Some say otherwise.
Death investigation[edit]
Memorial in the
Pordoi Pass
In January 2002 a man identified only as Giovanni, who lived in Burkina Faso until 1964, said Coppi died not of malaria but of an overdose of cocaine. The newspaper
Corriere dello Sport said Giovanni had his information from Angelo Bonazzi. Giovanni said: "It is Angelo who told me that Coppi had been killed. I was a supporter of Coppi, and you can imagine my state when he told me that Coppi had been poisoned in Fada Gourma, at the time of a reception organised by the head of the village. Angelo also told me that [Raphael] Géminiani was also present... Fausto's plate fell, they replaced it, and then..."
[37]
The story has also been attributed to a 75-year-old
Benedictine monk called Brother Adrien. He told Mino Caudullo of the
Italian National Olympic Committee: "Coppi was killed with a potion mixed with grass. Here in Burkina Faso this awful phenomenon happens. People are still being killed like that." Coppi's doctor, Ettore Allegri, dismissed the story as "absolute drivel."
[38][39]
A court in Tortona opened an investigation and asked toxicologists about exhuming Coppi's body to look for poison. A year later, without
exhumation, the case was dismissed.
[40]
Legacy[edit]