Filippo Raciti

Who was Filippo Raciti?

Filippo Raciti was an Italian police officer who was killed in a violent confrontation between Calcio Catania football supporters and police officers.

Born in Catania, Sicily, Raciti joined the Italian police in June 1986, and joined the local flying squad in late 2006. He lived in Acireale, in the Province of Catania with his wife and two children, aged 15 and 9.

A week before his death, Raciti gave evidence at the trial of a football hooligan, who was then freed by the local magistrate. According to one of his colleagues, the hooligan laughed in his face as he left the court.

Raciti died in Catania on 2 February 2007, after the end of the football derby between Catania and Palermo, as a result of liver damage caused by blunt object trauma, disproving an initial hypothesis which claimed his death was caused by a homemade firecracker.

Raciti's death, which resulted in all of the Italian football matches, even the national team, to be suspended for a week, provoking outrage in Italy, with a great and somewhat uncommon amount of solidarity towards the Italian law enforcement forces, and massive coverage worldwide. A 17 year-old hooligan from Catania was later jailed and detained in custody, charged with the murder. As of February 2007, he was being investigated by the Italian police.