On the one side, theory: on the other, the practical. On the one side, attacks on high-tension electricity pylons, telephone repeaters burnt out, threatening letters, party offices devastated. On the other side, meetings in social centres, obsessive themes, Internet propaganda, leaflet publication. In the last few years, from 2000 on, the spotlights are on Tuscany.
And what the lights illuminate is an anarchic play.
Terminated – at a high price - the emergence of the Red Brigade (with the deaths of D’Antona, Biagi and the Police Superintendent, P etri); the attention of the investigators is focussed on the militants of the circled “A”.
In this region (Tuscany) the COR, (Cells of the Revolutionary Offensive), flourishes. Movements are born which reflect the thoughts of the ideologist Bakunin; isolated actions are woven together. Here, in the Province of Massa, the wife of Marco Camenish lives. There, at Bagno a Ripoli (a few steps from Florence), Alfredo Maria Bonanno lived until 1995, the ideologist of the “affinity groups”.
What we intend to do is an excursus on the principle subversive acronyms. A kind of detailed summary, even though incomplete, which explains, however, how the various personages are connected with one another: sometimes, in a most unexpected way.
It is a past that returns in a similar form and manner: since the anarchists, unlike the Brigades, are a composite and dissimilar mass. They have no need to go into hiding. They feel – and they are – already clandestine. They profess their ideas in the light of day, protest in front of the procurator offices. They are against the system and, at the same time, within the system. The writer has decided to examine the most salient facts, adopting the viewpoint of the investigators; a chain of events and episodes which foment in the centre of Italy.
A little history: we are near the end of the 70’s. Tuscany is a river of magma, slowly bubbling with extra-parliamentary movements, such as Potere Operaio, (the Workers’ Power), which has its start in the hills of Scandicci. The Brigate Rosse , (the Red Brigade), is breaking up, but Professor Giovanni Senzani will come into its inheritance. The men of the Prima Linea, (The Front Line), strike with robberies and lightning kidnappings. It is in this context that the Azione Rivoluzionaria, (the Revolutionary Action), will come into existence. The most extreme militants of the anarchical area recognize the characteristics of power expressed by the Movement and making reference to the cultural elaborations of ‘situationism’ and of the RAF (Rote Arme e Fraktion), initiate this kind of organization. Its leaders are Gianfranco Faina and Salvatore Cinieri.
The Affinity Groups are born, according to the initial theory of Bonanno «where the traditional ties are replaced by relations of profound empathy, distinguished by a maximum of intimacy, knowledge and reciprocal faith among the members». It is a sort of closed “commune” which resembles the modus vivendi of certain mafia organizations - the Sicilian families, the Calabrian ‘ndrine – where the level of self-control is pushed to the maximum.
On April 30th, Revolutionary Action wounds Alberto Mammoli, the doctor of the Pisa gaol “Don Bosco”. The action is claimed immediately with a document which refers to the death of the anarchist, Franco Serantini. According to the militants of the circled “A”, Serantini, after having been taken to the police station, had been beaten savagely and, furthermore, the directors of the penitentiary had not given him sufficient cure and attention. It is an interesting precedent: at a distance of thirty years, a similar situation will be repeated: Marcello Lonzi, detained for minor offences, dies in the Leghorn jail on the 11th of July 2003: The legal doctor declares death from “natural causes”; the anarchists begin a dangerous “tam-tam” which will result in the Health Director of the Prison Institution being brought “under investigation” by the COR.
At Leghorn on the 19th October, 1977, a group of Revolutionary Action tries to kidnap the ship-owner Tito Neri. The seizure fails and the militants are arrested. On the 20th of June, 1979, at Leghorn, the trial commences against the Revolutionary Action militants, accused of the attempted kidnapping of the ship-owner. The defendants are: Pasquale Vallitutti (absent for illness), Gianfranco Faina (fugitive) Salvatore Cinieri, Vito Messana, Angelo Monico e Sandro Meloni.
It is, in fact, the last action of Revolutionary Action: in the course of the proceedings, a document is presented in which the “self- dissolution” of the organization is announced. And those who do not submit to this situation pass over to the Front Line.
One more group on which the investigators’ attention is concentrated is the ORAI: Anarchic Insurrectional Revolutionary Organization.
The Carabineers of the ROS (Special Operations Group) work intensely; directed by the Public Prosecutor of Rome. The starting point is simple: the Affinity Groups surpass - for structure and finalities – the limits of the common association and they organize themselves, also thanks to international ties. Once again, the name of Alfredo Maria Bonanno surfaces. He lives in Bagno a Ripoli in a house which is also the editorial office of the anarchic periodical, “Black Dog”, a publication of the anarchic area, but above all, an organ of debates. In those years, in Florence, the “social centre” “Bu Bu Settete”,(Peek-a-bo) is active: a funny nick-name behind which important anarchists hide.
The regional capital of Tuscany returns to the limelight. In May, 1997, according to Carabineers’ reports, “in the Squares of Ciompi and San Marco, stands have been prepared for the distribution of leaflets, signed by the “Florence Anarchists”, against the so-called Marini Inquiry, and protests have been organized against the arrests made by the Carabineers between the 19th and 20th of May, 1997, at the social centre, “La Baracca” of Scandicci, a short distance from Florence.
Another detail: in December, 1997, at the Florentine Department of Philosophy, a debate was held, entitled, “The ROS is nude”. To better understand, we have to take a step back in time: Radio Blackout, a ‘free’ radio of Turin had received, in some way, a ‘service report’ of the ROS, in Rome.
The anarchists say: «the report explains in minute detail the ‘how’ and the ‘why’ of a judiciary inquiry against tens and tens of anarchists started, thanks to the help of a collaborator of justice. The inquiry was, in fact, under way and, in those very same days in which the report came to light, it was already at the preliminary stages in front of the Judges of Preliminary Inquiries. But it was not a matter of an account made after the event, as one might think: it was a programmed judiciary inquiry, since the document in question was dated December 1994». Well then: at a distance of a very few months, in Florence, the debate takes place. According to the reports of the time, compiled by the Carabineers and the Digos, «the theory is supported that the pulling down of the Enel pylons would constitute a suitable and effective strategy to fight the system» and, furthermore, this kind of undertaking could «be done at a personal level and would not need the support of an organization behind it».
Words that have a prophetic sound, if one thinks that only a few years later, starting from 2000, the Enel pylons in Tuscany - as well as the antennas of the mobile telephone system - would blow-up like skittles. The Florence – Bologna axis is obvious. Within the “Anarchic laboratory of antagonist communication” of the city of the “two Towers”, a transcription by Bonanno, relative to a meeting, is discovered: the meeting took place in February, 1998, at the Anarchic
Documentation Centre, “Ripicchio”, entitled “Political Economy and Globalization of Capital”, where “sabotage” is indicated as the instrument to “attack the capital”.
A coincidence? Not really. A Carabineer report states that «Bonanno maintained, in short, the necessity of conducting “the attack on the capital” through the realization of acts of sabotage against the “infrastructures of power”.» In that period, right in Florence and Bologna, the arson attacks begin, carried out with identical techniques and clearly referring to the instructions of the well known manual, “Anarchic explosives operator”, later found in the hands of both Florentine and Bolognese anarchists.
The report goes on as follows: «Therefore, it can hardly be held as a coincidence that following the attack on the “Callisto Pontello Costruzioni SpA”, in the April of 1999, a debate was held at the Florentine social centre “La villa Okkupata” (The occupied villa), at that time, a meeting place of the insurrectional movement, on the theme “Burn down the goals”, during which the leaflet “Under lock and key” by Bonanno, was presented.
During the debate, in reality, mostly centred on the goal structures, defined as cornerstones of the State repression activity, the timeliness was stressed of conducting “direct attacks” on goal structures, deeming more practicable attacks on companies or individuals that, in some way, had contributed to the building of structures of detention, citing as an example, the “Pontello Company”, which had carried out the construction works of the “Solliciano” Florentine goal».
The arsonist do not have an identity, but it is the finding of the Bonanno document which draws the conclusion that, as can be read in the Carabineer report, «it cannot be considered as a mere coincidence that during the same night of the attack on the Pontello Company in Florence, unidentified persons carried out similar attacks in Bologna, against the Army Barracks, “Ste Ore-Officina Riparazioni Esercito”».Not only this; during the first days of April, 1999, the “Consorzio Alta Velocità Emilia-Toscana” (Consortium for High Velocity Emilia-Tuscany) is the target of other blitz in Sesto Fiorentino (Florence) and in the Bologna Area.
According to the Carabineers «it is possible to see a connection between the criminal episodes in Florence and Bologna during the spring of 1999, also in consideration of the fact that, following the judiciary events in the city of Bologna, many suspects were found to have returned to or were establish in Tuscany».
1988 is an important year. During these twelve months, according to a Digos report,«the Florentine anarchic movement shows », in fact, «all its destructive capacity». On the 10th of May, an incendiary attack is made against the firm, “Vannuzzi, Ferri e Snc”», claimed afterwards with the acronym, ALF (Animal Liberation Front).
Two more raids finish under the magnifying lenses of the men in uniform: on the 20th of July, 1998, the Informatics Office of the Florence city hall and a “Fiat Engineering Spa.” office, are set alight. These attempts are not claimed, but according to the ROS Carabineers they are «retraceable, both for the modality and the kind of target», to the anarchists.
In fact, it is not by coincidence that “Fiat Engineering Spa” represents the property of the “Consorzio Alta Velocità Emilia-Toscana” (High Velocity Consortium Emilia-Tuscany); and it is in this context, according to the Carabineer investigators’ report that «this incendiary attack took place only a few days after the appearance in the central square IV November in Palazzuolo sul Senio (Florence), of the poster against the High Velocity and it is, therefore, reasonable to collocate it in the ambit of the protest manifestations following the suicide of the insurrectional anarchist, Maria Soledad Rosas (who hanged herself in July 1988, with bed sheets attached to the shower pipe, in the premises of a community, where she was under house arrest, ndr) ».

The lull lasts only a few months. In August of 2001, a handmade bomb is found near the USA consulate.
It is thought to be a demonstrative gesture, but it remains unclaimed, not even on Internet where there are sites that teach how to make explosives and the Web could have diffused texts which may have inspired the one that accompanied the parcel bomb. Only ten days later, the 10th of September 2001, an explosive envelope is addressed to Achille Serra, the Prefect of Florence.
The sender is unknown even if a newspaper article enclosed with the bomb package seems to want to indicate a clue: the anarchists and the CPA, a Florentine social centre under eviction, to make room for a supermarket. The only phone call claiming the attempt is from a mysterious “Citizens’ Movement” which also announces a bomb in the Vatican, and arrives at the Questura (District Police Headquarters) of Milan at 13:50, but it is the work of a mythomaniac. The investigations are just at the beginning. Serra defines it «an extremely grave fact, disturbing». The Questura confirms, «a serious act of intimidation». Meanwhile the Digos are working on clues and possible analogies with other parcel bombs sent in Italy, like the explosive envelopes which arrived in Genoa in July; both the one that wounded a carabineer and the one sent to the Prefect.
It is the Prefect’s secretary who receives into her hands the yellow envelope. The postmark is dated 7th November, from the postal sorting centre of Via Pellicceria, where all the mail for Florence is received. The envelope is stamped with the priority postmark, but has no sender name or address. The recipient address is written in capital letters as follows: «for Prefect Serra Achille, c/o of the Prefecture of Florence». The employee chooses to call the policeman who works in the same office. The agent opens the envelope with caution and starts to extract the newspaper sheet enclosed, but he stops as soon as he notices the photograph of Serra bearing a circled “A” designed with a red felt pen; the symbol of the anarchists.
The artificers of the Questura defuse the envelope which contains about 30 grams of gun powder, two batteries, a bulb, the whole device to be triggered by extracting the newspaper sheet reporting Serra’s interview on the subject of the CPA eviction, entitled «I am not an enemy», published in the daily newspaper, “La Nazione” of the 4th of September, 2005. The sheet was connected to a wire: pulling it would have activated the fuse at the other end (a piece of silver paper from a cigarette package). The explosion would have provoked a flame able to seriously burn the hands and face of whoever opened it.
The Digos inquiries point to the anarchists: when searches are made in Florence and Pisa, the hypothesis is that a militant of the circled “A” is the head of the organized plot. It is confirmed by telephone tapping and tailing of the subject. But the judges think otherwise and the protagonist is acquitted.
Everything calms down, at least until March, 2004. On the 1st of March another parcel bomb arrives. This time, the recipient is Leonardo Domenici. A déjà vu: also in this case it is the secretary who realizes the danger and the bomb is defused by the Carabineers. « In general, these actions are attributed to anarchists», the Vice-Public Prosecutor, Francesco Fleury explains: «the technique is similar to the other parcel bombs sent in recent times, such as the one received by Romano Prodi» or the one delivered on the 10th of November 2003, to a reporter of the Corriere di Viterbo, or many of the 36 parcel bombs sent in various Italian towns since 1998, until today. The technique is explained in the manual of the “Anarchist explosives operator”.
The next day, searches between Florence and Pisa are carried out: also this time the number one suspect is the usual anarchist, a 20 year-old man residing in Sesto Fiorentino. Together with him four more people are searched, among whom is the friend of Massimo Lunardi, the frequently arrested anarchist. The crime of the manufacture of explosive devices is hypothesized for all suspects, in addition to acts with finality in terrorism and subversion of the democratic order.
Tuscany is shattered by the subversion attacks. Anarchists and Red Brigatists are arrested by Digos. The situation is well described in a report by the Prefect of Florence, Gian Valerio Lombardi, in November, 2004. Three pages entitled «Subversive Criminality» where a deep evaluation is written by Lombardi. The report sent to the Ministry of the Interior reads: «The genetic change of the most recent subversive phenomenon finds fertile ground and prospects for development.
The blows inflicted on the Red Brigades organization by the investigative and judiciary activities; the discovery of the conspicuous documentation found in the Red Brigades’ hideout at Via Montecuccoli, in Rome; the arrest of Nadia Desdemona Lioce, for the well-known events which happened in the province of Arezzo, have all permitted a gradual, progressive and incisive disarrangement of the subversive group, also made easier by the recent turning state’s evidence of the Tuscan Brigade member, Cinzia Banelli».
Mention is made of anarchy in the same report: « investigative activities have also shown that, at times, a connection exists between subversive formations and certain movements or groups», Prefect Lombardi writes. «Such groups also exist in Tuscany where, with respect to the past, an increased presence is recorded. Within the extreme Left, there are antagonist movements and self-operated social centres. Within the opposite ideological tendency, the extreme Right, various formations are coming into existence. These latter are distinguished by particular areas for their actions of disturbance, such as stadium fights between opposing football fans, into which groups they deliberately infiltrate».
Finally, we come to the militants of the circled “A”. Prefect Lombardi writes: «Furthermore, there are numerous anarchic formations which are active (with their historic presence in the Massa and Carrara areas) and certain groups which defend – sometimes with violent actions – specific values, for example, ALF (Animal Liberation Front) for the protection of animals. Such movements manage to establish themselves with a local characterization, which also tend to differentiate them from the analogous national movements. As an example, we can refer to the Province of Arezzo, where some groups, dissatisfied with the traditional parties, try to attract attention and give expression to juvenile distress, humanitarian ideals, environmentalism and ecology».
In other geographical areas, for example, Pisa, the birth of new formations having subversive tendencies is recorded. In a scenario of probable connection with the R.B.s., some groups find expression and realization, and show marked sympathies towards the revolutionary and subversive doctrines. The various terrorist acts which have taken place recently in the Pisa area, against political party offices, union associations, local press, caretaker agencies and local political and union exponents constitute an emblematic fresh evidence of it.
The first claims by C.O.R. go back to July 2003. The operative continuity of the Pisa C.O.R., of an intimidating and subversive character and the circulation of the document “clarifier”, which arrived last June, on the editor’s desk of some daily newspapers, gives a certain consistency to the hypothesis of a kind of gradual route finalized to try to illustrate the origin of a new project of armed struggle and to attain the acknowledge of an autonomous space.
The subversive push is clearly directed towards the constitution of a link-up system between the various revolutionary formations in order to pluck the opportunity of conflicting conditions which could demonstrate to be favourable for action ».

According to Prefect Lombardi «the most recent investigative orientations, fruit of police work in the various Tuscan provinces, are in agreement to consider – due to the peculiarity of the modus operandi of the terrorist organizations in Tuscany - the phenomenon of subversion on an inter-provincial scale, also with inter-regional ramifications. Investigations show the necessity of more ample strategies, connected to shared rules and actions. As a consequence, to better evaluate the evolution of the criminal phenomenon and the relative dynamics, with an aim to achieve more effective combative action, an increased co-ordination to improve the flow of information is necessary.
The refinement of the investigation activities and the increase of the field and sectors for surveillance, following a careful and pondered analysis of the evolution of the subversive panorama in question, could permit an effective counter action to the phenomenon». A mention also to the role of the Secret Services: «The international political situation, the Iraqi conflict, the Israeli-Palestinian crisis and the international terrorist threats constitute as many elements of evaluation for the activity of Intelligence in the direction of the ethnic components of the Islamic faith present or gravitating in Tuscany or existent fundamentalist cells». The report reads: « So far, an unremitting reconnaissance and counter-action activity by the Police Forces has permitted the efficient prevision of the dangers, even though a constant state of alert must be maintained to avoid the inattention caused by habit ».
Prefect Lombardi synthesizes what, for at least a year, has been a nightmare for the investigators: the cells of the Revolutionary Offensive of Pisa. Anarchists who do not come from nowhere, are discovered – for the first time by the Carabineers of the ROS of Florence and Leghorn, during the course of an operation called “Blackout”. Let us take a step backwards.
The “line of terror” explodes at Massa Carrara, unwinds itself in Versilia, reaches dangerous heights on the Abetone, and stops at Leghorn. Territories at risk, territories crossed – like a lava flow – by anarchist movements. Anarchists of the environmentalist stamp, who do not hesitate to blow up anything that comes to hand – from pylons to repeaters, even to cable-car lines. They are anarchists who strike in the name of, and for Marco Camenisch, alias “Martino” who finishes on the suspect list.
A name that inculcates fear: “Martino”. He escapes from a Swiss goal in 1981, where he was sentenced to 10 years on charges of participation in explosives attacks between Massa Carrara and Lucca; in 1989, he kills a frontier Swiss guard; in 1991, in the Montignoso area, he shoots at a Carabineers patrol. Notwithstanding, he is arrested; in February 2002, Martino ends up in the Biella goal and then, in April 2005, he is removed to the Swiss district goal. The ROS Carabineers know only too well with whom they are dealing. Since the crime, which had started the investigations, was committed at Massa, the province under the jurisdiction of the Genoese DDA, (the District Direction Anti-Mafia) the Inquiry is held at Genoa, and it is for this reason that the records of the attack on the cable-car line are passed from the State Public Prosecution office in Pistoia to the capital town of Liguria.
We are in Tuscany, a difficult land. The work of the Carabineer specialists is fundamental. In March 2003, the ROS Carabineers, under the command of General Giampaolo Ganzer, after three years of silent investigation work, make the blitz. About thirty people are searched. In the search order, issued by the State Prosecutor’s office of Genoa, the charges are well specified: on the 12th of February, the electricity pylon 83 of the line 314 line at Capezzano Pianore is hit; two days later Camenisch and Emanuela Centi are married in goal. On the 17th of February of the same year, before Martino is extradited to Switzerland, there is a new attack on a pylon of the 314 line. And, the Carabineers at Viereggio find a handmade bomb in front of the Benetton shop, in Forte dei Marmi.
On the 21st of January 2004, the birthday of Camenish, the cable-car line of the Abetone is burnt and on the walls, there is a clear writing: “Burn the destroyers, Marco free”. The same day, at Fossola, (Massa Carrara), a repeater of the Albacom is blown up, although the attack seems to have happened the day before. On the 21st of January, however, there is a new attack on a Wind repeater at Pietrasanta and the relative writing is left (“Camenisch free”). A writing is also left in the local railway station of the small city. It reads: “For Edo and Sole for Marco and Nicola. Burn the goals”. Still on the 21st of January, there is an attack at Castiglioncello, where two mobile telephone repeaters are damaged.
In the end, everything leads to Camenisch and also, to other people.
Among the people under investigation at the time, the historic names of the anarchic subversion appear and they will be arrested in the following years. Besides Marco Camenisch and his wife, Emanuela Centi, who lives in Fivizzano and had married the insurrectional anarchist on the 14th of February, 2002, in the Biella goal, the following names are written in the suspects register; Stefano fosco, Argentinian, born in Switzerland, together with Pietro Tognoli, born in Morbegno (SO), Constantino Ragusa , born in Bergamo and Samantha Grassi, born at Premosello Chiovenda (VB).
In the sights of the Genovese Public Prosecutor are also Gino Doriano Marcucci and Giuliano Marchetti , from Pietrasanta (later arrested by the Digos of Lucca and by the Ucigos of Rome, in March 2006, following an attack on a seat of Forza Italia in Versilia), Mariella Orsi, also from Pietrasanta, Maria Rita Gasperetti from Forte dei Marmi, Giuseppe and Federico Bonamici from Pisa and Francesco Gioia from Leghorn. Gioia and Bonamici will create the “Cellule di offensiva rivoluzionaria” (Cells for Revolutionary offensive), together with Costantino Ragusa from Bergamo, also under investigation by the Public Prosecutor of Genoa.
The anarchy in Tuscany proceeds by gemmation. One starts with Camenisch and finishes by speaking of COR, yet also “Martino” merits a separate mention. The anarchic-environmentalist is extremely attached to this region, apart from personal sentiments. On the 15th of November, 1991, after an armed conflict with the Carabineers at Montignoso (Massa), he is arrested together with Giancarlo Sergiampietri, also from Massa.
In the same year, only a few months before, « it has been ascertained the responsibilities of Camenisch for the following attacks: The Enel pylon at Collepiano di Montignoso, through the use of a “booby trap” capable of endangering any person who might have intervened and – it can be read in report of the Carabineers – that under an Enel pylon, at Palatina di Montignoso, a pack was found made of a strip of white sacking, in which was contained a bundle of 7 common mine detonators, five of which had copper shells of old manufacture and two in aluminium, bound together with a thin black rubber elastic band.
Furthermore, strong evidence remains regarding Camenisch’s participation in similar attacks in the Apuan and Versilian area, during his period in hiding». A period which was well used by the escapee – seen more than once between the Parma and Faenza area – profiting from the strong liaison with Sandra B. from Leghorn, «in her turn gravitating in the area of Revolutionary Action, and in contact with Alfredo Maria Bonanno» as the Carabineers’ report reads.
The trail of the insurrectional anarchist leads from Tuscany to Lazio. In July of 2004, the Digos of Rome and Carabineers of ROS arrest four insurrectional anarchists.
The investigation activities last over a year: one hundred people are investigated, 34 of which are formally investigated for the crimes of subversive association, terrorism and subversion of the democratic order. The detained suspects are: Sergio Stefani, Simone Del Moro, Davide Santini and Marco Feruzzi. Stefani was already under house arrest in Rome, accused of participation in an attack, on the 19th of March 2004, against a butcher’s shop in Florence, where he was residing at the time.
The insurrectional anarchists following the usual set-up: no hierarchy, micro-groups scattered over a vast territory, contacts abroad, remarkable facility to move about. The actions attributed to the anarchists under investigation are four. The one that starts the inquiry is the attack on the Cervantes Spanish School in Rome, on the 17th of June 2003. Two more actions go back to the 4th of November, 2003: in the Carabineers barracks of Via S. Siricio, in Rome, a bomb package, containing a videotape and 100 gr. of black powder, explodes, seriously injuring the hands of NCO Stefano Sindano; at the same time, in the correspondence office of Questura of Viterbo, a similar pack is found and defused.
Lastly, on the 19th of January 2004, a low potential explosive device weighing 500 – 1000 grams, composed of a pyrotechnic mixture, explodes against an armoured glass window of a hearings room in the Court House of Viterbo. The blast causes considerable damage to the structure. Among the investigated by the Digos of Rome and the Ros of the Carabineers, are two people already under investigation by the Florentine Public Attorney concerning the package bomb sent to Mayor Domenici.
Always in 2004, in August, one of the temples of anarchy is “violated”. The premises of the Florentine Anarchic Movement are searched by the Carabineers of the Florence Operative Department and eventually cleared out some months later. It is the first time, in about twenty years, that a man in uniform officially enters an Anarchic seat with a decree issued by the Magistracy. The reason for this investigation is because on the 22nd of July, “the wolf”, as Luciano Liboni is called, on the run for two years, (accused of stealing masterpieces of considerable value in Umbria, Latium and Tuscany) is also wanted for the homicide of the Carabineer Alessandro Giorgioni.
In the Tuscany capital, meanwhile, on the 13th of August of 2004, posters appear which praise the criminal and are signed by MAF. Seven days later the search is sprung: the anarchists barricade themselves inside and are ready to fight, but the Carabineers of the Florentine Operative Department go into action. The building is surrounded and the carabineers enter through a window, and at that point the operation ends with nine persons reported for incitement to commit a crime, invasion of premises and damage to property. The nine offenders also receive a charge for contempt of the Armed Forces.

Meanwhile, in Versilia, the alarm returns. In March 2006, Giuliano Marchetti, 51 year-old bricklayer and Gino Doriano Marcucci, 55 year-old whitewasher, both residing in Pietrasanta, are arrested by a group of investigators of Digos of Lucca and UCIGOS of Roma, who are employed in the search for the culprits of various incendiary attacks on the offices of Forza Italia (Italian Political Party) and other targeted institutions in Versilia. After having exploded a parcel bomb in front of the seat of Forza Italia, only a few hours before the ex-President of the Senate, Marcello Pera was to arrive at Lucca, the two men escape by car. Four minutes later, they are stopped by Digos with the charge of «arson, damage and possession of materials for use in the manufacture of explosive devices».
At their homes, policemen find and confiscate everything that is necessary for the manufacture of explosive devices. An investigation had been started long before, directed by the Public Attorney of Lucca in strict collaboration with the District Attorney of Florence and conducted by the Digos of Lucca, Florence and Pisa under the co-ordination of the Central Direction of prevention-service anti-terrorism Police, for a series of arson attacks to bankomat machines and mobile telephone repeaters in Versilia.
After the incendiary attack against the Deutsche Bank of Forte dei Marmi, the antiterrorism police had watched the two above mentioned Marcucci and Marchetti and, after the arrests, there was great satisfaction in the investigative ambient. Carlo Di Stefano, Director of Ucigos says: «Their arrest is a sign of the careful and continuous investigation activity».
The two anarchists are members of the “Rebellious Individuality” of Pietrasanta, besides the one of Marco Camenisch. The 14th of February 2002, in fact, when Camenisch marries Emanuela Centi of Massa, and always very active in environmental problems, one of the two labourers from Pietrasanta is present with his wife, at the marriage. Their names, therefore, finish under the observation lens of the Anti-terrorism investigators. They are very much involved in their cause, but have no previous police record. They are in contact with the anarchists of the anarchic club of Pisa the “Silvestre”: years previously, in Florence, it was they who gave the start to the urban guerrilla warfare in Santa Maria Novella square.
When speaking of the “Silvestre”, it means speaking about Revolutionary Offensive Cells. In June 2004, Antonio Di Bugno, the Public Prosecutor of Pisa, who coordinates the investigations of the Carabineers of the Operative Department, orders several searches: the homes of the “Silvestre” anarchists’: Francesco Gioia, Alessio Perondi e William Frediani are searched. Inquiries go ahead and Costantino Ragusa, Giuseppe Bonamici, Leonardo Landi, Benedetta Galante, Alice Motta, Gioacchino Somma, Federico Bonamici e Francesco Finocchi, finish on the register of the investigated.
Since July, 2003, according to the investigations of the Operative Department of the Carabineers in Pisa, the above mentioned people were planning « acts of violence in order to subvert the democratic order; the plan had been carried out through the committing of crimes of damage and private violence, such as dispatching letters containing shells of common fire arms, illegal manufacture, possession and transportation of explosive materials (made up of containers filled with inflammable substances such as bars of inflammable material, slow-burning spirals, matches, etc), illegal possession of bullets for fire arms. These crimes were committed against trade union seats or members, (Ugl, Cisl, Uil), against political parties – such as Alleanza Nazionale, Forza Italia, La Margherita, L’Italia dei Valori – Carabineer barracks, against journalists, employment agencies, companies and professional people».
The re-examination Court of Florence reveals another fact: «the preparatory activity carried out by Gioia and Frediani with respect to Doctor Luciano Bassi ». It concerns Doctor Luciano Bassi legal doctor of the Faculty of Medicine University of Pisa, who performed the autopsy on the body of the prisoner, Marcello Lonzi, who died in the isolation cell of the Leghorn goal: the results of the autopsy was “death from natural causes”; a fact that was also confirmed by an inquiry conducted by the then Public Prosecutor, Roberto Pennisi of the Leghorn office. As mentioned previously, a preparatory “inquiry” is carried out by the two anarchists, consisting in shadowing the doctor and recording number plates of the cars parked in front of Legal Medicine Department of the University.
One thing is certain, at least for the moment: the COR is not shooting yet, but they know how to use a gun. The Carabineers write in their report: «From results of the verifications made at the Pisa National Target Shooting Range, it appears that Frediani and Gioia had registered there together on the 11th of January 2003, and had trained with rented pistols calibre 22. They went to practice twelve times in 2003, and Frediani practiced three more times between December 2003, and May 2004. It is probably that those were the occasion on which the calibre 9x21 shells that were sent with threatening letters, were procured». In the meanwhile, Public Prosecutor, Di Bugno, is under armed escort.
In the meantime, Francesco Gioia escapes from house arrest. We are in August 2004. From his hideout, he had also written a long letter. He is found in Spain, in May 2005, by the Carabineers Command of the Province of Pisa, with the cooperation of the Spanish anti-terrorism section. He comes down the drive and pretends not to understand Italian.
At the beginning of May 2006, an impressive blitz brings COR again into the limelight. A blitz operation is carried out against the circled ‘A’ militants. Thirteen people are arrested on the orders of the head of the Florentine Prosecutor’s office, Ubaldo Nannucci, and by the substitute Prosecutor, Angela Pietroiusti, regarding the inquiry on the presumed anarchist-insurrectional associations. An impressive operation which has involved the top executives of the Police and Carabineers, coordinated by the central ROS and by the Central Anti- terrorism Service of the central direction of the prevention police. The investigators of Digos of Florence, Lucca, Pisa and Arezzo and the Carabineers of Ros of Florence and Leghorn arrest Costantino Ragusa, a 29 year-old from Bergamo and his mistress, Silvia Guerini, 24 years old, Benedetta Galante, 27 years old, from Carpi, Daniele Canalini, 20 years old, from Pontedera, Mariangela Vella, 25 years old, from Ribera (AG), Alice Fabbri, 26 years old, from Pisa, the brothers, Federico and Giuseppe Bonamici from Pisa, 30 e 28 years old respectively, and their wives, Chiara Sacchetti, 24 years old, and Erika Giovanzana, 31 years old. These are “important” names in the anarchic world; they operate in the whole of Tuscany and are connected to the anarchic-insurrectional club, “Il Silvestre” of Pisa. For Alessandro Palma, 23 years old, from La Spezia, but living in Pisa, there is, instead, the obligation to return to his place of residence.
The Digos of Rome arrest the Romans, Matteo Fulcolo and Sergio Maria Stefani, and Gabriele Onori from Bologna: they are accused of twice robbing a Y10 car in Rome; the car was subsequently found in Perugia. The Tuscan arrested are held responsible for association with terrorist ends and subversion of the democratic order; manufacture, possession and abusive carrying of high potential explosive charges, and of attempts on the safety of public utility plants with terrorist ends.
The inquiries, started in the first months of 2005, ascertained the responsibility of suspects of the dynamite attack, committed the night between the 22nd and the 23rd of September, 2005, on the high-tension pylon of the “La Spezia - Acciaiolo”line, in the locality of Rupe Cava in the commune of San Giuliano Terme (Pisa). The attempt was claimed a few days later, through a leaflet sent to the editing office of a daily newspaper. The document, which was written with a stencil, contained bitter criticism concerning the renewed plans and investments in favour of nuclear energy.

The thirteen arrested are also charged with the attack on the Adecco employment agency in a very central part of Pisa, Via Roma, carried out with an explosive device, on the 4th of August 2005. More than forty searches were made all over Italy. The Carabineers of Ros, directed by General Giampaolo Ganzer, investigate nine supposed anarchists in Florence. The same number is carried out in Scandicci, a stone’s throw from the capital town. Carabineers blitz also in Siena and Mugello; Digos in action at Lucca and Pisa; a great quantity of material is confiscated. «This is simply the result of one of our activities – is the comment of Massimo Maria Mazza, Chief-of-Police at Pisa – the investigations continue. Now we are working on other episodes which have occurred in Tuscany, the authors of which could well be those arrested».
Also the cells of Giuliano Marchetti, 51 years old, and Gino Doriano Marcucci, 55 years old, both from Pietrasanta, are searched by the Digos of Lucca. The reason for the search is simple: immediately after the attack on the seat of Forza Italia, where a homemade bomb had been used, the Prosecutor contests other episodes, among which is the attack on the BNL (a national bank) at Forte dei Marmi, considered an «armoured bank». Just such a similar attack in Pietrasanta in January 2006, could be attributed to the anarchic group arrested by Digos and the Ros of the Carabineers.
What Marchetti e Marcucci have got to do with the arrested is soon revealed: the anti-subversion investigators suspect that, after the arrests of the subversive Cells of Revolutionary Offensive, some militants of the ‘Silvestre’ club of Pisa had found hiding in the house of the two men from Pietrasanta. It is not a coincidence, for example, that the Digos of Lucca noticed one of the arrested girls, Benedetta Galante, leaving the house of Giuliano Marchetti the night of the 18th of February, when an attack was made on the Vodafone apparatus at Querceta.
The Ros Carabineers of Florence, and the Anti-crime section of Leghorn denounce eight anarchists, accused of subversive association and of participation in the dynamite attack on the high-tension pylon of the line «La Spezia – Acciaiolo» at the locality Rupe Cava in the commune of San Giuliano Terme (Pisa), on the night between the 22nd and the 23rd September, 2005. This attack was subsequently claimed a few days later, with a leaflet sent to the editorial office of a daily newspaper. The anarchists were also accused of participation in the booby-trap attack, on the 4th of August, 2005, against the Adecco Agency, which is located in the very central street, Via Roma, in Pisa.
Among these eight anarchists are some well-known names in the anarchic galaxy: they are: G. S., Neapolitan, 35 years old, residing at Collesalvetti, who in June, two years previously, was arrested by the Carabineers in the COR investigative operation, together with Leonardo Landi and Benedetta Galante, who had finished in handcuffs in the last blitz. Also under investigation were E.C., 24 years old, already at the centre of inquiries after the incendiary attack on the butchery in Arezzo, L.C., a girl of 28 years , N.R., a Florentine, 28 years old, resident of the “city of gold” and already searched after the parcel bomb sent to Serra.
Among the people investigated by the Ros of the Carabineers, there is also S.B., a girl of 25, living in Pontassieve, known as an anarchic militant, M.D., Florentine, 28 , residing at Scandicci, and also A.T., 27 years old, from Apulia, residing in Foggia. To complete the list of the investigated, there is C.M., from Siena, 26 years old, grandson of a political exponent of the extreme Left.
The spokesman of the anarchic galaxy is, according to the Digos and Ros, Costantino Ragusa, the leader of the « Silvestre» club, already accused of being a member of COR. He is responsible for the diffusion, all over Italy, of more or less clandestine magazines and handbooks such as “To everyone his own”, “One thousands ways of sabotaging this world”, in which, the investigators explain, included «suggestions and advice, with supporting designs and schemes which are explicitly directed towards indoctrination and the training in the manufacture of explosive devices».
It was found that in a Post Office account opened by Ragusa, at the Asciano Pisano Post Office, (details of such account were published in the anarchic publication, “Terra Selvaggia”) funds were deposited from the payments of the purchases and postal expenses of the manuals, and/or the collection of funds for the support of imprisoned anarchists. In this sense, the Ros Carabineers of Florence and the Anti-crime section of Leghorn were able to verify a very important situation, that is, that in these years, the handbooks to manufacture explosive devices have been ordered through the mail.
Similarly, another account, opened by Federico Bonamici at the Post Office of Tirrenia was used for the collection of funds from all over Italy for Francesco Gioia and Alberto Maria Bettini, imprisoned in Spain. Yet, it is Ragusa who is the leading element. His curriculum is quite remarkable.
Costantino Ragusa, born in Bergamo, the 5th of November, 1976, according to his profile drawn by the investigators, made himself politically conspicuous while frequenting the anarchic club of Pisa, the «Macchia Nera». He subsequently left this ambient to choose political activities committed to ecological and animal protection causes. Ragusa, in the past, was an active member of the «Animal Liberation Committee» of Bergamo, and was considered the leader of the «Silvestre» Club of Pisa. Always inspired by the anarchical-environmental causes, according to the investigators, « he usually, actively participates in the numerous initiatives organized for both the strictly ecological-environmental causes and, more markedly, for anarchic-insurrectional finalities, such as the numerous sit-ins and demonstrations, often unannounced, which are organized as a sign of solidarity for the militants in goal, among whom is Marco Camenisch».
In August 1999, with other anarchic militants, he is arrested for arson in connection with the incendiary attack of two Molotov bombs thrown against a Mercedes car dealer of Collesalvetti, (Leghorn).
The men of Digos, the Police Headquarters of Florence, Lucca, Pisa and Arezzo confiscate two radio transmitter-receivers in the house of Costantino Ragusa and one in the house of his girl-friend, Benedetta Galante. Electrical apparatus are a passionate hobby of Ragusa (arrested on Thursday morning) and his friend, Galante. On the 7th of June, two years ago, the Carabineers make a search in a country house at Agnano, in connection with the COR enquiry, conducted by the Public Prosecutor, Di Bugno, of Pisa.
At the time, four transmitter-receivers, nine head-phones with microphones, a manuscript with the radio frequencies of certain armed forces, a few instruction manuals regarding the use of transmitter-receivers relative to two confiscated radio-scanners from the same country house, in February, 2002, and finally, a handbook for the preparation of explosive devices were confiscated. Subsequent analyses made by the Ris of Parma, revealed biological traces belonging to Ragusa and Galante.
In their way, the anarchists also know how to be agreeable. There is even a song that circulates on the web, which pokes fun at the Ros of the Carabineers and the Digos. The song is ascribed to the last operation. The refrain is this:
«What a stress, what a stress the Ros… and the 270 bis! Searches at dawn, in the deep of a sleep, What a stress, what a stress the Ros… and the 270 bis… Control the Ros!
They control everything,They always control, but understand nothing, Digos, Ros, Minister and Prosecutor, Always at your heels but still understand nothing,Digos, Ros in the new inquisition, You come to the house with a new perquisition, But now, get out and begone! This is not a police nation!».
No-one, at this juncture, wishes to enter into the relations between anarchists and the Brigatists: it is enough to limit ourselves to observe that Camenisch met Nicola Bortone in goal and that the COR, besides naming the Rome Section “Mario Galesi”, also sent a letter to Nadia Desdemona Lioce.
More interesting still, is the hatred that the anarchists have for the martyrs of Nassirya. Without wishing to enter into the details of the threatening letter sent to Paola Cohen Gialli, the widow of the NCO Enzo Fregosi, it is sufficient to recall what happened in a Square in Florence, where two Carabineers of the radio flying squad were badly insulted by anarchists who were inside an “okkupied” house.
Two militants of the circled ‘A’ were then reported by the Carabineers of the Florentine Operative Department. But here, it is interesting to note how the slogan “10, 100, 1000 Nassirya” was, in fact, created after meetings held in a club of the Florentine capital. Meeting in which, according to the Digos, members of the so-called extra-parliamentary Left participated, some of whom are related to hardened brigatists.
One more example of how, in this land, the baton of subversion can pass from hand to hand until, in the worst hypothesis, the hand can hold a pistol and open fire.