On the evening of January 18, 1977, Rome was cold and still, the kind of night that leaves frost on cobblestones and silence on the streets. Luciano Re Cecconi, Lazio's beloved midfielder and a man Italian football knew simply as l'Angelo Biondo — the Blond Angel — was walking along Via Flaminia Vecchia with his team-mate Pietro Ghedin and a friend, the perfumer Giorgio Fraticcioli. Their destination was the jewellery shop of an acquaintance, Bruno Tabocchini, a place they had visited many times before.