Deputy Director General of Public Security
Vittorio Rizzi was born in Bologna on 21 September 1959 and obtained a master’s degree in Law and one in Public Administration Science. In 2023, he received an honorary degree from the Security Academy of the Republic of Albania.
His career began in 1986 in the private sector, before moving to the Italian “Polizia di Stato” in 1988.
His professional career boasts a long experience of over twenty years in the investigative sector, as Head of the investigative police offices of Venice, Milan and Rome. In Bologna he led the “Marco Biagi” investigative group, focusing on investigations against the terrorists responsible for the death of the well-known labor law expert from Bologna.
He held key roles as Director of the National Road Traffic Police Service, Police Chief of L’Aquila and Director of the Public Security Inspectorate of “Palazzo Chigi”, the office responsible for the security of the institutional offices of the Italian Government.
In 2016 he was appointed Prefect and Director of the office which at a central level deals with strategies for preventing and combating criminal phenomena (Direzione centrale anticrimine della Polizia di Stato). From 26 March 2019 to July 2023 he held the position of Deputy Director General of Public Security – Central Director of Criminal Police, dealing, among other things, with international police cooperation.
He was co-leader of the I-CAN Interpol/Italy Cooperation Against ‘Ndrangheta project, which today includes 18 foreign Countries, to counter the expansion of the ‘ndrangheta in the world through a global approach based on the exchange of specialist skills, intelligence and best practices , as well as the use of new modern technologies and an effective operational response aimed at arresting fugitives and seizing assets.
He was at the top of joint forces bodies at national and international level: he carried out the functions of President of the Permanent Monitoring and Analysis Body on the risk of infiltration into the legal economy by mafia organisation and Co-Chair, together with the Executive Director of Europol, of the LEF – Law enforcement Forum, a meeting which saw the participation of the police forces of all 27 EU Member States and the Heads of the main European Agencies and Institutions, for a coordinated and synergistic action aimed at preventing and combating the risk of infiltration of organized crime into Next Generation EU funds. He is still the President of the Observatory against discriminatory acts.
Since the 3rd of July 2023 he has held the position of Deputy Chief of the Italian Police-Deputy Director General of Public Security with deputy functions.
Since 2018 he has been Professor of Criminology at the “Sapienza” University of Rome and since 2022 of Sociology of Crime at the University of International Studies of Rome. In July 2022 he also obtained the title of Expert Professor of Higher Education from the “Sapienza” University of Rome.