Prima Linea
Encyclopedia
Prima Linea was an Italian
Marxist-Leninist terrorist group of the 1970s. It was formed in 1976 by members of hard-line factions within the far left
, extra-parliamentary organization Lotta Continua
, which disbanded that year, together with members of Potere Operaio
and of other far left groups. By 1982 it had carried out more than twenty assassinations.
, in membership and influence. The Italian Service for Democratic Information and Security classified Prima Linea as both an organisation of "Movimentismo" and "Militarismo", activism and militarism. Members and collaborators amounted to some one thousand.
The leaders were Roberto Sandalo, Marco Donat-Cattin
, Sergio D'Elia, Michele Viscardi, Enrico Galmozzi, Fabrizio Giai, Sergio Segio, Susanna Ronconi, Diego Forastieri, Roberto Rosso, Maurice Bignami, Bruno La Ronga, Giulia Borelli, Silviera Russo.
The organization used other names for their operations, including Comitati Comunisti Combattenti, Brigate Comuniste Combattenti, Ronde Proletarie.
923 members of Prima Linea and 149 members of Comitati comunisti per la liberazione proletaria (COLP) were questioned. Some members remained unidentified.
(the birthplace of Donat-Cattin) and Piedmont
.
The first assassination officially attributed to Prima Linea was that of Enrico Pedenovi, a member of the post-fascist Italian Social Movement
. He was killed on 29 September 1976 in Milan
in the occasion of the first anniversary of the death of Sergio Ramelli, who had been in turn murdered by Avanguardia Operaia. On 12 March 1977 Prima Linea assassinated in Turin Giuseppe Ciotta, a policeman. In the following April the Prima Linea members met at San Michele a Torri, near Florence
, to define its statute and its internal organization. In July of the same year they damaged a weapon store at Tradate
, in the province of Varese
, in response the killing of one of its members, Romano Tognini.
In 1978 Prima Linea merged with Formazioni Comuniste Combattenti, after which a National Unified Command was created. In this period PL concentrated against prison structures. In 1978 they killed Fausto Dionisi, a jail agent; the following victim was Alfredo Paolella, a Naples
professor of anthropology who was a technical observer in the Pozzuoli
prison. His death was followed by large demonstrations of Italian trade unions and left parties against terrorism.
In January 1979 the organization killed Giuseppe Lorusso in Turin and judge Emilio Alessandrini (who was working to a reformation of Italian jails) in Milan. In February, the Italian police killed two Prima Linea members sitting in a bar. As a reply, in March a Prima Linea commando attacked the members of a police car in a bottle shop in the same city. The outcome was the death of a man passing there by chance, Emanuele Iurilli. A few months, later, Donat-Cattin and Maurice Bignami killed the owner of the bar, considered responsible for the identification of the members who had been shot. On July 13 1979 an unarmed traffic agent was killed during a robbery at Druento
, near Turin. The following September the organization met at Bordighera
to decide its subsequent line. At the end of the year, they assassinated a Fiat
engineer, Carlo Ghiglieno. A few time later, PL's member Roberto Pautasso was killed by the police in Rivoli
.
In 1980 the radical faction within PL decided the assassination of magistrate and criminologist Guido Galli at Milan, on March 19. Paolo Poletti, a director of the ICMESA, the Seveso
plant which had caused a toxic pollution in 1976, was killed in his villa. In the same year the organization killed the Carabinieri
Antonio Chionna, Ippolito Cortellessa, Pietro Cuzzoli and police agent Filippo Giuseppe. In 1980 several members became pentito
es: in particular, Roberto Sandalo's revelations spurred a long series of arrests of PL's members, including that of Marco Donat-Cattin. One of them, William Waccher, was assassinated after having become a police collaborator.
In 1980, numerous members abandoned Prima Linea to join the Red Brigades
. In 1981 a series of internal meetings were held at Barzio
, in the province of Como
, after which it was decided to disband Prima Linea. Some members who had been not arrested yet formed the Comunisti Organizzati per la Liberazione Proletaria (Organized Communists for the Proletary Liberation), aiming to free imprisoned terrorists or political prisoners.
Prima Linea was officially disestablished only in 1987. Some of its members, including Segio and Roberto Rosso, later entered the Italian Radical Party. Segio wrote in 2005 the essay Miccia corta, dedicated to Prima Linea's history.
A film about some terrorist of Prima Linea aroused heavy protest from victims of terrorism.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Marxist-Leninist terrorist group of the 1970s. It was formed in 1976 by members of hard-line factions within the far left
Far left
Far left, also known as the revolutionary left, radical left and extreme left are terms which refer to the highest degree of leftist positions among left-wing politics...
, extra-parliamentary organization Lotta Continua
Lotta Continua
Lotta Continua was a far left extra-parliamentary organization in Italy. It was founded in autumn 1969 by a split in the student-worker movement of Turin, which had started militant activity at the universities and factories such as Fiat...
, which disbanded that year, together with members of Potere Operaio
Potere Operaio
Potere Operaio was a radical left-wing Italian political group, active between 1968 and 1973. Among the group's leaders were Antonio Negri, Franco Piperno, Oreste Scalzone and Valerio Morucci, who led its clandestine...
and of other far left groups. By 1982 it had carried out more than twenty assassinations.
Politics and organization
Prima Linea was the second terrorist organization in Italy, second only to the Red BrigadesRed Brigades
The Red Brigades was a Marxist-Leninist terrorist organisation, based in Italy, which was responsible for numerous violent incidents, assassinations, and robberies during the so-called "Years of Lead"...
, in membership and influence. The Italian Service for Democratic Information and Security classified Prima Linea as both an organisation of "Movimentismo" and "Militarismo", activism and militarism. Members and collaborators amounted to some one thousand.
The leaders were Roberto Sandalo, Marco Donat-Cattin
Marco Donat-Cattin
Marco Donat-Cattin was an Italian terrorist. He was a founding member of Prima Linea far-left terrorist organization.-Biography:...
, Sergio D'Elia, Michele Viscardi, Enrico Galmozzi, Fabrizio Giai, Sergio Segio, Susanna Ronconi, Diego Forastieri, Roberto Rosso, Maurice Bignami, Bruno La Ronga, Giulia Borelli, Silviera Russo.
The organization used other names for their operations, including Comitati Comunisti Combattenti, Brigate Comuniste Combattenti, Ronde Proletarie.
923 members of Prima Linea and 149 members of Comitati comunisti per la liberazione proletaria (COLP) were questioned. Some members remained unidentified.
Activity
The groups coming from Lotta Continua began to organize as a separate secret structure in 1974-1976. After starting its activity under different definitions, the organization adopted the name "Prima Linea" from 30 November 1976. Prima Linea was active particularly in Lombardy, Tuscany, Campania and, above all in TurinTurin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
(the birthplace of Donat-Cattin) and Piedmont
Piedmont
Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...
.
The first assassination officially attributed to Prima Linea was that of Enrico Pedenovi, a member of the post-fascist Italian Social Movement
Italian Social Movement
The Italian Social Movement , and later the Italian Social Movement–National Right , was a neo-fascist and post-fascist political party in Italy. Formed in 1946 by supporters of former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, the party became the fourth largest party in Italy by the early 1960s...
. He was killed on 29 September 1976 in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
in the occasion of the first anniversary of the death of Sergio Ramelli, who had been in turn murdered by Avanguardia Operaia. On 12 March 1977 Prima Linea assassinated in Turin Giuseppe Ciotta, a policeman. In the following April the Prima Linea members met at San Michele a Torri, near Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, to define its statute and its internal organization. In July of the same year they damaged a weapon store at Tradate
Tradate
Tradate is a city and comune located in the province of Varese, in the Lombardy region of northern Italy. It is located 15 km from the city of Varese , and according to the 2004 census Tradate's population was 16,259. It received the honorary title of city with a presidential decree on...
, in the province of Varese
Province of Varese
The Province of Varese is a province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Varese but its largest city is Busto Arsizio....
, in response the killing of one of its members, Romano Tognini.
In 1978 Prima Linea merged with Formazioni Comuniste Combattenti, after which a National Unified Command was created. In this period PL concentrated against prison structures. In 1978 they killed Fausto Dionisi, a jail agent; the following victim was Alfredo Paolella, a Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
professor of anthropology who was a technical observer in the Pozzuoli
Pozzuoli
Pozzuoli is a city and comune of the province of Naples, in the Italian region of Campania. It is the main city of the Phlegrean peninsula.-History:Pozzuoli began as the Greek colony of Dicaearchia...
prison. His death was followed by large demonstrations of Italian trade unions and left parties against terrorism.
In January 1979 the organization killed Giuseppe Lorusso in Turin and judge Emilio Alessandrini (who was working to a reformation of Italian jails) in Milan. In February, the Italian police killed two Prima Linea members sitting in a bar. As a reply, in March a Prima Linea commando attacked the members of a police car in a bottle shop in the same city. The outcome was the death of a man passing there by chance, Emanuele Iurilli. A few months, later, Donat-Cattin and Maurice Bignami killed the owner of the bar, considered responsible for the identification of the members who had been shot. On July 13 1979 an unarmed traffic agent was killed during a robbery at Druento
Druento
Druento is a comune in the Province of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 12 km northwest of Turin.Druento is located in a hilly-plain territory, between the Givoletto mountains and the Turin's plain. Attractions include La Mandria Regional Park, housing a former house of...
, near Turin. The following September the organization met at Bordighera
Bordighera
Bordighera is a town and comune in the Province of Imperia, Liguria .-History:The city was founded around the 4th century BC by the Ligures....
to decide its subsequent line. At the end of the year, they assassinated a Fiat
Fiat
FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...
engineer, Carlo Ghiglieno. A few time later, PL's member Roberto Pautasso was killed by the police in Rivoli
Rivoli
Rivoli may refer to:*Rivoli, Piedmont, , a town near Turin in Italy*Rivoli Veronese, a community in the Italian province of Verona*Battle of Rivoli, a battle that took place near Rivoli Veronese*The Rivoli, a restaurant/club in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...
.
In 1980 the radical faction within PL decided the assassination of magistrate and criminologist Guido Galli at Milan, on March 19. Paolo Poletti, a director of the ICMESA, the Seveso
Seveso
Seveso is a town and comune in the Province of Monza and Brianza, in the Region of Lombardy. The economy of the town has traditionally been based around the furniture industry....
plant which had caused a toxic pollution in 1976, was killed in his villa. In the same year the organization killed the Carabinieri
Carabinieri
The Carabinieri is the national gendarmerie of Italy, policing both military and civilian populations, and is a branch of the armed forces.-Early history:...
Antonio Chionna, Ippolito Cortellessa, Pietro Cuzzoli and police agent Filippo Giuseppe. In 1980 several members became pentito
Pentito
Pentito designates people in Italy who, formerly part of criminal or terrorist organizations, following their arrests decide to "repent" and collaborate with the judicial system to help investigations...
es: in particular, Roberto Sandalo's revelations spurred a long series of arrests of PL's members, including that of Marco Donat-Cattin. One of them, William Waccher, was assassinated after having become a police collaborator.
In 1980, numerous members abandoned Prima Linea to join the Red Brigades
Red Brigades
The Red Brigades was a Marxist-Leninist terrorist organisation, based in Italy, which was responsible for numerous violent incidents, assassinations, and robberies during the so-called "Years of Lead"...
. In 1981 a series of internal meetings were held at Barzio
Barzio
Barzio is a comune in the Province of Lecco in the Italian region Lombardy, located in the Valsassina about 60 km northeast of Milan and about 12 km northeast of Lecco....
, in the province of Como
Province of Como
The Province of Como is a province in the north of the Lombardy region of Italy and borders the Swiss cantons of Ticino and Grigioni to the North, the Italian provinces of Sondrio and Lecco to the East, the Province of Milan to the south and the Province of Varese to the West...
, after which it was decided to disband Prima Linea. Some members who had been not arrested yet formed the Comunisti Organizzati per la Liberazione Proletaria (Organized Communists for the Proletary Liberation), aiming to free imprisoned terrorists or political prisoners.
Prima Linea was officially disestablished only in 1987. Some of its members, including Segio and Roberto Rosso, later entered the Italian Radical Party. Segio wrote in 2005 the essay Miccia corta, dedicated to Prima Linea's history.
Today
More terrorists have had sentences reduced, some starkly reduced, the last terrorist of prima Linea was freed in 2004.A film about some terrorist of Prima Linea aroused heavy protest from victims of terrorism.
See also
- Dino SanlorenzoDino SanlorenzoDino Sanlorenzo is an Italian politician, and a member of the Italian Communist Party. He was President of the regional Council in Piemonte from 1975 until 1980 and later deputy president of the Region till 1983. He was a member of the Italian Parliament in Rome from 1983 till 1987, and was a...
- Lotta ContinuaLotta ContinuaLotta Continua was a far left extra-parliamentary organization in Italy. It was founded in autumn 1969 by a split in the student-worker movement of Turin, which had started militant activity at the universities and factories such as Fiat...
- Communist terrorismCommunist terrorismCommunist terrorism are actions carried out by groups which adhere to a Marxist-Leninist or Maoist ideology which have been described as terrorism. State actions carried out by the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, North Korea and the actions of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia have all been...
- Terrorism in Italy from 1945 till todayTerrorism in Italy from 1945 till todayTerrorism in Italy from 1945 till today is a book written by Giovanni Pellegrino that discusses the political situation in Italy from the revival of democracy in 1945 till today....
- Years of lead (Italy)