Train 904 bombing
Train 904 bombing | |
---|---|
Bomb attack | |
Deaths | 16 |
Injured | 267 |
Perpetrators | Giuseppe Calò, Guido Cercola, Franco Di Agostino (members of the Sicilian Mafia), Friedrich Schaudinn (German engineer)[1] |
The Train 904 bombing (Italian: Strage del Rapido 904 or Strage di Natale[1] (Christmas massacre)) was a terror attack which occurred on 23 December 1984, in the Apennine Base Tunnel. A bomb on the 904 express train (Rapido 904) from Naples to Milan was detonated, killing 16 and wounding 266. The bombing location was near the location of the Italicus Express bombing ten years previously.
The motive behind the bomb attack was to distract Italian security forces from investigating the Sicilian Mafia after the testimony of the Mafia turncoat Tommaso Buscetta to Antimafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone had led to a series of arrest warrants in September 1984 that subsequently would lead to the Maxi Trial against 475 Mafia defendants.[2] Mafia boss Giuseppe Calò, also known as "Pippo", was convicted for ordering and organising the attack in February 1989. In April 2011 Mafia "boss of bosses" Salvatore Riina was indicted for ordering the bombing.[3]
The bombing
On Sunday, 23 December 1984 the Rapido 904 was on regular service between Naples and Milan. It was traveling northbound, overcrowded by 700 holiday passengers coming back home or visiting relatives due to the upcoming Christmas holidays.
The bomb had been placed on a
The emergency brake was pulled, and the train came to a stop a thousand or so meters from the blast, 8 kilometers from the northern entrance and 10 from the southern. Train conductor Gian Claudio Bianconcini – on his last journey before retiring – was wounded in the nape of his neck, but managed to reach a service telephone and call for help. Passengers were scared and stranded in the cold Apennine winter.[6]
First response
Bianconcini gave first aid to the passengers while the gallery's neon lights were fading since the explosion had blasted away the overhead wires. Rescuers encountered problems reaching the disaster scene. Rescue vehicles gathered at the southern entrance of the tunnel, but were blocked by thick smoke emerging from it. After an hour and a half the first service vehicles dispatched to the scene could reach the stricken train, without any hint of what happened.
Radio communications were difficult, worsened by the lack of a mobile radio link; weather was bad, the train was deep inside the tunnel and a strong smell of
A
A special plan, developed in the wake of bombings during previous years, including the Italicus Express bombing and the Bologna massacre, was activated for the first time. It was instrumental in providing a fast response: local police reserved some roads for ambulance routes, while coordination between responders was managed by Bologna Soccorso, a regional emergency management group evolved from the late CePIS (and which would eventually become the core of the national emergency response network).
After letting off its first shipment of injured passengers, the train quickly got back to the tunnel and picked up the uninjured passengers, who were beginning to suffer from the cold wind. However, smoke from its diesel engines inadvertently filled the tunnel. Passengers and responders still inside the tunnel had to be provided with oxygen masks. After the train departed, a woman was found in shock in the tunnel cavity, and was taken on foot to the nearby Ca' di Landino station. Snow began to fall while the last passengers were evacuated.
Inquiry
Within hours after the blast, a number of left and right-wing groups claimed responsibility. Official suspicion centered on
In March 1985,
On 9 January 1986, prosecutor Pierluigi Vigna charged Calò and Cercola with the massacre. According to the inquiry, the bombing was intended to distract the state security forces from investigating the Sicilian Mafia after the testimony of the Mafia turncoat Tommaso Buscetta to investigating Antimafia judge Giovanni Falcone had led to a series of arrest warrants in September 1984 that subsequently would lead to the Maxi Trial against 474 Mafia defendants.[2][3]
Cercola was linked to a
Trials
The Florence Criminal Court found Pippo Calò, Cercola and people linked to them (Alfonso Galeota, Giulio Pirozzi and Camorra boss Giuseppe Misso) guilty on 25 February 1989, sentencing them to life imprisonment for massacre. Franco Di Agostino was sentenced to 28 years, Schaudinn to 25 and other involved in the inquiry received minor sentences.[8] A second grade trial took place on March 15, 1990, in Florence by Giulio Catelani. Calò and Cercola's jail time was confirmed, and Di Agostino was given a life sentence. Misso, Pirozzi and Galeota were discharged in regard to the massacre, but found guilty of possession of explosives. Schaudinn was found not formally linked with Mafia, and his sentence for the massacre was revised to 22 years.
On 5 March 1991, the
The same day, Galeota and Pirozzi, along with latter's wife Rita Casolaro and Misso's wife Assunta Sarno, were returning to Naples when their car was rammed on the A1 motorway near Afragola-Acerra exit. Killers sent by the Camorra clans opened fire, killing Galeota and Sarno (executed by a gunshot in the mouth). Giulio Pirozzi and his wife were saved by a police car which fortuitously passed on the opposite lane, causing the killers to flee.
The Corte di Cassazione confirmed the sentences on 24 November 1992, officially recognizing a "coordinated hand by the Mafia" in the disaster. On 18 February 1994, Florence Court discharged MSI member of Parliament Massimo Abbatangelo from the massacre charge, but deemed him guilty of giving the explosive to Misso in early 1984. Abbatangelo was sentenced to 6 years. Victims' relatives asked for a tougher sentence, but lost the appeal and had to pay for judiciary expenses.[2]
Guido Cercola killed himself in Sulmona's penitentiary on 3 January 2005. He strangled himself with shoelaces, and died while being rushed to hospital.[citation needed]
On 27 April 2011, the Antimafia Office of
Casualty list
Source:[10]
- Giovanbattista Altobelli (51)
- Anna Maria Brandi (26)
- Angela Calvanese in De Simone (33)
- Anna De Simone (9)
- Giovanni De Simone (4)
- Nicola De Simone (40)
- Susanna Cavalli (22)
- Lucia Cerrato (66)
- Pier Francesco Leoni (23)
- Luisella Matarazzo (25)
- Carmine Moccia (30)
- Valeria Moratello (22)
- Maria Luigia Morini (45)
- Federica Taglialatela (12)
- Abramo Vastarella (29)
- Gioacchino Taglialatela (50, died from his wounds)
Declassification of acts
With a directive of 22 April 2014, all the files relating to this massacre are no longer covered by classifications of secrecy and are therefore freely available.[11]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Strage di Natale, ergastolo al boss" (in Italian). corriere.it. 25 November 1992. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014.
- ^ a b c (in Italian) Rapido 904: "Un intreccio tra mafia, camorra e politica", Il Fatto Quotidiano, April 27, 2011.
- ^ a b c (in Italian) Strage rapido 904, ordine custodia a Riina, ANSA, April 27, 2011.
- ^ a b Italy: Tunnel of Death, Time Magazine, January 7, 1985
- ^ "La Strage" (in Italian). Associazione Familiari Vittime Strage del Rapido 904. Archived from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ a b "La Strage del Rapido 904" (in Italian). Reti Invisibili. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
- ^ Italy Troubled by the Twilight World of Terrorism on the Right, Los Angeles Times, January 21, 1985
- ^ Court convicts seven, acquits two in train bombing, Associated Press, February 25, 1989
- ^ (in Italian) Strage rapido 904,ordine di custodia cautelare a Riina: «Fu mandante», Corriere della Sera, April 27, 2011
- ^ "La strage del Rapido 904" (in Italian). Associazione Italiana Vittime del Terrorismo. Archived from the original on 12 March 2018. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
- ^ "Massacres, Renzi removes the state secret: the whole truth about Ustica, piazza Fontana, Italicus, Bologna station". The "bloody events" of Ustica, Peteano, the Italicus train, Piazza Fontana, Piazza della Loggia, Gioia Tauro, Bologna station and rapid 904 are no longer covered by the state secret. (in Italian). Il Messaggero.it. 22 April 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2014.