1982
October 8, Remondato di Rocca Canavese (TO)
Benito Atzei, 48 years old, deputy brigadier of the Carabinieri
On October 8, 1982, Atzei, on duty with auxiliary carabiniere Giovanni Bertello at a checkpoint in Rocca Canavese (Remondato district) along the road to Caselle Torinese, stopped a Renault 5 for checks. On board were several members of the Red Brigades. Other terrorists were in a Citroën Dyane that preceded the Renault. The cars were transporting an important terrorist leader.
The terrorists fired from the cars, killing deputy brigadier Atzei and wounding Bertello. They then seized the carabinieri’s weapons and fled in another car, abandoning the Renault 5. Atzei died during the desperate race to the hospital.
The murder was claimed in a phone call received by the editorial office of the newspaper La Stampa: “This is Red Power. We claim responsibility for the annihilation and disarmament of the carabinieri squad of Corio.”
The assassins were identified two days after the murder, thanks to the fact that the abandoned car belonged to one of them.
His body rests in the cemetery of Corio.
The terrorists (Giuseppe Potenza, Fiore De Mattia, Giuseppe Scirocco, and Roberto Tua), who belonged to the Red Brigades-Party of the Guerrilla, Red Power subgroup, were convicted on February 26, 1985, by the assize court of Turin.