When Emilio Sánchez hung up the phone he could hardly believe what he had heard. An unknown voice, from a hidden number, had just threatened him: if he did not hand over the amount of 500 million pesetas – about 3 million euros in exchange; the euro would enter circulation on January 1, 2002 – his daughter, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, would be kidnapped. It happened between the end of November and the beginning of December 2001. The message was short but very clear, although they did not tell him when or where to make the delivery. Weeks later, Emilio received another call from the same unknown caller with the same message. In an unspecified period they would send him the precise instructions to deliver that money in exchange for not causing harm to the three-time Roland Garros champion.
He was not able to recognize the caller's voice or discern whether it was a practical joke or a scammer: that winter of 2001 was not the first time he had received calls of this nature. How someone was able to find out the number of a relatively unknown person, without wiretapping or access to their personal company data, was a question that Emilio would ask many times four months later. This is what a completely reliable source tells this newspaper.
Arantxa's father did not forget the sinister calls but he had removed them from his immediate horizon when the envelope arrived. It was in April 2002. A shipment in his name was received at the old family home, located on Sabino de Arana Street in Barcelona, still owned by the Sánchez Vicario family. It was an envelope delivered by FedEx with a postmark from Bogotá (Colombia) and whose contents made her blood run cold: a series of photographs showed exhaustive monitoring of the tennis player in different places in Barcelona from June to November of the previous year. Emilio himself and his wife, Marisa Vicario, as well as Arantxa's coach and other people from his closest circle also appeared in the snapshots. The report was accompanied by a sheet of paper with a chilling phrase: “We all have fun here and later we will talk about what it is going to cost you. See you later Mr. Sánchez.” That's when he really got scared. The threat was serious.
Emilio weighed what to do, mainly whether to tell his wife and children, including Arantxa herself. He preferred not to worry them and shoulder the responsibility of dealing with the threat on himself. As manager of the interests of an athlete of such stature, he had resources and contacts. He pulled strings and brought the case to the attention of the Government Delegation in Barcelona, whose head at that time was Julia García-Valdecasas. From that stratum down, things moved quickly.
Arantxa's father explained to a senior officer of the National Police what had happened, from the first call to receiving that envelope with the follow-up sample on his daughter. In addition to having fear in his body, he found it extremely disconcerting that an anonymous criminal could know the complete address of what was his family home (street, doorway and apartment) as well as that they had found out his mobile number. “The case came to us but it was transferred to Group 1 of Organized Crime. That was many years ago but it undoubtedly came to nothing: extortion attempts like this occurred quite frequently at that time,” a National Police commander tells La Vanguardia. And whether by chance or because the criminals were scared, the threatening calls and letters were not repeated.
