Carabinieri police on Wednesday
arrested an alleged pusher in relation to the death of Libero De
Rienzo, an award-winning Italian actor who was found dead at his
home in Rome earlier this month, sources said.
The Gambian national was arrested after being caught red-handed
selling narcotics in Rome's Torre Angela district, the sources
said.
He is suspected of selling De Rienzo drugs shortly before his
death.
Heroin was found in the actor's apartment.
Investigators analysed mobile-phone records and ascertained that
the suspect was in the area of the apartment on the day De
Rienzo died.
Born in Naples in 1977, De Rienzo opted for a career in show
business following in the footsteps of his father Fiore De
Rienzo, who had been assistant director to cult leftist director
Citto Maselli.
Libero won a David di Donatello Best Actor Prize, Italy's Oscar,
in 2002 and 2006.
He also won acclaim in Marco Risi's 2009 film Fortapàsc (Fort
Apache in Naples), where he played the Neapolitan journalist
Giancarlo Siani, killed by the Camorra mafia in 1985.
Among his more recent films are 'Smetto quando voglio' (I'll
Stop When I Want, 2014) and the 2019 film 'A Tor Bella Monaca
non piove mai' (It Never Rains in Tor Bella Monaca).
Although he had lived in Rome since he was two, De Rienzo was
closely attached to the city of Naples.
Married to costume designer Marcella Mosca, he had two children
aged six and two.
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