Thursday, March 29, 2001

By Ward Sanderson, Naples bureau

Two young tourists say a dream holiday turned into a nightmare when a taxi driver robbed one and knifed the other in Perugia, Italy. They also say that when Italian state police arrived, officers brutally beat them with batons and jeered as they begged for mercy.

They say the only reason they’re free today is because their father is a Pennsylvania narcotics agent.

"I’d be in jail for five or six years over in Perugia for something I didn’t do," says the youngest of the brothers.

The family says police handcuffed Joseph Schiavoni, 20, sat him in a chair, then kicked him so hard they knocked him to the floor. The family also says police struck his 23-year-old brother, Joshua Schiavoni, over his bleeding stab wound when he asked for a doctor.

"The police proceeded to beat the hell out of them without asking any questions," says the father, Daniel Schiavoni.

Now Joseph Schiavoni fears visiting the part of Italy his family hails from. His father fears naming the nearby town where his Italian relatives live.

"I don’t want anything to happen to them," he says.

Police deny any beatings. Photos supplied by the family, however, show welt marks that could be the work of batons.

Family members are not seeking money. But they have complained to embassy officials and now warn other Americans about the potential for police brutality in Italy.

"I don’t want this to happen to anyone else," the father says.

According to the brothers, it began about 1 a.m. on March 13. Their parents had gone home an hour before, following a family night out. The brothers caught a cab home, but said the driver, instead of pulling directly up to the hotel, turned into a nearby alley. When the brothers tried to pay the amount shown on the meter, the driver became upset and demanded more, they said.

"The guy just pulled a knife and we immediately ran," Joseph Schiavoni says.

With Joshua Schiavoni running ahead of his brother, the taxi driver used the car to corner Joseph Schiavoni.

"He got out with a knife and come out at me," Joseph said. "I took my wallet and just chucked it at him."

The driver kept coming. "I thought, ‘Oh God, what’s he want now?’ " Joseph Schiavoni’s voice wavers and catches as he tells the story.

He says the driver made him sit down in the alley. That’s when his brother turned around. Joshua Schiavoni saw a flash of metal and his brother on the ground.

"I just came running up to save him," Joshua Schiavoni says.

The 6-foot-1, 220-pounder picked up the driver and slammed him onto the ground. At some point, the driver stabbed him in the side, the brother said. Joshua Schiavoni punched the driver.

The brothers ran.

Apparently called by the driver, police arrived. "Joe and I just hit the ground," Joshua Schiavoni recalls.

The brothers say that’s when six officers began hitting them with batons. Joseph Schiavoni began yelling "tourist, tourist." Joshua Schiavoni says the police laughed and mocked his brother.

The police took them to the station. The brothers claim they were beaten again. Joshua Schiavoni says it was about two hours before they sent him to a hospital.

"They wouldn’t let my boys call me," their father says.

Once at the hospital, Joshua Schiavoni was able to call. His father says he went to the police station and saw officers beating his cuffed younger son.

"I said ‘Why are you beating my son?’ "

One officer came at him aggressively, the father says. Then he pulled out his wallet and showed them his own badge.

"They got real apologetic and humble," Daniel Schiavoni says.

Daniel is a narcotics agent and chief surveillance pilot for the state attorney’s office in Harrisburg, Pa. He says police refused to give him the name of the arresting officers.

Daniel Schiavoni took his older son to a second hospital, because the first had only put gauze on the gash that was 3¼-inches deep, 2½-inches wide.

"How he lived ..." Daniel Schiavoni begins, pausing. "He probably should have been dead."

Police refused to drop the matter until 5 p.m. — 16 hours later. Daniel Schiavoni said the police told him his sons were not guilty after all, but still fined them $100 each.

"I left the country without paying it," Daniel Schiavoni said. He said police claimed the taxi driver was traumatized by the incident. He also says police found martial-arts weapons in the cab.

"The police were very brutal," says Neil Davies, a British civilian pilot who reported the incident to Stars and Stripes. Davies flies for Vulcan Air from Naples’ Capodichino airport. The firm provides aircraft to military and police customers, including both Schiavoni’s narcotics force and Italian police.

"The thing that ticks me off is, we’ve had good dealings with the police," Davies says. "They use our aircraft."

The Schiavoni family has complained to the U.S. Embassy in Rome. The family wants the embassy to recognize the incident and warn tourists about the police.

"We’re taking this pretty seriously," says David Potter, the embassy case officer looking into the incident. "Frankly, this is the first report we’ve gotten in a long time."

The embassy sent a letter to officials in Perugia but had not received a response as of Tuesday.

Police there say the response is in the mail. They also say the Schiavoni’s version of the story is false.

A police spokesman says the brothers attacked the taxi driver because they were angry at being overcharged. The spokesman says the taxi driver defended himself with the knife and that the brothers had been drinking, but were not quite drunk.

Police arrived and calmed all three brawlers, the spokesman maintains. He says that by the time police brought the brothers into the station, their father was already waiting inside. Allegrea says they were not mistreated by police.

Joseph Schiavoni, however, says he still has problems walking.

"It’s really scary," he says. "I’m definitely not going back for a few years."

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