Vallanzasca quizzed in Pantani death

(ANSA) - Milan, October 21 - Ex-Milan gangster Renato Vallanzasca was quizzed by police Tuesday over his reported claim he heard the Neapolitan Camorra mafia was linked to the last big doping scandal of late cyclist Marco Pantani. Il Bel Rene' (Good-looking Rene') reportedly said the Camorra had told him Pantani would be thrown off the 1999 Giro d'Italia before this happened. Rimini prosecutors last week reopened the case of Pantani's 2004 drugs death in the seaside city of Rimini after the cyclist's family presented evidence to suggest he may have been murdered.
    The new investigation in Forli' will focus on the reported claims by former Milan underworld boss Vallanzasca that he was told by a Camorrista during a spell in prison that Pantani would not finish the 1999 Giro.
    The alleged conversation took place before Pantani was ejected for failing a drugs test at Madonna di Campiglio while leading the race with one stage to go.
    The investigators are reportedly looking at the possibility that the Camorra may in some way have been involved in the positive test as it wanted him out because it risked big losses after taking too many bets on Pantani winning in an illegal gambling ring.
    A reported possibility is that mobsters may in some way have been able to tamper with Pantani's blood test.
    Judicial sources stressed Friday that the Camorra's alleged involvement in the case was nothing more than a hypothesis for the moment.
    The ejection from the Giro was the beginning of the end of the career of Pantani, the last man to complete the Tour de France-Giro d'Italia double in the same year in 1998.
    The Forli' probe is not necessarily linked to the investigation into the rider's death in Rimini.
    A court there ruled that Pantani, who was nicknamed The Pirate for his penchant for wearing bandanas and earrings and his bold attacks on tough mountain climbs, had died after accidentally overdosing on cocaine.
    The rider was known to have a drug problem and his career was hit by several doping scandals.
    But his mother, Tonina Pantani, never believed the official account of his death and relentlessly campaigned for the case to be reopened.
    She presented a report to prosecutors with evidence that she says shows that Pantani was beaten and then forced to drink a lethal dose of cocaine dissolved in liquid.
    As a result, chief Rimini prosecutor Paolo Giovagnoli ordered one of his magistrates to open a probe against possible unknown perpetrators of the murder.
    The Pantani family say cuts and bruises on Pantani's body showed he had been beaten.
    They also argue that the amount of cocaine found in his system could have only been reached if he had drunk it.
    They say Pantani would not have done so willingly.
    Furthermore, footage of the crime scene broadcast on Italian television this week suggests officials may have contaminated it.
    Giovanni Malago', the head of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), expressed bewilderment on Friday.
    "We are on the border between a novel and fantasy," Malago' said.
    "I really don't know what to say. What's emerging from the newspapers seems like the outline of a spy story.
    "If it's true that the truth has not yet emerged, I hope it does for the memory of Marco, for his family and for sport as a whole".