The City of Bergamo's accusations against Antonio Porto do not validate the spring 2020 death spike

Shortly after publishing Did the trucks of Bergamo carry only one coffin each - and does it really matter? we learned the city of Bergamo filed a complaint against Antonio Porto. We were unable to obtain a copy of the complaint and, rather than react to the news immediately, waited to see if anything became of it.

We’ve confirmed that the City of Bergamo has accused Mr. Porto of "false testimony” and he has had to hire two lawyers for his defense.

It is our understanding that the accusation may be unwarranted altogether because Antonio was not “testifying” at the Italian inqury, i.e., he was not placed under oath and interrogated by judicial authorities.

Here we share a translation of a 19 January 2025 local news article about the complaint, followed by our reaction.

Nothing about the implied contents of the city’s complaint changes or refutes our assertion that the Bergamo death spike is a distortion in magnitude, timing, or both.

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Media Coverage of Complaint

Translation credit: Tommaso Zanini

19 January 2025

The Municipality of Bergamo has filed a complaint against Antonio Porto, the national secretary of the Autonomous Police Union (Osa Polizia), for statements made before the Parliamentary Inquiry Commission on the management of the Covid emergency. The complaint, approved by the city council and sent to the Prosecutor's Office in Rome today, January 18, 2025, refers to statements made on November 19, 2024. Porto allegedly falsely claimed that during the health emergency in March 2020, military trucks transporting coffins from Bergamo were carrying only one coffin per vehicle in order to create an image of dramatic severity.

During the first trip, 73 bodies were transported

Councillor Giacomo Angeloni, who was at the Bergamo cemetery that evening, contests this version of events with photographs, transportation authorization decrees, and testimonies from other municipal officials who were present. On March 18, 2020, eight military trucks left the Bergamo cemetery carrying 73 bodies, divided into three convoys: one heading to Bologna with 34 deceased, one to Modena with 31 deceased, and one to Varese with 8 deceased. The photo and video taken that day from a balcony on Via Borgo Palazzo by a Ryanair steward went viral worldwide.

“The statements made by Antonio Porto on November 19, 2024, before the aforementioned Parliamentary Inquiry Commission,” the complaint filed by Palazzo Frizzoni reads, “are false and misleading, and aim, among other things, to falsely claim that the military truck transports were used to pressure the population into receiving the Covid-19 vaccine, as well as to subjugate the population to the lockdown.”

Angeloni: "It was a dramatic time"

“This story,” highlights Giacomo Angeloni, the Councillor for Cemetery Services, “brings back the pain of Bergamo during those dramatic days and fails to respect the dignity of the victims as well as the work of the institutions that faced an unimaginable emergency and to which we owe our gratitude. I was personally present that evening of March 18, 2020, as I was on all other occasions when deceased individuals were transferred from the cemetery to other crematoria.The decision to transfer the bodies became necessary because our crematorium could only handle the cremation of 27 coffins within 24 hours, and the number of deaths was four times higher than the average. Whenever the truth has been denied, the Municipality of Bergamo has chosen to turn to the judiciary.”

Reaction

During his testimony on 19 November 2024, Antonio Porto did not claim that the military trucks from Bergamo were carrying only one coffin per vehicle. Instead, he referenced what he and others had heard from another source, offering his opinion on the intent and effects of the trucks. We reported these things in a 16 January 2025 article about Mr. Porto’s testimony, which was based on a recorded interview we conducted with him in December 2024.

Did the Trucks of Bergamo Carry Only One Coffin Each - and Does it Really Matter?

Per Councillor Giacomo Angeloni:

• The first trip took place on March 18, 2020, with Angeloni present on all subsequent occasions. Why was the first trip on March 18, when the mass casualty event had begun weeks earlier? What evidence is there of a second trip? How many trips were made in total? Where are the civilian or media photos/videos from these trips?

• There were eight military trucks, split into three convoys. The nighttime pictures and videos show 10-12 trucks in a single convoy, and daytime videos depict varying numbers. Were these the same trucks? The photos allegedly taken by a Ryanair flight attendant, posted online, only show one angle and are not the only images captured and shared that day.

• A total of 73 bodies were transported on eight trucks. When did these deaths occur? Given that 73 deaths account for only 3% of the 2,100-death increase (compared to 2019) between March 3 and March 17, what happened to the other thousands of bodies? Were they cremated quickly and buried? Where? Since simple "body math" does not justify the need for military trucks, could it be that, due to the suspension of funerals in February, there was a backlog of bodies awaiting processing?

• The convoys went to Bologna, Modena, and Varese. Bologna is 2.5 hours from Bergamo, Modena is 2 hours away, and Varese is about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Why were these specific locations chosen? Why were these bodies cremated instead of buried? Did the families of the deceased know about this?

• The crematorium can handle the cremation of 27 coffins within 24 hours, yet the death toll was four times higher than usual. Where and when was this number four times higher? What caused these deaths? What kind of coffins were used? Are there any photos? Were only the coffins cremated, or were the bodies inside also cremated?

Additional Observations & Questions

Bergamo Province has a population of 1.1 million, with the city of Bergamo accounting for 120,000 (10%). If we assume the death rate in the city mirrors the province's, this would imply 3-5 deaths per day in the city. Presumably, the crematorium would handle deaths from the entire province, not just the city.

• Is it possible that a mass casualty event occurred specifically in the city of Bergamo, while the overall death toll in the rest of the province did not align with what was presented?

• Are there photos or testimonies from other areas in the province? Who moved and buried the bodies?

• Why was there no excess death toll in the province following the spring event? Why did the dying “stop”? Did hospital, care home, and/or paramedic protocols change?

• Did the excess deaths continue, later to be retroactively adjusted in the data?

These are among the many unanswered questions about the Bergamo event. As with New York City, public release of names and death records showing that the spike occurred should precede inquiries about why it occurred.

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All articles related to the Bergamo/Lombardy event can be accessed on this page.