Justice at Last

Moro 's killers are sentenced

Of all the atrocities committed by the Red Brigades, none shocked the world as much as the murder of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro in 1978. Kidnaped near his house in Rome after his five bodyguards were gunned down, Moro was found 55 days later shot to death and stuffed in the trunk of a car. Justice was finally meted out last week. In Italy's largest trial of terrorists, a jury found 59 leftist guerrillas guilty of the Moro killing and of 16 other murders.

Conducted in a fortress-like Rome gymnasium guarded by several hundred police and carabinieri, the trial lasted nearly nine months and involved testimony from 298 witnesses. Throughout the proceedings, the defendants, 18 of whom were women, were penned in six steel cages, while those who had become informants were protected by bulletproof glass. As one of the cooperative terrorists walked to his seat last week, a defendant yelled, "You would sell your own mother!"

The jury deliberated for a week before handing down the stiffest punishment yet against the Red Brigades: 32 defendants were given life sentences; the others received prison terms ranging from four months to 30 years (Italy has no death penalty). Among those sentenced to life in prison were Mario Moretti, 36, who masterminded the kidnaping of Moro, and Prospero Gallinari, 33, who shot the Prime Minister with a pistol, then sprayed his body with a submachine gun.

The turning point in the campaign against the Red Brigades occurred over a year ago, when the kidnaping of U.S. Brigadier General James L. Dozier triggered the most extensive manhunt in Italian history. That investigation not only led to Dozier's rescue but Mario Moretti netted dozens of guerrillas as well. The police drew up psychological profiles of Red Brigades members that explored their revolutionary ardor and probable reaction to the prospect of life imprisonment, and then zeroed in on those who seemed likely to turn informant in exchange for a lighter sentence. The tactic worked, and the confessions snowballed. The mood of the country also changed, for the Moro and Dozier incidents, combined with the spree of violence, cost the terrorists what little sympathy they enjoyed among Italians. Perhaps as a result, terrorist attacks in Italy have decreased' from a high of 2,395 in 1978 to 849 in 1981 and 603 in 1982. Authorities expect that the rate will drop further as more convictions are won. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.