Italian police threatened to kill US teens by dissolving in acid over fellow officer’s death

Furious Italian cops discussed violent retribution against US students Finnegan Elder and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth after they were arrested for killing fellow officer in 2019

Gabriel Natale Hjorth shows his co-accused Finnegan Elder a crucifix during their murder trial in Italy last year (Associated Press)

Italian cops wanted to take revenge on two American students who had just killed one of their colleagues by dissolving them in acid, a court in Rome heard.

Finnegan Lee Elder and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, now 22 and 20, were sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted last year of the 2019 murder of Carabinieri officer Mario Cerciello Rega.

As their appeal began this week in a Rome court, another Carabinieri officer went on trial accused of illegally blindfolding one of the teens in the hours after he was arrested in July 2019.

WhatsApp messages produced in court between several Carabinieri officers showed they discussed seeking retribution soon after the arrest.

Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported the officers demanded that the Americans receive the death penalty – which Italy doesn’t have – that they be put into a closed room and killed, or be “dissolved in acid.”

In another message the police officers wished that the young men would meet the same fate as an Italian man who was severely beaten in 2009 while in Carabinieri custody and later died.

Two Carabinieri police officers were eventually convicted of involuntary homicide in that case and sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Mr Cerciello Rega, 35, was stabbed 11 times by Elder injured in a scuffle with both defendants on a street near their hotel where the Americans were staying in July 2019.

At their trial, the Americans testified they were acting in self-defense against Mr Cerciello Rega and his partner believing they were thugs.

Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, left, and his co-defendant Finnegan Lee Elder, both from the United States, during their trial in April 2021 (Associated Press)

The teenagers, who were former classmates in San Francisco, had earlier tried to buy $115 worth of cocaine from a drug dealer but were instead sold crushed aspirin.

The teenagers robbed the drug dealer of a backpack and demanded he pay them back.

They scheduled to meet the drug dealer on a street corner at 3am, but unbeknownst to the teenagers, local authorities were contacted and the two plain clothes officers arrived at the planned meeting point.

Mr Cerciello Rega’s partner Andrea Varriale testified that the two officers had identified themselves clearly as Carabinieri but that they were immediately attacked without cause.

Elder admitted stabbing Mr Cerciello Rega but argued he was acting in self-defence.

They were both convicted of murder, attempted extortion, resisting a public official and carrying an attack-style knife without just cause.

Elder’s mother, Leah Elder, was in Rome to attend the appeal this week, and said she had faith in the Italian justice system.

“We hope that the anomalies and the inconsistencies that were revealed in the first trial will be brought to light. We really hope that the truth of that night will be shown.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report