ROME – Ten years after the death of Domenico Martimucci, the 27-year-old footballer, who was mortally wounded in after a bomb went off in a game room in Altamura, Puglia on March 5 2015, two men have been arrested. 

 After nearly five months in a coma, the young footballer succumbed to his injuries and passed away, his homicide has been under investigation ever since. Due to suspected mafia involvement, there have already been multiple trials and on Thursday a further two were arrested. 

 One of the accused is mafia boss Mario D’Ambrosio, who allegedly ordered the bombing in order to regain control of the gambling scene in the city. 

 The regional carabineri of Bari, after ample investigations organised under the district’s anti-mafia directive, arrested a further two men in connection with the killing. Martimucci was only 27-years-old at the time and played for Castellaneta under Eccellenza pugliese. According to friends and family he was an excellent player, wore the number 10 on his shirt and aspired to be a player like Zinedine Zidane. 

  10 years ago, on the night of March 5, he was sat in local premise, watching the Italian cup semi-final between Juventus and Fiorentina. The mafia had placed a bomb inside the bar in an attempt to intimidate the owners but when it went off there were still many members of the public inside, gravely injuring many and leading to the death of Martimucci. 

 The two arrested on Thursday now stand accused of homicide, multiple attempted homicides and detonation and transportation of explosive materials. The charged were made much more serious due to further crackdowns on mafia related crime. 

 The circumstantial evidence against the suspects has been shared by the Bari prosecutor’s office, which requested the issuing of a precautionary measure against the two suspects, one of whom is in prison, the other who is under house arrest.

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