Magliana gang, Colafigli (il Bufalo) arrested. Mancini: “My heart is crying, he is good and naive”

The man was arrested during an anti-drug operation. The words of 'Accattone', a lifelong friend

ROME – Antonio Mancini’s reaction to the news is instinctive: “My heart is crying”. Today Marcello Colafigli, ‘Marcellone’ or also the ‘Buffalo’ of Romanzo Criminale, was arrested on charges of controlling drug dealing within a criminal association with a logistical base in the capital and operating on the Lazio coast and precisely in the Magliana area where it was recognized that together with others he gave life to the infamous Banda. This is a reality about which much has been written and which has been mythologised thanks also to films and TV series. “I feel sorry for Marcello – reiterates Mancini, the Accattone of the Banda della Magliana, to the Dire agency, also in the band and a long-time friend of Colafigli – He is a boy of unique goodness, naivety and generosity” . What happened to him “did not surprise me, because to make changes you have to cut the umbilical cord cleanly. In that environment everyone can change. If I had said ‘I’m retiring’ for this or that reason, it’s not like they were going to kill me or anything.” However, he specifies, if one day they “had difficulty, they would have gone to someone they considered a friend. At that point I became infamous twice, either I withdrew or stayed in the middle of the street to be with them”. Mancini himself explained that his adventure in the Banda della Magliana could have ended earlier: “I could have ended earlier, when I had a serious relationship with a lawyer, who I then betrayed”.

The reason, however, came at a certain point: “Compared to the others who were in prison in Rebibbia with the collar, I was there with a rebellious instinct. I was in special prisons where it was forbidden to contact with relatives. My daughter was born, who I couldn’t even touchWhen the second one was born I said enough, go fuck yourself all of you.” Returning to Colafigli, “I say it with a joke, at our age you can’t dance to rock ‘n roll anymore. At 70 years old still with these things… Obviously I’m not being a big brother, I’m sorry for what happened to him after that that he went through. I’m sorry he still has to deal with these things.” What is certain for Mancini is that in any case the Banda della Magliana will never die: “I’ve always said it, the band only changes skin, changes name. There’s no longer Accattone, Marcellone, but it’s there. The gang is not dead. Everyone is after him because of his criminal history. Organizing a gang would be easy for anyone”.

So much to blame on those who made films and series: “With all due respect to those who made the film, which I have never seen, there are kids who still ask me todayhow the Buffalo managed to shoulder the coffin and cross the whole of Rome”, referring to a scene from the film. “Exactly – he replied – How could he have done something like that, without even a policeman ready to stop him? Once a university professor from Rome called me, he wanted me to go to university to demystify certain characters in front of the kids In fact, they called themselves Freddo, Bufalo. I had to go and demystify them”.
Mancini lived for most of his life on the outskirts of Rome, inSan Basilio: “In my time there was the priest who took us by the arm to take us to the oratory – he remembers – Today there is a priest who takes the Carabinieri under the houses of drug dealers… Where I am now I have found a chance, I tell the kids I meet In San Basilio not everyone had a talent, except for the various Mannarino, Moro, Ultimo, Mauro Tassotti”.

With Marcello Colafigli “I stayed from morning to night – he still remembers – For example, I slept with my partner, he had his own room. Once he came to wake me up, displeased and angry because it was coming out on the television screen that Franco Giuseppucci came out of prison and looked at him with a reproachful look for the fact that we had not yet avenged him by killing the Proietti. And I was there to reassure him, to calm him down today, I would tell him to come with me we would feel good in this environment, we would have fun. I spent 10 years volunteering among the disabled, today I talk about my experience in schools Every now and then I spend a day with Fulvio Lucioli – he explains, referring to that who is considered the first repentant of the ‘gang’ – and together we also remember those times but keeping them far from today!”. Marcello “is a good and kind person, he didn’t have his chance”, he concludes.