1980
May 28th, Rome
Francesco “Serpico” Evangelista, 37 years old, deputy inspector of Public Security
Entered the State Police in 1962 at the age of nineteen, Evangelista attended the Nettuno School for Junior Officers. He served as a constable of Public Security at the Rome Police Headquarters, in the Traffic section, and at the Porta Pia police station, located at the time on Via dei Villini in Rome. Due to his courage, he was nicknamed Serpico, after the 1973 film of the same name (note: directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Al Pacino). An expert in martial arts, he made hundreds of arrests. In 1975, during a struggle with two apartment burglars in the Salario neighborhood, he was thrown from the first floor, fracturing his spine. Miraculously saved, even during convalescence, still wearing an orthopedic brace, he managed to disarm and capture a bank robber.
On the morning of May 28, 1980, while on patrol with two other colleagues in front of the Giulio Cesare High School in Rome, around 8:10 am, he was attacked by a terrorist commando belonging to the NAR, composed of Valerio Fioravanti, Giorgio Vale, Francesca Mambro, Luigi Ciavardini, and Gilberto Cavallini. As on other occasions, the terrorists aimed to disarm the officers and seize their weapons, such as Beretta submachine guns, to “ridicule the militarization of the territory” by law enforcement. The officers’ response sparked a gunfight that ended with Evangelista’s death, hit by seven bullets, and the injury of his colleagues Antonio Manfreda (who died years later from the injuries) and Giovanni Lorefice.