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Teaser - The Interview: John Ludden (Ep. 214)
368 Plays4 years ago
The Italian Football Podcast welcome back onto the show the acclaimed author John Ludden, who wrote the legendary book 'Maradona: Once Upon a Time in Naples'.
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Transcript
Maradona's Golden Ball Triumph
00:00:14
Speaker
If you had to pick one story about Maradona, your favourite Maradona story from all the books that you've written, what would it be? 1986, when he won the Golden Ball, he was really, really proud of
Security Measures in Rome
00:00:25
Speaker
it. I've got to keep this safe. So he kept a lot of his valuables in a high-security bank vault in Rome that was said to be impregnable. You know what's coming here, don't
00:00:25
Speaker
The following is a clip from this week's Italian football podcast.
The Heist: Maradona's Loss
00:00:35
Speaker
you?
00:00:35
Speaker
so the trophy went in there and in there he had all kinds of stuff and three years later mass figures blew a hole in the size of the bank large in order to drive a bus through anyway they went in and they emptied it and they got away with just the eight of maradona's possessions alone 1.48 million of maradona's possessions including his golden ball and no one in italy could believe that a maradona was raving about this because
00:01:00
Speaker
because amongst the items stolen, he wasn't just a golden ball. He had 20 ridiculously expensive watches and he took a lot. I think the plan was right. It's time to call in his new mates in Naples.
Seeking Help in Naples
00:01:10
Speaker
He made a few calls to try and see if he could get some of them back. And he visited one of them. There was a guy called one of the Camora, one of our ranking members, and it was called Don Salvatore La Russo. He headed the Miano clan. He was in the north in Naples. And the two had become pretty close.
00:01:25
Speaker
In fact Diego it was said I used to get a lot of his you know what of this guy for personal use something which you know on Salvatore it was an honour. Diego asked if there was anything could be done you know to help him and because they were fond of Maradona you know he'd always turn up at the parties when asked if
00:01:41
Speaker
felt it
Discovery in Naples
00:01:42
Speaker
was an honour. Don Salvatore felt it, he went out and tried to find out what had happened and it only turned out that Diego's lost property was actually residing in Naples and it was in the hands of someone called the Pecosic when they were in the Spanish Quarter.
The Fate of the Golden Ball
00:01:55
Speaker
Don Salvatore the word got back to him and he sent 150 000 liras sent to him for the safe return and the Pecosi said that they were prepared to do business over the watches but regarding the golden ball of sadly
00:02:08
Speaker
it was too late because he'd been melted down in the golden bars and in the end he got his watches packed and the money is a gesture of goodwill because the Pecusi didn't really want to upset Don Salvatore and they didn't want to upset Diego.