Arrests in Getty kidnapping

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33435, 17 January 1974, Page 16

Arrests in Getty kidnapping

(N.Z.P.A. -Reuter—Copyright)

ROME, January 16. Italian police today arrested three men on charges of kidnapping Paul Getty lll—grandson of the American oil millionaire—who was released in December after five months of captivity.

All three men were charged with association to commit a crime, kidnapping with the aim of extortion, and causing grave injury. A Rome Flying Squad officer said that the men were arrested early today, one of Them in Rome and the other two in southern Italy. Paul, who is 17, was released on a motorway near [the southern Italian town of Lagonegro on December 15 I after payment of a ransom Reported to be more than Sl-sm.

His right ear had been cut off.

The police identified the three arrested men as: Domenico Barbino, aged 27; Vincenzo Mamoliti, aged 32; and Antonio Mancuso, aged 34. A police spokesman said none of the three had made any statement.

Barbino, a porter at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, was arrested at his apartment on the city outskirts and taken to the flying squad headquarters.

Barbino was also sought by police in connection with investigations into a drugtrafficking network believed to be run by Calabrians. Only hours before the arrests, police arrested two Calabrians, believed to be associates of Barbino, in Rome and the northern city of Alessandria. The two men were charged with the possession and sale of drugs. Flying squad officials also arrested Bardino’s 34-year-old brother. Domenico, after finding a large amount of ammunition in a search of

his apartment. He was charged with illegal possession of ammunition and taken to Rebibbia Prison.