U.S. official, Italy spy suspected in Moro case

(ANSA) - Rome, November 12 - 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.