Once on the scene, neither group was able to do anything other than observe that Gaglione was dead. As would later be ascertained by the forensics team and the pathologist, he had been shot three times with a .38 calibre revolver (no cartridges had been found at the scene of the crime): one had hit him glancingly in the side and two more in the right leg, severing the femoral artery and causing him to bleed to death. In the course of the search, a large amount of MDMA had been found. The men from the Flying Squad had set off in search of Cardace. They had tracked him down outside a bar about a couple of hours later, in the company of friends. He had twelve Ecstasy pills on him, of the same kind as those found in Gaglione’s apartment. Cardace had been arrested for possession of narcotics and once at Headquarters had undergone a gunshot residue test.

Within a few days the technicians of the Forensics department’s central laboratory had communicated their findings: the jacket worn that evening by Cardace was contaminated with particles of lead, barium and antimony derived from the shooting of a firearm. A warrant had then been requested and issued for Cardace’s arrest on the charges of premeditated murder and unauthorized carrying of firearms.

After this summary of the preliminary investigation, the judge who had written the ruling launched into a long and somewhat pedantic summary of the criteria fixed by law for the evaluation of evidence. At the end of this rather superfluous digression, he moved on to an analytical examination of the individual items of evidence.37

First of all, it is necessary to read and interpret the transcripts of the two telephone calls between the accused and the victim on the day of the murder. In this regard, it is important to make it clear that it was the telephone of the victim, Cosimo Gaglione, which had been under surveillance for about two weeks. These intercepts had been authorized within the context of a wide-ranging investigation relating to the traffic in narcotics of a synthetic type (Ecstasy and methamphetamine). There had already been calls in the previous few days between Gaglione’s telephone and that of the accused. From these calls there emerged elements that led the officers to suspect the involvement of Cardace in this illegal traffic.

On 13 October at 1.26 p.m., there is a first call from Cardace’s telephone. The substance of the brief conversation is cryptic, but the tone is obviously angry. Cardace seems very upset by events that happened the day before, although the nature of these events is not made clear. The conversation ends abruptly because Gaglione receives another call on another telephone (the ringing can be heard on the recording and this fact is also indicated in the transcript). Gaglione hangs up, saying he will call back.