Peter Rasini

discretion is advised. Palmers Green is located in the London borough of Enfield in North London, and today it's known for the largest population of Greek Cypriot people outside of Cypress. This has earned it its name of Little Cypress. Palmer's Green is largely a residential area with a high street and has been known as a very family friendly place

to live close to the capitol. On the evening of Sunday, the twenty fourth of March nineteen ninety one, the relative peace and quiet of the area was broken by screams. A young woman shouted, they've shot my daddy. Attention was focused upon the doorstep of a home where a forty four year old man lay after being shot several times in the chest. Neighbors were alarmed by the scene and reported seeing a young woman running across the road screaming.

When police were called, they established that the man that had been shot was Peter Rossini and the young woman with him was his eighteen year old daughter, Lola. Peter lived in Palmer's Green and worked as an antique stealer. He had a huge interest in many things, and in particular enjoyed buying and selling jewelry and silver. He had worked on Church Street in maryler Bone, close to Paddington,

at an antique shop called Alfie's for many years. Church Street Market is a large outdoor market which attracts many people to see its stalls. Alfie's antique shop was located on Church Street and inside it had many stalls which were ran by particular owners. One of these owners was Peter Rossini. Peter's daughter later told Crime Watch that Peter was interested in selling many things and he had lots

of regular customers at his stall. Many people were interested in finding out what new items Peter had bought recently, and would specifically ask him for things that they wanted. Lola said that her father was a very caring person and enjoyed listening to people and having conversations. No doubt this was something that stood him in good stead while on his stall, and it was clear that he he had a passion for what he did. After his attack,

Peter was rushed to North Middlesex Hospital. However, he soon died from the gunshot wound injuries. This was now a murder investigation and police were tasked with trying to establish why someone would want to kill Peter and what had happened on that evening. This appeared to be what police were later described as a well planned execution and one

that seemed to have been targeted directly at Peter. On the evening of Sunday, the twenty fourth of March, it was discovered that he had been home with his daughter, Lola and his niece. A fellow antique dealer and friend of Peter's who'd known him for around twenty years, told police that he'd visited him around six thirty to six forty five pm. He had called round to show him some antiques that he might want to buy. He stated that they all had just had a meal together and

that they seemed relaxed. Next this same friend would tell Crime Watch that while they all did seem relaxed, Peter could have had something on his mind. He said he didn't often share if something was bothering him, as he was a very private person. However, with hindsight, there could have been something on his mind. The friend mustn't have stayed for very long, as around seven thirty pm Peter left the house. He went to go and see a friend that lived in Kentish Town while his daughter and

niece remained at home watching TV. They explained that Peter had been gone around an hour and a half and arrived back in the street at around nine pm. Peter always packed his car around the corner from his home and then walked around. He continued this usual routine on that Sunday evening. Witness statements were then able to fill in the next part of the journey back to his home. After Peter had been showed, witnesses saw a man running

away from the scene. He ran down River Road and they described him as being around six feet tall and of a heavy build. He was wearing a bomber jacket and the noise that his shoes made was very noticeable to witnesses. They had hard heels and made a loud noise when they hit the floor. He was around forty to fifty years old and didn't look like he was used to running very far as he appeared to be panting as he was running away. He was seen running into Oak Tree Road and headed towards a blue van.

The van then drove off at speed with no lights on, and headed towards Green Lanes, the main thoroughfare through Palmers Green. The fact that the killer had been seen escaping was of course a huge piece of information for the police, and the description of not necessarily the man but of the van matched other witness statements that had been taken from neighbours. In the two days leading up to the murder, vans had been spotted in the area of Peter Rassini's home.

These vehicles had been spotted in the same road where Peter's home was located, and what's more, they were unknown to the other residents of the street. On Friday, the twenty second of March, a white van was spotted on Oak Tree Road, around two hundred yards from Peter's house. There were two men inside the van on the corner of Green's Lane. These men had not been identified but

witnesses clearly thought their presence was unusual. The next evening, on Saturday, the twenty third of March, at around nine thirty pm, another van with two men in was spotted in the same location as the previous evening. This time, the van was blue. On that occasion, one of the men got out and walked towards Green Lanes. The van then set off, and it set off without its lights on.

This sighting was of particular importance as the van was also blue and the detail that they set off without lights on, which was noted in the van that the killer ran to on the Sunday night. This gave rise to the theory that there may well have been two people that night who had been staking out Peter's home

and waiting for the opportune moment to kill him. This implied that this was an execution, and a planned one at that Detective Superintendent Roland Harris stated on Crime Watch that the two vans were probably the same and were both Bedford Minis. He also gave some more detail about the weapon that had been used in the attack, as

well as a few more details about the perpetrator. He stated that the gun was a forty five caliber, which was seen as quite an unusual choice, given that it was quite a heavy weapon and therefore wouldn't be the most common weapon chosen for this kind of attack. He confirmed that the killer was white and that he may have been wearing a balaclava. On the episode, he explained that he believed that the men in the van were something to do with the murder, but proving who these

people were was difficult. He said they also couldn't find a motive for the crime and had looked into Peter's private and business life in the hope that this would help them to narrow it down. They had investigated several lines of inquiry but couldn't find any solid evidence to link them to the murder. Detective Harris did give some more details about Peter's life, stating on Crime Watch that he had a cocaine addiction and that this linked to

drugs was also looked into. He explained that they had also looked into the fact that on some occasions Peter had bought stolen goods as part of his buying and selling of antiques. Both of these lines of inquiry were not further elaborated on on the show, and I haven't been able to find any more information about these claims. If these were accurate, then they may have put Peter in contact with people who were on the wrong side of the law, or who may have had a reason

to silence anyone who knew about their dealings. He was also known that Peter was going through a divorce at the time that he was killed, However, this was not stated as a line of inquiry on the Crime Watch episode. At the time, Peter's father gave a five thousand pound reward for anyone who had information about the murder, in the hope that someone would come forward. Unfortunately, since nineteen ninety one, there has been very little progress discussed about

this case, and very little even reported about it. Peter Rascini's murder seems to have been forgotten to history, despite taking place in a residential area at nine o'clock at night with a gun. This was an execution style murder which appeared to be targeted and planned. But who had motive to do this and what was the motive? It's believed two men had been waiting in the vans near Peter's home, so that could suggest that at least two

people know about this murder and who committed it. It would only take one person's piece of information for this to be solved. As his family and in particular his daughter, has had to grow up without her father and without answers as to what happened to him, Peter's case deserves more attention, so if you know anything about his murder in Palmer's Green in nineteen ninety one, then please contact police on one oh one. Thank you for listening to

today's episode. If you'd like to support the podcast further, then you can on Patreon and contribute to exclusive polls to get extra bonus episodes every month. You can also get access to new episodes early in ad free. You can use the link in the show notes to visit Patreon and see what we offer. You can also support us by reviewing the podcast wherever you listen, including Spotify, and also just share the episodes. You can also subscribe

on YouTube and listen to our episodes over there. As always, I'm Caprice and this has been unseen s