Photo: Boston 25 News
Robert Natiello's murder remains unsolved.
By Bernadette Giacomazzo — Written on May 07, 2019
He was a young man who was seduced by the so-called "fast life," and paid the ultimate price for it. Who killed Robert Natiello?
On January 23, 2000, a masked gunman pointed a loaded gun at Robert Natiello’s forehead and pulled the trigger, killing him instantly.
He was killed in an alleyway in the Haverhill district, which is 35 miles north of Boston.
Nearly 20 years after his brutal death, however, Robert Natiello’s murder remains unsolved.
Let’s look at what we know about this unsolved murder.
1. It involved an uncollected drug debt.
Whenever you mix illegal drugs into anything, it becomes a bad situation. And that’s exactly what happened to Robert Natiello. According to the Boston Informer, Natiello had come up to the Boston area with two other friends (who were from the Boston area) to collect on an unpaid drug debt worth over $90,000. Apparently, Natiello and his friends had a large marijuana stash and the killer wanted his money for the pull. It’s clear that, whatever else was going on with the murder of Robert Natiello, it was — at its core — a drug deal gone wrong.
2. Robert Natiello may not have been the intended target.
According to Boston 25 News, the District Attorney in the case — Jonathan Blodgett of Essex County — does not believe that Robert Natiello was the intended target of the murder.
Simply put: Natiello wasn’t the ringleader of the drug deal, so it’s highly unlikely that he would have been targeted for death simply because the deal went bad.
However, thanks to the personal nature of the crime, it’s clear all the parties involved knew one another.
"When you're shot over your left eye, that's personal, face to face. We don't believe it was mistaken identity or a stray bullet. We believe all the parties knew each other," said DA Blodgett.
3. His family knew a very different Robert Natiello than the one that got killed.
According to Boston 25 News, Robert Natiello was known as “White Boy” in the streets but was known as a very different type of a man to his friends and family.
Carmella Pervizi, who is Robert’s sister, told the outlet that she’s “frustrated” that Robert’s killer has not yet been found.
“We just can't believe there were so many people there that witnessed this, and nobody has the goodness to say anything," Carmella said to the outlet. "It's unbelievable, after all this time."
Robert’s mother, Camille, echoed her daughter’s sentiments and said that she hoped she lived to see the day when she was able to face the man that killed her son.
“I hope to God I'll be able to get up (in court) and face that person that killed my son!" she said to the outlet, adding that her son was very much “family oriented,” and someone who loved to help those in need.
Finally, Robert’s other sister, Lori Ann, cautioned him against the fast life, but she feels that her pleas fell on deaf ears.
"I said, what are you doing?" Lori Ann told the outlet. "I don't want to bury my brother. If something happens to you, Mom and Dad will be devastated. He said, 'Don't jinx me.'"
4. The investigation is still ongoing.
Even though nearly 20 years has passed since the murder of Robert Natiello, investigators are not giving up on this case quite yet. If you know anything about the murder of Robert Natiello, AKA White Boy, call Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Essex County District Attorney's office at 978-745-8908.
Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, and photographer whose work has appeared in People, Teen Vogue, Us Weekly, The Source, XXL, HipHopDX, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and more. She is also the author of The Uprising series. Find her online at www.bernadettegiacomazzo.com and www.longlivetheuprising.com.