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Terrorism in Italy: an Update Report, 1983-1985 Report If you have issues viewing or accessing this file contact us at NCJRS.gov. 99th Congress S. PRT. 1st Session COMMITTEE PRINT 99-94 TERRORISM IN ITALY: AN UPDATE REPORT, 1983-1985 REPORT OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON SECURITY AND TERRORISM FOR THE USE OF THE C;OMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY UNITED STATES SENATE OCTOBER 1985 U.s. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1985 ,.. COMMIT'l'EE ON THE JUDICIARY STROM THURMOND, South Carolina, Chairman CHARLES McC. MATHIAS, JR., Maryland JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., Delaware PAUL LAXALT, Nevada EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts ORRIN G. HA'fCH, Utah ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia ALAN K. SIMPSON, Wyoming HOWARD M. METZENBAUM, Ohio JOHN P. EAST, North Carolina DENNIS DECONCINI, Arizona CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont JEREMIAH DENTON, Alabama HOWELL HEFLIN, Alabama ARLEN SPEC'fER, Pennsylvania PAUL SIMON, Illinois MITCH McCONNELL, Kentucky DENNIS W. SHEDD, Chief Counsel and Staff Director DIANA L. WA'fERMAN, General Counsel DEBORAH G. BERNSTEIN, Chief Clerk MARI\ H. GITENSTEIN, Minority Chief Counsel SUBCOMMITTEE ON SECURITY AND TERRORISM JEREMIAH DENTON, Alabama, Chairman ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont JOHN P. EAST, North Carolina DENNIS DeCONCINI, Arizona MITCH McCOKNELL, Kentucky JOEL S. LISI\ER, Chief Counsel and Staff Director FRAN WERMUTH, Chief Clerk (Ill U.S. Department of Justice National Institute of Justice This document has been reproduced exactly as received from the person or organization originating it. Poinls of view or opinions stat~d In this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the Nalional Institute of Justice. Permission to reproduce Ihis copyrighted material has been granted by Public Domain Unl ted" S ta te'-s-"S-e"7:n-=a:-;t'e::--- to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS). Further reproduction outside of the NCJRS system requires permis­ sion of the GQjil¥£igbl owner. LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON SECURITY AND TERRORISM, Washington, DC, July 17, 1985. Hon. STROM THURMOND, Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary, Washington, DC DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: In July of 1984, I forwarded to you a report entitled "Terrorism and Security: The Italian Experience." This report contained a thorough examination of the terrorist phenome­ non in Italy and the security measures developed in response at both the government and private levels from 1968 through 1982. The author of this superb, well-received work was Dr. Vittorfranco S. Pisano, an internationally recognized authority in the field of terrorism. Because of the growing importance of the area of terrorism and counterterrorism, I asked Dr. Daniel J. Boorstin, the Librarian of the Library of Congress, to agree to fund the study, and I also asked Dr. Pisano to prepare an update of his report. Both were kind enough to agree. It is with great pleasure that I transmit to you the results entitled "Terrorism in Italy: An Update Report, 1983-1985." Sincerely, JEREMIAH DENTON, Chairman, Subcommittee on Security and Terrorism. .. ... FOREWORD Since the beginning of 1983, domestic and transnational groups have continued to engage in serious acts of terrorism and subver­ sion in Italy. Such acts include direct attacks against the United States and NATO. U.S. diplomat Leamon R. Hunt, Director-General of the Multina­ tional Force and Observers (MFO), was murdered in Rome by the Red Brigades, possibly in cooperation with Middle Eastern extrem­ ists. The Italian editor of NATO News, Mr. Leonetto de Leon, suf­ fered the bombing of his Rome residence by the Communists Strug­ gling Against Imperialism and Armaments. The Italian Govern­ ment has evidence that the domestic pacifist movement, whose slant is strongly anti-Western, has been infiltrated by terrorist ele­ ments. Remnants of Front Line, another Italian Terrorist group of Communist inspiration, entertains logistical! operational links with Direct Action and the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Faction, two Paris-based terrorist formations known for their anti-American vio­ lent activism. All Red Brigades tracts and communiques of these years contain anti-NATO and anti-U.S. exhortations. The U.S. Em­ bassy in Rome was the objective of a projected car-bomb attack by Lebanese terrorists. In addition, during the recent wave of anti­ NATO "Euroterrorist" attacks throughout Western Europe, the language of the Red Brigades was adopted in the responsibility claims of non-Italian formations. In the light of the specifically anti-American nature of ongoing terrorist activity in Italy and in consideration of the continuing in­ fluence of the Italian terrorist model, Senator Denton, chairman of the Subcommittee on Security and Terrorism, has asked that the Committee print this update to an earlier report, "Terrorism and Security: The Italian Experience," which covered the period 1968- 1982. The original report and this update have been prepared by Dr. Vittorfranco S. Pisano, an internationally recognized expert on Italian terrorism. I believe this update report will be a useful re­ source in the Committee's efforts to study the problems of interna­ tional terrorism as it impacts on our Nation. STROM THURMOND, Chairman, Comm ittee on the Judiciary. IV, , CONTENTS Page Letter of Transmittal......................... ............................................................................. III Foreword............................................................................................................................ v Introduction ................................................................. ........................... .......................... 1 Red Brigades (Brigate Rosse-BR)................................................................................ 2 The Giugni case ........................................................................................................ 2 The Hunt case........................................................................................................... 3 The Tarantelli case .................................................................................................. 4 Behavior in court...................................................................................................... 4 Abortive operations and bargaining ..................................................................... 4 Pronouncements on the revolutionary record .................................................... 5 Disengagement and retaliation ............................................................................. 5 Front Line (Prima Linea-PL) and Organized Comrades for Proletarian Lib- eration (Compagni Organizzati per la Liberazione Proletaria-COLP)............. 7 Minor Communist formations .................. ....... .............................................................. 8 Workers' Autonomy (Autonomia Operaia-AUTOP) and the substrata of Communist terrorism .................................................................................................. 9 Vestiges of anarchism ..................................................................................................... 10 Separatism and terrorist violence................................................................................. 11 Sardinia...................................................................................................................... 11 South Tyrol................................................................................................................ 12 Terrorism of the right..................................................................................................... 13 Infiltration of the pacifist movement........................................................................... 15 Internationalization ofItalian terrorism and the French connection................... 21 The Palestinian connection .................................................................................... 22 The East European connection.............................................................................. 23 The French connection............................................................................................ 24 COLP/PL................................................................................................................... 26 BR................................................................................................................................ 26 AUTOP....................................................................................................................... 27 Transitional terrorisnl in Italy.................. ....... .................... ......................................... 28 Libya........................................................................................................................... 28 Jordan ............................................................................................................. '.......... 29 Syria............................................................................................................................ 29 United Arab Emirates............................................................................................. 29 Other transnational activity .................................................................................. 30 Countermeasures and concluding observations ......................................................... 32 (VII) - -------------- TERRORISM IN ITALY: AN UPDATE REPORT, 1983-85 INTRODUCTION The emergence, growth,
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