Profile of Mario Lozano on Famous Like Me

Mario Lozano is a soldier in the US Army, who acquired notoriety after killing Nicola Calipari in an incident on Route Irish. The United States sought to protect his anonymity, but a blunder in data security by the Coalition Forces in Iraq revealed the names of all personnel involved in the shooting.

Lozano was a resident of the Bronx and Specialist in the First Battalion of the 69th Infantry Regiment, New York State National Guard and of the 3rd Infantry Division, based in Manhattan, New York.

Death of Nicola Calipari

Main article: Rescue of Giuliana Sgrena

Lozano shot and killed Major General Nicola Calipari during a disputed incident at BP 541, a blocking position for a mobile roadblock located behind a ninety-degree turn on the ramp that joined Route Vernon to Route Irish (the road between the heavily fortified Green Zone and the Baghdad International Airport). Calipari was returning from a successful rescue mission to liberate Giuliana Sgrena, an Italian journalist detained by Iraqi insurgents. Both Sgrena and a colleague of Calipari's were wounded in the shooting.

Lozano and members of his squad had been directed to set up the roadblock as part of extra security for ambassador John Negroponte's convoy to the Baghdad International Airport|aiport. Despite the fact that the convoy had already passed twenty minutes earlier, a communications failure with a dispatching unit spending its first night on the job meant that Lozano's squad had been in place for more than eighty minutes, sixty-five minutes over the customary length.

Judicial Investigation

Italian prosecutors are now actively seeking to interview Lozano as part of their criminal investigation into Calipari's death.

While the prosecutors' report on the incident will not be released until July, the Italian newspaper Il Manifesto (for which Giuliana Sgrena works) alleges that the investigators have already concluded that Lozano was not the only person to have shot the car, as the forensic investigation has allegedly revealed that the car was shot with three different weapons, and that the bullet fragment recovered from Calipari's body did not match Lozano's weapon. The Italian news agency ANSA reported that a judicial report containing this conclusion would have been released to the public in the first week of July, 2005.

On July 9, it was reported that the ballistics experts retained by the magistrate service have received a term extension until October to file their report.

Political Implications

Calipari's death caused a major international incident, since Calipari, a highly decorated SISMI agent, had become a national hero in Italy. As a result, there was significant pressure on the government of Italy to publicly support another investigation into the shooting, this time being conducted by prosecutors.

Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi indicated in Parliament on May 5, 2005 that the government remains fully committed to supporting the ongoing judicial investigation into Calipari's death. One of the most prominent leaders of the opposition in the lower house of parliament, Piero Fassino, called for the United States to facilitate cooperation with the investigation, indicating that they believe the U.S. Army should produce Lozano for questioning by the magistrates.

Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, head of the Italian Federation of the Greens, indicated that should the United States fail to cooperate with this investigation by allowing Lozano to be questioned, he would push for a hearing at the International Court of Justice.

However, the non-Italian media are reporting that it is unlikely that Italy will seek to try Lozano in absentia, should the U.S. not render him to Italian custody, which is contrary to American policy. It is likely that this decision will not be made on purely legal grounds, because of the political interest of the Berlusconi government's desire to maintain a firm alliance with the United States. However, the investigating magistrates will probably continue their investigation, with the aim of producing a more detailed reconstruction of the events that occurred at the mobile roadblock.

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