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posted 01/13/11 04:13 PM | updated 01/13/11 04:13 PM
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Heroin Dealers in Parks Unite Seattle & Perugia

By Michael van Baker
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Summit Slope Park (Photo: CHS)

Thanks to Seattlest, I'm alerted to the heartwarming story of Antonio Curatolo, who spends his days dealing heroin in a Perugia park. This news arrives just as Seattle Parks poobahs have decided not to name a new Capitol Hill park "Perugia Park," but "Summit Slope Park" instead.

This, in all seriousness, is because Seattle's most famous study-abroad student, Amanda Knox, is locked up over there, and people feel that Perugia hasn't earned a memorial. See our earlier recap of this crucial inernational decision.

Now how silly do they look? What could be more evidence of our sister-city bond than the fact that Antonio Curatolo and his heroin supply would fit right in at just about any Capitol Hill park. How hard is it to look for common ground, instead of what divides us?

In Perugia, for the curious, your heroin will run you 30 Euros. At Cal Anderson, it's just $10. 

A commenter on CHS story about the name change says:

Sorry, I just can't support the backing off of the Perugia name. So, every time we disagree with a decision or policy in Italy, or another country, we want to dis them? This makes about as much sense as "freedom fries" did after 9-11 or the renaming of sauerkraut in WWII to "liberty cabbage."

Curatolo, by the way, has made the news because he's...wait for it...a star witness against Amanda Knox, and he was "unmasked today as a shifty operator, unreliable narrator--and, added bonus, a heroin dealer," reports Candace Dempsey for Seattlepi.com. Concludes Dempsey: "That means that no credible witness saw Amanda or Raffaele leave his flat on Nov. 1, nor is there any proof that they lied about their whereabouts." 

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Tags: perugia, summit slope park, parks, curatolo, amanda knox, witness, heroin, dealer + add tags
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"Toto" the witness
Michael van Baker's article may be premature. Antonio Curatolo, known affectionately as "Toto", may be homeless but he's not mentally ill nor a heroin user. The charge of his possible selling of some heroin goes back 7 years, and has miraculously come to light for the Knox appeal. Toto is a natural eyewitness to many events outdoors because he is on the scene there so much of the time. His testimony was accepted by the Perugian court and unshaken. He says he saw Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito leaning over a railing above the cottage where Meredith Kercher's body was soon found. They were talking intensely to one another and hanging around during about a 3 or 4 hour period. He observed them. He had seen them before as they went through that area almost every day to attend university classes. He has good vision, a clear mind, and has no reason to lie.
Comment by Samuel Theissen
4 days ago
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RE: "Toto" the witness
Unshaken? I understand that, heroin allegations aside, that several witnesses contradict Curatolo's version of events, in that in his original testimony he claims he saw a bunch of people showing up ready to dance at a disco that was closed the night of the murder.
Comment by Michael van Baker
4 days ago
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