Parma’s training sessions, and we decided to grab Zola,” Maiello tells Fourfourtwo. “It should have been a lightning abduction, trusting that Tanzi would have paid us very soon, within 24 or 48 hours. We thought that maybe the kidnapping could have been resolved without the news spreading.”
The plan took place in a service station close to Rimini. “We were following Zola with two stolen cars from far away,” Maiello explains. “When he was putting petrol into his car, I walked in his direction to take him.” But he didn’t. “I suddenly thought ‘What the fuck am I doing?’” he admits now. “I looked into Zola’s eyes and I realised I couldn’t do it.
“I said ‘Forza Napoli!’ and asked for an autograph. The only thing I had to sign was my new ID, given when I got the special leave. He signed my document, and seemed suspicious. We put on an act after that – a sort of car chase, overtaking and driving side by side. Then we waved him goodbye and changed course.” Maiello also changed the course of his life.
Returning to the asylum, he started to help young people chase their football dreams, and became famous for setting football records. He did a 5km seal dribble – walking with the ball balanced on his head – and also did keepie-uppies while walking backwards for 1km. After 20 years of convictions, he’s now a free man, working as a gardener. Zola later found out about the kidnapping attempt. “When he played at Cagliari, I wanted to arrange an exhibition with him at the stadium, but they didn’t issue me a permit,” Maiello says. “He’s a good person – he didn’t deserve to be abducted.” Emanuele Giulianelli