Italian arrested for setting hitmen on her father

ROME (Reuters Life!) - An Italian woman who hired two assassins to murder her overbearing father was arrested after the second hitman changed his mind and confessed to the police, authorities said on Tuesday.

Nineteen-year-old Ilenia Moretti had asked her father Rodolfo for 5,000 euros ($6,756) for a trip to America before using the money to hire a hitman to kill him, apparently with her mother's consent, a police statement said.

The teenager, from the small town of Luzzara near the northern Italian city of Milan, told authorities she could no longer bear her despotic father's ways.

"She said she wanted to bring to an end years of intimidation suffered by both daughter and mother," an investigator said in the statement.

The hitman, thought to be a young north African, pocketed the money before going to the police. His confession led police to re-examine details of a previous attack on Rodolfo Moretti, a 42-year-old porter.

In January, Ilenia and 26-year-old accomplice Davide Giorgi had recruited Alex Grantana from the nearby town of Mantova to murder Rodolfo. Giorgi has also been detained.

Grantana, 22, cycled 30 km (19 miles) from Mantova to Luzzara in the middle of the night to wait in the shadows outside the Moretti home for Rodolfo to appear. The victim was on his way to work at 1:30 am when Grantana leaped out and stabbed him in the back.

Rodolfo managed to quickly overpower his aggressor, however, and restrained him until the police arrived.

When asked why he had attacked Rodolfo, Grantana said he just didn't like him, an explanation that confused police as the victim and aggressor had never seen each other before.

Ilenia, who had told father she had left for America, was discovered hiding in a nearby house. Her mother Roberta is under investigation for her possible role in the attempted murders.

(Editing by Paul Casciato)