Re Cecconi was shot dead in
Rome on 18 January 1977, following a
practical joke of robbing a jewelry shop. Along with his teammate
Pietro Ghedin and another friend, he entered Bruno Tabocchini's jewelry shop and, according to the official reconstruction, jokingly said "hands up, this is a robbery", wearing no mask and having no gun in his hand. Tabocchini, who had recently been the victim of genuine robberies, wasn't a soccer fan so he didn't recognize him and immediately responded by shooting him in the chest. He was later acquitted on the grounds of putative self-defense. Family members, friends and teammates have always expressed doubts about the fact that a discreet and sensible person like Re Cecconi could have played such a prank on someone he didn't know, a reckless behavior during the
Years of Lead when attacks and robberies were very frequent and many shopkeepers lived in constant fear. ==Honours==