Word: moro
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...abduction was carried out with deadly precision. At 9 a.m., after first attending his daily Mass, the punctual Moro left his apartment in the Trionfale quarter on the north side of Rome and got into the back seat of his blue Fiat 130. His police driver and his bodyguard sat in front. An Alfa Romeo, carrying three plainclothes policemen, followed closely behind. About half a mile from Moro's home, a white Fiat station wagon came to an abrupt halt at a corner stop sign, forcing Moro's driver to brake sharply. The police escort car slammed into...
...Moro's car, open the rear door and pull out the passenger. "Only later," she said, "did I realize that it was Moro. They walked toward a light blue car parked a short distance away." She added that Moro moved calmly and did not appear to be injured. The terrorists and their victim vanished immediately. A flower vendor, normally stationed on the corner, reported later that his tires had been slashed the night before; the terrorists clearly had wanted...
...week's end the Red Brigades, Italy's most infamous terrorist gang (see box), produced a Polaroid photograph of the captured Moro and a handbill warning that he would be subjected to a "people's trial." The typewritten flyer, emblazoned with the awkward five-pointed Red Brigades star, was sent mysteriously to Rome's daily Il Messaggero and left in a phone booth near the RAI state-run TV headquarters. It did not otherwise state any specific demands for Moro's release, but said further communiques would follow. Nonetheless, there was a growing belief that...
Terrorism has seriously afflicted Italy for four sorry years, but no instance of kidnaping, extortion or assassination has ever before so enraged the nation or so threatened its tenuous political posture. As chairman of the Christian Democrats, Moro was the architect of the carefully devised political formula that had finally brought the Communists into the parliamentary majority. A law professor, he was noted as a conciliator and master of the anomalous solution that enabled disparate political forces to find common ground. He was, in fact, the leading candidate to succeed Giovanni Leone as Italian President...
...common fear among politicians was that without Moro and his gift for compromise, the faction-ridden Christian Democrats could lose their grip at a particularly sensitive moment-"a big body without the brain," as one deputy put it. But the danger threatened not only the Christian Democrats. Said Communist Chief Enrico Berlinguer: "The calculated, determined attack aimed against one of the most eminent figures of our political life marks a moment of extreme national gravity and a danger for the republic." Added Christian Democratic Deputy Luigi Granelli: "The kidnapers have a political goal-that of destabilizing the country." To cope...