Italian Soccer Player Stages A Mafia Kidnapping With A Helicopter Landing In The Middle Of The Field To Retire Mid-Game

MSN.comA soccer player used a helicopter to stage a fake kidnapping during an amateur soccer game in Sicily.

Italian media reported. Ignazio Barbagallo was playing for the Citta di Viagrande against Play Shop Nebrodi in the Catania – Girone A division when the drama unfolded, according to FOX Sports Italy. Footage posted to YouTube by Sicily-based YouTube channel Stipsy King, on which Barbagallo has previously appeared, shows a helicopter landing in the middle of the pitch, throwing up a large amount of dust and causing players to take cover behind a dugout.

Masked men then exit the helicopter and can be seen “kidnapping” the 55-year-old at “gunpoint.”

I take it back – that college football coach who called a timeout, retired, walked off the field and drove away is NOT the most Power-Retirement of all time.  It’s honestly a little embarrassing I even suggested it knowing what I know now.

That this Italian dude Ignazio Barbagallo – in the middle of SICILY – had a god damn helicopter land on the pitch and had the “armed mafia” kidnap him in the middle of the game.

Apparently he “fooled” a bunch of people in the crowd – you know, it being Sicily, the home of the mafia and everything – except those who saw this dude holding up his little sign that says “elimination service for finished players.”

Screen Shot 2019-04-09 at 11.05.05 AM

And apparently the governing body wasn’t too pleased with the stunt either.

The prank didn’t go down well with footballing authorities and Citta di Viagrande received a €200 fine and was banned from playing until May 31, 2019. Barbagallo was banned from playing until June 30, 2019, but that shouldn’t matter – the prank was reportedly intended to mark his retirement from the sport.

Just feels like people might be a little more on edge about this stuff in Sicily.  If this happens in America – well, that helicopter would be shot down by like 900 fighter jets before it got to the ground, so I guess that’s moot.

But that would be cool too.


(h/t Extra Mustard)