Terrorist Roundup

Getting closer to Moro 's murderers

For six weeks the third-floor apartment at Via Pallanza 6, in an outlying working-class district of Milan, had been staked out by police of Italy's special antiterrorist squad. Visitors to the apartment were photographed as they entered the building and tailed as they left. Finally, the authorities were ready to strike. In a coordinated two-day sweep directed by Carlo Alberto Delia Chiesa, 58, a much-decorated carabinieri general, police arrested nine key members of the terrorist Red Brigades organization, broke into four of their hideouts and confiscated numerous arms and a wealth of material on terrorist activities.

The roundup of Italian terrorists was carried out under a stringent security blackout. Much of the evidence seized at the hideouts was reportedly related to the kidnaping and murder last spring of former Christian Democratic Premier Aldo Moro, 61. Among the pieces of evidence: four unpublished Polaroid snapshots of Moro while he was being held, tapes of Moro's interrogation by his captors, detailed minutes of a kangaroo court that decided his fate, complete lists (including prices) of all materials used in the kidnaping, written critiques of the abduction and other operations by the brigatisti, photostats of letters Moro wrote during his captivity, as well as other letters he wrote that were never sent. There was also reported to be a complete list of the places where Moro was held in Rome.

The security blackout was imposed following the arrest in Milan last month of Corrado Alunni, 30, a leading member of the Red Brigades. The police complained that the wide press coverage given to Alunni's capture had interfered with a similar dragnet. Among those arrested last week were Antonio Savino, 29, who escaped from prison last year and is accused of murdering a district attorney in Genoa; Paolo Sivieri, 24, found with evidence linking him to the kneecapping of an Alfa Romeo executive in Milan the day before his arrest; and Bianca Sivieri, 29, Paolo's sister, an elementary schoolteacher who lived with Savino.

Also seized were Nadia Mantovani, 26, a friend of imprisoned Red Brigades Founder Renato Curcio, and Lauro Azzolini, 35, who had been sought in connection with the murder of the president of the Turin bar association last year. There were unconfirmed rumors that Mario Moretti, 36, the top suspect in the Moro assassination, was also in police custody. To speed proceedings, all nine will stand summary trial within two weeks on charges of possessing arms and explosives--a protective measure to ensure that the defendants are not released while authorities ponder more serious charges against them.

The roundup of the terrorist suspects comes at a time when the Red Brigades have been actively recruiting among disenchanted young Italian leftists. Clandestine leaflets dropped at universities have spelled out guidelines for setting up new cells. After a trial period, according to the brochures, selected candidates who had "matured" would participate in "armed propaganda"--a euphemism for such violent acts as kneecappings. A handbook uncovered earlier by police instructed members on how to blend in with their surroundings. Bianca and Antonio apparently fulfilled that requirement to the letter. Neighbors said they seemed like any ordinary couple. "She was a schoolteacher, he had some other job, and they would leave almost every morning together," recalled a neighbor. "Why, I ran into them in the hall only the other day just as they were taking their brown dachshund for an evening walk."

The Brigades' scrupulous attention to detail and documentation, however, may prove to be their downfall. In addition to the array of evidence linking the suspects to the Moro case, police found a sophisticated telecommunications center set up to monitor police frequencies in one of the apartments, equipment for making Italian and foreign counterfeit documents, and a print shop with 20 IBM Selectric typewriter heads. They were of the kind used to type the Red Brigades' communiques about Moro.

The big sweep was especially satisfying to the shrewd, hard-bitten Delia Chiesa, who once studied criminal law under Moro and was a longtime friend of the late Premier. In the wake of the kidnaping, a spokesman for the Moro family called Delia Chiesa and begged his assistance: "Only you can help." But at the time Delia Chiesa had been detached to reorganize Italy's maximum-security prison system and the Moro case was not in his jurisdiction. The day after Moro's body was found, Interior Minister Francesco Cossiga resigned amid widespread criticism of Italy's public security forces. Two months ago, his successor, Virginio Rognoni, named Delia Chiesa a superinvestigator with power to organize a special force and get to the bottom of the Moro affair. He may yet succeed.

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