1971

March 26, Genoa
Alessandro Floris, 32 years old, armored personnel carrier

It was one of those crimes that triggered something. It was 1971, in Genoa. In via Bernardo Castello, at 3, one of the many robberies of those years of fear took place, in which even as a passer-by you could end up not returning home. It’s 10.50. It’s raining lightly. Sixteen million lire in wages from the Istituto Autonomo Housing Popolari: they are in a bag just taken by an official and a deliveryman. The robbers escape in two, with their faces uncovered, down the stairs in via Castello, then on a white Lambretta that awaits them in via Banderali. The delivery man Alessandro Floris, 31 years old, throws himself after the bandits. They shout at him to stop, that they are armed. The answer is a 38 caliber Smith & Wesson. Floris falls and from the ground tries to cling to the scooter until the end. They shoot him again. The chase of ordinary people begins through the streets of Genoa, the ambulance arrives. Floris can’t do it. First an 850 and then a Porsche tail the Lambretta until Piazza De Ferrari, where the two bandits split up. Then the one he shot is arrested on the street.
There are two witnesses. One is the head of personnel, Giuseppe Montaldo. And another is a 25-year-old university student, Ilio Galletta, who takes his brand new Nikon that is there on the table and quickly takes photos that have remained famous for their drama. Photos that nail Mario Rossi, leader of the XXII Ottobre gang, arrested after the chase; and Giuseppe Battaglia, colleague of the victim and basis of the robbery. However, it turns out that the gang is also responsible for the kidnapping of Sergio Gadolla, a coup that had greatly shaken the city. They will go to trial for that too. Rossi, Battaglia and all the other members of XXII Ottobre are condemned. Rossi, who had been shot, to life in prison. He will leave in 2002 and start working as a taxidermist.