An Italian court has sentenced an Albanian man to life imprisonment for the murder of an Argentine truck driver. The convicted individual is Klodjan Gjoni, while the victim, Nicolas Del Río, died on May 24, 2024, two days after being kidnapped following the theft of several Gucci suitcases he was transporting.

The 48-year-old Argentine worked as a truck driver and fell into a trap while transporting a load of luxury bags. Klodjan Gjoni, then 33 years old, had been tracking the victim, who was transporting €500,000 worth of luxury suitcases on May 22. The Albanian had worked at that factory for many years and was familiar with all its operations. He had also previously been fired for stealing suitcases.

Full article from foreign media:

Two of the three accused in the kidnapping and murder of Nicolás Del Río were sentenced to life imprisonment on Monday in an Italian court. The 48-year-old Argentine worked as a truck driver and fell into a trap while transporting a load of luxury suitcases.

After a month of intensive searches, police found him dead in the town of Arcidosso, Tuscany, on June 25, 2024. An autopsy revealed that the victim had been strangled with a wire. The Court of Assizes in Grosseto set a regional precedent by sentencing Albanian Klodjan Gjoni and Turk Ozgur Bozkurt to life imprisonment for the brutal murder of Nicolás Del Río.

According to the newspaper Maremma Oggi, the decision included a sentence of over 21 years for Emre Kaia (a Turkish citizen), the accomplice and third defendant. Additionally, an immediate arrest warrant was issued for the three convicted individuals, this time also for the crime of murder. Until the verdict, the defendants had only been detained for robbery.

According to the court's reconstruction, Nicolás Del Río died on May 24, 2024, two days after being kidnapped following the theft of several Gucci suitcases he was transporting. That day, Gjoni and Bozkurt arrived in the village of Case Sallustri. For the judges, the time they spent there indicates they committed the murder.

According to the Italian newspaper, the versions of the two main defendants did not convince the court: they changed their stories, contradicted each other, and denied each other's accounts. "Gjoni's confession defies logic," said the President of the Court, Sergio Compagnucci. The hypothesis that they went to free the victim was dismissed as nonsensical and an unreliable plan. For the judges, "they only intended to kill him."

Authorities stated that the unbelievable statements of Gjoni and Bozkurt and their attempts to distance themselves from the murder worsened their situation. On the other hand, Kaia maintained a coherent version and did not participate in the murder but was involved in managing the deprivation of liberty and is therefore considered an accomplice.

Meanwhile, the court did not recognize the aggravating circumstance of cruelty in the case but made it clear that Del Río was held in inhumane conditions, isolated in an attic, and subjected to serious treatment. Fear, waiting, and uncertainty marked the victim's final days. After the sentencing, the court ordered pre-trial detention for murder, as requested by prosecutors Giovanni De Marco and Valeria Lazzarini due to risks of flight and criminal recidivism.

Additionally, authorities made an unprecedented decision, according to the aforementioned media: due to the seriousness of the case, the verdict will be displayed in the city of Grosseto, the capital of the homonymous region, and in the municipalities where the convicted individuals reside, Arcidosso and Castel del Piano, as well as on the website of the Ministry of Justice so that the entire society can access it, beyond the court files.

Nicolás del Río was transporting €500,000 worth of luxury suitcases on May 22. For this case, the first to be targeted was Klodjan Gjoni, the Albanian who was 33 years old at the time. "He worked for many years at that factory and knew all its operations. He had been fired for stealing suitcases before," Carolina Alegre, the victim's wife, had told the media during that tragic moment.

Italian media detailed that an interrogation was key to finding Nicolás's body. One of the three main defendants mentioned the Arcidosso area, allowing the search to expand and ultimately leading to the discovery.

According to the reconstruction by investigators, the Albanian stopped Del Río on the first trip he made alone after two months of training. When he caught his attention, he told him there was a problem with his van and made him call the Argentine Sergio De Cicco, the company owner.

In that communication, Gjoni took advantage of the phonetic similarity of his surname with the name of a company and asked De Cicco if he could complete the trip with the truck driven by Del Rio. After receiving the boss's approval, the Albanian took him to an isolated area of the village and forest where they stole the cargo worth €500,000 and set it on fire to erase traces.

Security cameras confirmed that the Albanian and two Turks were in a yellow Fiat Panda following the van driven by the Argentine. In the following days, police tracked them around Case Sallustri, where the victim's body was eventually found.