The Navy admiral’s 1996 death left unresolved suspicions of Naples corruption

Evidence

The allegations didn’t end there. In 1996, Admiral Boorda, the former Naples commander who got the Navy out of the Villaggio Coppola and later became the Navy’s highest-ranking officer, died at the Washington Navy Yard. According to the Navy and news reports, Boorda committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest with his son-in-law’s .38-caliber revolver. Navy and other government officials officially attributed Boorda’s suicide to a Newsweek investigation into his improperly wearing two Vietnam-era decorations for serving in combat (he had stopped wearing the medals a year before his death). Some reports say he died, unusually, of two shots to the chest, but the Navy never released an autopsy. Citing Boorda’s wife’s privacy, officials also never released what they said were two typed suicide notes. In the days before his death, Boorda had learned that Navy investigators were ready to arrest twenty-one sailors in Naples on heroin and cocaine smuggling charges. The Italian journalist Riccardo Scarpa reported that some U.S. officials told him the suicide might have been related to Boorda’s discovery of corruption at Gricignano. With unanswered questions and JFK-style speculation circulating to this day, some in Naples believe Boorda’s death was a Camorra hit. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 356

Categorization

• QUESTION: Boorda’s official cause of death conflicts with reported two shots to the chest and never-released notes and autopsy - genuine unresolved questions.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 356