“Who knows, speak up: I’ll give him 50 thousand dollars”. Tony Di Piazza, an Italian-American entrepreneur and former vice president of Palermo Calcio, born in Palermo and resident in New York, has decided to make a reward available to help “put an end to” the painful affair of fellow countrywoman Denise Pipitone. Just on the eve of the reopening of the investigation into the child’s disappearance, which took place in Mazara del Vallo (Trapani) on 1 September 2004, Di Piazza published his offer on social medias (in the pic above, one of the images published on the socials), then explaining the reasons for this decision to the press. “A Palermo fan – Di Piazza said, as reported by ‘Mediagol.it’ – contacted me some days ago to ask me if I could put an announcement on my Facebook ‘wall’ about the disappearance of little Denise Pipitone. Of course it is a case that I have followed from the beginning. The idea is to get useful information from people, to put an end to this story. The reward would be 50 thousand dollars – equivalent to about 40 thousand euros -, maybe this could help those who know, the financial compensation could unlock people’s conscience. I hope it works “.

But who is Di Piazza? Tony (in the pic above) is well known in New York. 69 years old, who emigrated to Switzerland at the age of 8, he arrived in the US in 1966 and after graduating he immediately started working in the real estate sector, with great success. Engaged in a thousand cultural activities and on the solidarity front, he has always fought for the defense of Italian traditions abroad and is currently president of the Italian Cultural Association of New York (here his biography: TonyDiPiazza biography). Married, he has two daughters. And perhaps also for this reason he was very touched by the story of Mazara del Vallo.

Denise’s mother, Piera Maggio, who has been fighting for 17 years to find her daughter and to know the truth, said she was moved by the entrepreneur’s gesture. “He is definitely a very sensitive person,” said the woman. “This situation must have touched him so much that he has made himself available. It is certainly not indifferent, even in the first years after Denise’s disappearance there were some benefactors who made some money available to get someone to speak and tell the truth. Let’s not call it bounty, let’s say more a reward”, she added (in the pic below, Piera with Denise before her disappearance).

Meanwhile, the newly reopened investigations continue: nothing would have emerged from the inspection of the house that was used by Anna Corona, the ex-wife of Pietro Pulizzi, biological father of little Denise Pipitone, as well as mother of Jessica Pulizzi (half-sister of the little disappeared September 1, 2004), who ended up on trial for Denise’s disappearance but acquitted in the three levels of trial. At the time, the suspicion was that the woman had helped her daughter Jessica – Denise’s half-sister – in her mad plan of “revenge” against her father’s new partner. This hypothesis then fell in the courts.

On Wednesday afternoon, inside the house – where some walls were also checked – carabinieri and firefighters also inspected a well, inside the garage, without finding anything. In fact, at the end of the inspection, no seals were placed on the house. But the investigations continue. Will that $ 50,000 help?