Forensic Report Challenges Suicide Principle in David Rossi Case
David Rossi was born in Siena on June 2, 1961, and for greater than twenty years he was some of the influential figures within the metropolis. As head of communications at Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the world’s oldest surviving financial institution, based in 1472, he was broadly thought to be the right-hand man of Giuseppe Mussari, then president of the MPS Basis and a central determine in Siena’s financial and political life.
Rossi’s function was removed from marginal. He managed an annual funds of a number of million euros for sponsorships and oversaw relationships with media, political, and judicial figures. In essence, he was a person who knew nearly all the pieces that was occurring inside and across the historic financial institution.
The Monte dei Paschi Disaster
To grasp Rossi’s dying, it’s important to look at the broader context. Between 2007 and 2008, beneath Mussari after which basic director Antonio Vigni, MPS acquired Banca Antonveneta from Spain’s Santander group for greater than €16 billion general, regardless of a later skilled valuation estimating the financial institution’s value at simply €2.8 billion. The deal, broadly thought of reckless and overpriced, devastated MPS’s funds and compelled it in January 2013 to hunt a state bailout, successfully funded by Italian taxpayers.
Judicial investigations targeted on this acquisition, in addition to on opaque by-product transactions often known as “Alexandria” and “Santorini.” On February 19, 2013, Italy’s Guardia di Finanza searched the workplaces and houses of Mussari and Vigni, and, crucially, additionally Rossi’s workplace and home. Rossi, nevertheless, was not beneath investigation.
The Night time of 6 March 2013
On Wednesday, 6 March 2013, at round 8:45 pm, an emergency name was created from the financial institution’s headquarters in Rocca Salimbeni in Siena. David Rossi, 51, was discovered lifeless on the cobblestones of Vicolo Monte Pio, beneath the third-floor window of his workplace within the historic constructing.
The Siena prosecutor’s workplace instantly concluded that it was a suicide. The preliminary authorized speculation was “incitement to suicide in opposition to individuals unknown.”
That very same night, three Siena prosecutors, Giuseppe Grosso, Aldo Natalini, and Salvatore Nastasi, entered Rossi’s workplace earlier than forensic police had photographed and documented the scene.
This entry was neither recorded nor formally famous, an irregularity that may weigh closely on the investigation. Years later, the Genoa prosecutor’s workplace dominated that the magistrates’ conduct didn’t represent a criminal offense.
From the very starting, a number of parts appeared troublesome to reconcile with the suicide idea.
Rossi’s physique confirmed bruises and strange lesions. Particularly, accidents to his arms had been described by the household’s legal professionals as inconsistent with self-inflicted wounds. The distribution and form of the marks appeared reversed in comparison with what could be anticipated in self-inflicted cuts. No in-depth official investigation was ever performed on these accidents.
Surveillance cameras recorded that Rossi didn’t die instantly after the autumn however remained alive on the pavement for about twenty minutes. Roughly 5 to twenty minutes after the autumn, his watch was thrown from the identical workplace window. On the time of the autumn, the watch was not on his wrist. This stays some of the troubling particulars of the case. Who was within the workplace, and why throw the watch afterward?
Digicam footage confirmed two people approaching Rossi whereas he was nonetheless alive, then leaving with out offering help or calling emergency providers.
A automobile was parked in Vicolo Monte Pio, partially obstructing entry and visibility within the alley.
Two days earlier than his dying, Rossi exchanged a sequence of emails with Fabrizio Viola, then CEO of MPS. The dialog, lasting from 9 am to five pm, involved the continuing judicial investigation. Rossi appeared visibly anxious, writing phrases similar to, “Can I communicate to you about this morning’s problem? It’s pressing. Tomorrow may be too late.”
At 10:13 am, an e mail appeared wherein Rossi allegedly introduced his intention to commit suicide. Viola later acknowledged he didn’t recall that message. Furthermore, the change continued usually afterward, as if nothing had occurred.
Based on some reconstructions, Rossi advised his spouse he was coming residence, an uncommon assertion if one assumes a premeditated suicide.
Two Dismissals and a Parliamentary Fee
The Siena prosecutor’s investigations had been dismissed twice, each occasions concluding that Rossi had taken his personal life. The reasoning largely relied on a presumed state of “despair and anguish,” thought of in step with suicide.
Rossi’s household, his widow Antonella Tognazzi and his daughter Carolina Orlandi, who revealed a e-book in 2018 titled Se tu potessi vedermi ora, have at all times rejected this reconstruction. Through the years, investigative reviews by tv applications similar to Le Iene, Non è l’Enviornment, and Sedici Storie reignited public debate, highlighting unresolved particulars.
On March 11, 2021, the Italian Chamber of Deputies established a parliamentary fee of inquiry into Rossi’s dying, tasked with reconstructing the info, causes, and potential third-party obligations. Amongst its members was Carlo Nordio, later appointed Minister of Justice.
New Professional Reviews Exclude Suicide
In 2024 and 2025, the parliamentary fee heard forensic specialists who performed new analyses with hanging conclusions.
Based on these new reviews, the accidents to Rossi’s face weren’t brought on by the autumn however by compression in opposition to the window body itself. Experiments performed with mannequins confirmed compatibility between the facial marks and violent contact with the window.
Particularly, Rossi seems to have suffered forceful compression in opposition to anti-bird wires and a steel bar on the window. Cuts on his lip and nostril would have resulted from this stress, whereas puncture wounds had been attributed to the wire terminals. For the 2 specialists, these accidents had been clearly in step with “the dynamics of a wrestle.”
When requested whether or not the proof was nonetheless appropriate with suicide, skilled Manghi described that risk as “nearly not possible.” For suicide to be believable, Rossi would have needed to voluntarily press his face in opposition to the steel parts of the window, a situation deemed extremely unlikely.
The Homicide Speculation and Darkish Leads
Over time, disturbing hypotheses have emerged. Some of the sensational, although by no means judicially confirmed, considerations alleged involvement of organized crime. Reviews surfaced that Giandavide De Pau, former driver of Camorra boss Michele Senese and later accused of triple murder, allegedly claimed accountability for Rossi’s homicide. His protection lawyer requested that two judicial cops who spoke with De Pau in 2019 whereas he was detained be heard as witnesses.
Hypothesis has additionally touched on potential hyperlinks to political networks and highly effective circles related to the financial institution. None of those claims has to this point discovered affirmation in courtroom.
At one level, a Justice of the Peace investigating the case acquired a dying risk within the type of an unexploded 9mm bullet.
The E mail Trial and Associated Proceedings
The case additionally generated collateral authorized proceedings. Rossi’s widow Antonella Tognazzi and journalist Davide Vecchi, writer of Il caso David Rossi. Il suicidio imperfetto del supervisor Monte dei Paschi di Siena, had been tried for publishing the emails Rossi had despatched to the CEO. Years later, Siena’s chief prosecutor apologized to the widow for bringing the case in opposition to her.
Journalists from Le Iene additionally confronted authorized tensions. Following complaints by Siena magistrates, the Genoa prosecutor’s workplace opened an investigation, searched the house of correspondent Antonino Monteleone, and charged him with aggravated defamation.
A Case Nonetheless Open
Greater than twelve years after his dying, the David Rossi case stays one of many darkest unresolved mysteries in latest Italian historical past. Some have in contrast it to the deaths of Roberto Calvi and Raul Gardini, males who knew an excessive amount of and died beneath opaque circumstances at moments when their silence was value greater than their phrases.
The brand new skilled reviews, which exclude suicide, demand renewed reflection on what occurred at Rocca Salimbeni that March night in 2013. The parliamentary fee continues its work. The reality, if it ever emerges, could concern not solely the dying of 1 man but additionally the deeper mechanisms of energy that ruled one among Italy’s oldest and most controversial monetary establishments.
David Rossi had advised his spouse he was coming residence. He by no means made it.
Ph: monteleone.substack
