Arturo Gatti Murdered
NORTH BERGEN, N.J. -- Former junior welterweight champion Arturo Gatti was murdered two years ago in Brazil, a panel of forensic evidence experts said Wednesday as it presented the results of a 10-month investigation initiated to challenge the official version that Gatti committed suicide.

"This case must be reopened if authorities in Brazil have an iota of moral, ethical and legal concern for their reputation," said noted forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht, who termed the version produced by the initial criminal investigation "pure, unadulterated fiction."

Brazilian authorities initially considered Gatti's wife a prime suspect and arrested her, but released her soon after and concluded Gatti had hung himself with a handbag strap.

Eduardo Trindade, a lawyer assisting Gatti's family, said Wednesday he would have the panel's report translated and presented to prosecutors in Brazil within the next month or two and would push for an indictment of Amanda Rodrigues Gatti.

While no one at Wednesday's news conference explicitly accused her of being involved in murder, several speakers stopped barely short of that.

"If she was there alone, who committed the homicide?" said Paul Ciolino, a Chicago-based investigator hired by Pat Lynch, Gatti's former manager. "He was murdered because he had some dough. It's the oldest motive in the world."

Amanda Gatti is involved in a legal battle with Gatti's family over her late husband's fortune, estimated at $6 million by Ciolino. A civil trial is under way in Canada...