COSENZA – Last day dedicated to the speeches of the civil party in the trial that aims to shed light on the death of Donato Bergamini, soccer player of Cosenza Calcio, found dead along the Statale 106 Jonica, in Roseto Capo Spulico, on November 18, 1989. Thirty-five years have passed since that cursed and mysterious day. Today, however, unlike in past years, the feeling is that we are truly close to the truth.
This morning in the Court of Assizes in Cosenza, Donata Bergamini, sister of the Ferrara midfielder, was present. The only defendant Isabella Internò was notably absent from the courtroom. In the last hearings, the Castrovillari Prosecutor’s Office closed the circle, asking for 23 years in prison for the ex-girlfriend. The charge is voluntary homicide in complicity with unknown persons. A clear request for conviction, including two aggravating factors: premeditation and abject or futile motives. Sentencing is set for October 1. For the magistrates there is a motive, there is scientific evidence and testimonies that nail the accused to her responsibilities. Only the material perpetrators of the crime are missing, covered by a series of black holes in the investigations that in the days following Denis’ death for years they have supported the version of a motiveless suicide with “a dive like in a swimming pool”.
Internò was only interested in getting back into the game
The protagonists in the courtroom today were the female lawyers Silvia Galeone and Alessandra Pisa of the civil party. Two detailed and passionate speeches that did not spare anyone. Pisa was the first to speak and clearly outlined the behavioral profile of Isabella Internò, focusing on the minutes following the discovery of Denis’ body near the truck. “An impressive coldness in front of the dead body of Bergamini, whom she (Internò, ed.) still considered her boyfriend even though he hadn’t been for months. Her first thought was to call Gigi Simoni and Ciccio Marino to tell what had just happened. His will was – continues the lawyer – to return to Cosenza to take over the role that Denis had taken from her, that of girlfriend, alongside the emerging footballerimmersed in the world of football that counts. With her body on the ground she doesn’t think about warning the boy’s family, but calls her teammates despite having been out of the football environment for a year.
Internò’s worry, which she immediately reveals to Simoni during the call, is to distance herself as much as possible from the suspicion of guilt”. She does the same thing with Galeazzi the next day: “do you have something against me? Does anyone have something against me?” asks Internò. Pisa points out to the Court how Internò insisted on returning to the Agip Motel to speak with the players. To take the place of heir, wife and now widow of Denis and that’s why he wanted Bergamini’s Maserati: “he left it to me”. The car was his wedding ring.
Internò to Rota: “It was right this way”
The lawyer starts from what Isabella says to the Rota, that is: “it was right this way.” A key to understanding that makes clear – Pisa claims – what Denis’ death meant to Interno: “it had to be done, I did it, I wanted it and I punished him for taking away my role as wife. Thus eliminating the obstacle”.
Lawyer Pisa then carefully analyzed some medico-legal aspects that bring down Innamorato’s thesis. “It wasn’t very difficult for us to dismantle their thesis, because it simply dismantles itself. The arguments in our view – says the lawyer – are separate from reality, separate from the trial results. Abstract elements put in place, rightly, by the defense, to try to hinder what is a linear path. Denis’ body speaks of a blood draining from a dead man. Where, instead, it had signs of convergent vitality these are the realization of that asphyxial phenomenon that had as a precedent that homicidal action of which Denis was the victim“.
In this process, which consisted of over sixty hearings, many experts intervened and all of them agreed. In essence – according to the prosecution – there would be the dynamics, the motive and some dismantled alibis. “The alternative hypothesis is missing – says Pisa – the alternative hypothesis of suicide, the alternative hypothesis of escape is missing. There is nothing that holds up. Isabella Internò provides many versions of what Denis would have said from going to Greece to the (non-existent) problems with Cosenza Calcio or in the family. He said something different to each one and none of these – concludes the civil party lawyer – were true”.
Galleon: “11 Different Versions of the Dinner at Santa Chiara”
The lawyer takes the floor after Pisa Silvia Galleon which focused attention on the alleged dinner that was supposedly held between Internò’s family in Santa Chiara on the evening of Bergamini’s death. “We have 11 different versions of this phantom dinner and it is strange – the lawyer underlines – that the Internò family is the only one who over the years, instead of forgetting the details, has added them. This is a false alibi. In short – says Galeone – we are faced with a series of false testimonies, full of discrepancies. But the real question is: why invent?
One wonders: is it plausible that a young and rising boy like Denis decided to commit suicide in that way? Is his alleged escape abroad plausible? Legally I say no. Now all of us, myself first – concludes the lawyer – have a great responsibility towards the Bergamini family after 35 years of mistakes. We can’t make any more mistakes.”
The defense’s oral arguments are scheduled for hearings on September 26 and 30.
– Sky advertising-
