1979

September 21, Turin
Carlo Ghiglieno, 51 years old, Engineer, Fiat Executive

“Today summer ends even in the weather,” Stampa Sera writes on September 20, 1979. And indeed, on the 21st it rains. Engineer Carlo Ghiglieno, a distinguished gentleman of 51, goes out that morning with an umbrella. He is not a familiar face in the city, yet he holds a very important position. As head of the Planning Department at Fiat Auto, Ghiglieno ranks sixth in the company hierarchy. In the past four years, fourteen Fiat men have been injured in Turin, but Ghiglieno refuses an escort. His work is far from the assembly line, he thinks, and there is no reason to fear an attack.
The Ambush
Carlo Ghiglieno is a creature of habit. Like every morning, on September 21, 1979, he leaves just before 8, accompanied by his wife Matilde, and has coffee at the Residence Valentino bar, right in front of their home at Corso Massimo D’Azeglio 72, next to the Torino Esposizioni pavilions. He bids farewell to his wife, then heads towards his copper-colored Fiat Ritmo 65, parked on the corner of Via Petrarca and Corso Massimo D’Azeglio. He doesn’t have time to insert the keys into the door when seven shots (four to the back of the head) kill him instantly. He falls backwards, into the street, with his arms spread apart.
Matilde, his wife, hears the shots and rushes towards Via Petrarca. Shortly after, she is joined by their two sons, Alberto, 21 years old, and Giorgio, 24. A photographer immortalizes the silhouette of engineer Ghiglieno on the ground, covered by a white sheet: he is crucified on the road, surrounded by kneeling family members. It’s another postcard from terror, telling of a Turin turned into a metropolis of sheets spread on the asphalt.
The Claim
A few hours later comes the customary claim:
“Here Prima Linea, Carla and Charlie’s fire group. The enemies of the working class are starting to pay. We notify the elimination of engineer Carlo Ghiglieno. So you don’t make mistakes, know that we eliminated him with seven shots of 38 Special Norma hollow point. This is the first act of the proletarian terror campaign against the management. Honor to comrades Matteo and Barbara.”
The copper-colored Ritmo remains parked on Via Petrarca for a long time. In a few days, it is covered in flowers. Another funeral follows, crowded and heartfelt, on a rainy day.
Sandalo’s Responsibility
Next to the very composed Ghiglieno family, this time, sit Prime Minister Francesco Cossiga, ministers Scotti and Bisaglia, Gianni and Umberto Agnelli. Turin discovers itself to be even more vulnerable. It’s a rude awakening; the arrests of the previous months had led to the belief that terrorism was clearly struggling. And yet, here they are again: ruthless, effective, elusive, and, above all, well-informed. Few knew the key figure of Carlo Ghiglieno. It will be known later—thanks again to the accounts of Roberto Sandalo—that the target was identified rather randomly:
“It was me who provided some numbers of the Illustrated Fiat that I regularly received at home, because my father works at Fiat. I did the same thing with the bosses’ newspaper. One of the issues of this newspaper contained a whole insert about Fiat’s logistics with photos of Ghiglieno.”
Prima Linea also thinks about Vittorio Ghidella, number one at Fiat Auto. But he has an escort, and his schedule is uncertain. Better this Ghiglieno mentioned in the bosses’ newspaper, a creature of habit and without protection. No “geometric power,” therefore, only suggestions by mail.