'My law is violence': Mafia boss Francis Turatello's Belgian crime spree 60 years ago

Sixty years ago, a daring double bank robbery in Schaarbeek, Belgium, involving a young Italian gangster named Francis Turatello, foreshadowed the rise of one of Italy's most notorious mafia figures.

In the summer of 1966, the Belgian capital was rocked by two audacious bank heists. On August 8, three armed men stormed a bank branch on Avenue Rogier, demanding money. This was not the first time the branch had been targeted; just three weeks prior, it had been robbed. During the second robbery, the perpetrators fled in a waiting Fiat, but were pursued by a vigilant local and eventually cornered by police. A shootout ensued, leading to the arrest of one of the robbers, who was carrying a bag full of cash.

Italian police investigators quickly identified the arrested man as Francis Turatello, then only 22 years old. Known by the nickname 'Faccia d’Angelo' (Angel Face) for his handsome appearance, Turatello was already a figure in the Milanese underworld, sought for pimping, extortion, and robbery. Reports from Flemish newspapers at the time noted a tattoo on his back bearing the motto 'My law is violence.' The audacity of the crimes, involving a charismatic yet ruthless gangster, captivated the press, with one reporter remarking that such events seemed confined to the movies.

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My law is violence.

Turatello received a 6.5-year prison sentence in Belgium but managed to escape Italian authorities later. He went on to become a prominent and feared mafia boss in Milan, deeply involved in drug trafficking, gambling, prostitution, and kidnappings. His criminal empire crumbled when he was brutally murdered in his prison cell in 1981, stabbed 60 times. His girlfriend, Emilia Zenari, who had been his accomplice, was shot dead in Milan four years earlier, in 1978.

The events of that summer in Schaarbeek, including the arrest of Turatello and his 25-year-old accomplice Emilia Zenari, a dancer, marked the beginning of a dark chapter for the young gangster, whose life of crime ultimately ended in violence.

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Such things one only believes to see in a movie.