I re-read again the news articles and I am correct. A DeVito associate DeGregorio was trying to convince DeBartolomeis to pay up a debt owed to another party that was charged for the kidnapping.
In 2008, De Bartolomeis was kidnapped for a debt deal by a group of individuals, including Salvatore Scoppa and Dany De Gregorio, one of his former associates, himself the victim of an attempted murder in June 2009. But from Bartolomeis, who had spent a whole night tied to a chair, burned his bonds and stole a gun from his captors before escaping.
"It was between the brothers Kay -- I had nothing to do with it."
