Florian Egger, known in the news as the "Rambo of Lauregno," has been released from prison , 29 years after the bloody robbery in Lana that killed Carabinieri officer Candeloro Zamperini. Egger has no intention of returning to South Tyrol and, as he previously stated, will continue to live as a farmer in Sardinia, where he served most of his prison sentence and where he had worked as a farmer for years in a community in Sassari.
The news of his release was announced by the "Tageszeitung" following the broadcast Monday evening on Rai Südtirol of a documentary by Rudy Kaneider and Erich Grünbacher. In the film, his brother Bernhard recounts the devastating impact the tragedy had on the family.
On June 12, 1997, Florian Egger, then 27, robbed a Cassa di Risparmio branch. While fleeing, he was intercepted by Zamperini, crew chief of the Silandro Carabinieri mobile radio unit, who was off duty with his young son at the time. During the struggle, a gunshot was fired, killing the officer instantly. After a long period on the run, which earned him his nickname, Egger was captured in Limone sul Garda and sentenced to 25 years, plus an additional six and eight months for two robberies he had committed during his seven-month fugitive status from Padua prison, from which he had escaped in 2009. After being granted semi-liberty to perform community service, he failed to return from his reward leave on April 28. He was arrested in November of the same year along the Ostia coastline.
At that point, he was transferred to the Alghero prison, and then for a few years to a community in Sassari where he spent his time working the land. He has repented, say those who know him, and has expressed a desire to contact the Zamperini family.
Bernhard Egger recalls a traumatic event in his brother's life that haunted him: Florian caused a car accident that killed a pedestrian. "We as a family, and I personally, have always said: he must take responsibility for what he did," Bernhard states in the interview. "Mom was right when she asked us not to abandon him," his brother says. "Everyone should have a second chance."
