A Rome prosecutor said
Wednesday that he suspects a former United States official and a
deceased Italian spy may have been involved in the murder of
Italian premier Aldo Moro.
The Christian Democrat (DC) leader, architect of the
so-called Historic Compromise in the 1970s with the Italian
Communist Party (PCI), was kidnapped by the Red Brigades (BR)
extreme-left terrorist group on March 16 and killed 55 days
later, on May 9, 1978.
His body was dumped in Rome midway between the DC and PCI
headquarters.
Prosecutor Luigi Ciampoli told a parliamentary commission
on the case that he believes agents from foreign secret service
agencies were present in Rome's Via Fani when Moro was kidnapped
and five members of his security escort killed.
"Now we know that foreign secret service agents interested
in destabilizing Italy were on the scene as well as the BR,"
Ciampoli said.
Ciampoli added that there was "serious evidence" that Steve
Pieczenik, a former US State Department official and Italian
government consultant at the time of Moro's kidnapping, was
involved in the homicide.
Ciampoli requested authorization to continue probing the
alleged involvement of Pieczenik, 70.
He also said there were suspicions that Camillo Gugliemi, a
deceased member of Italy's SISMI intelligency agency, could have
been involved in the kidnapping of Moro and the murder of his
bodyguards.
There have long been suspicions that the Italian secret
services may have known where Moro was being held by the BR, but
failed to try to save him.
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