1979

March 9, Turin
Emanuele Iurilli, 19 years old, student

On March 9, 1979 five members of Prima Linea then took action organizing in an improvised way[9] the ambum in the bottle factory of Via Millio 64/A, in Borgo San Paolo: around 13.40 Bruno La Ronga (battle name “Andrea”, considered within the organization an expert in weapons, Maurice Bignami, Fabrizio Giai and Giancarlo Scotoni “Roberto” entered the local weapons in hand and took possession of the bottiglieria, after transferring the people present to the back, trying to avoid panic[8]. Immediately after La Ronga left the club and, armed with a gun, joined as a cover outside to his partner Silveria Russo “Laura”, armed with a Sten miter, near the Fiat 131 used for the action in which a Kalašnikov assault rifle was available. Bignami “Davide” and Giai “Ivan” instead positioned themselves behind the counter inside the bottle shop; Bignami pretended to be a bartender, while Giai hid behind the coffee machine; Giai was armed with a Sten mitre and a P38 and Bignami had a gun, while Scotoni, with a shotgun, remained at the back of the room to control the people who were made to lie on the ground.

The plan designed by the components of the Prima Linea provided that the officers of a police car would be lured inside the bottle with a fictitious phone call and that, after the arrival of the policemen in the room, the fire would be immediately opened to kill by Bignami and Giai, while La Ronga and Russo would eventually intervene outside to hit the soldiers who had remained outside or who had noticed the danger[12]. Bignami then made the phone call to the police station complaining about the presence of a car radio thief inside the place and requesting in an excited tone the intervention in aid of a police car. For 40 minutes the five terrorists waited for the arrival of the police car; inside the local Bignami and Giai, in an atmosphere of great tension, had already proceeded to ground the claim flyer prepared in advance on the story of Caggegi and Azzaroni.

At 14.20 the police car arrived and the first officer, the pinned Gaetano D’Angiullo, entered the bottle shop asking for information at the counter about the telephone call; Bignami, without even answering, immediately began to shoot with excessive precipitation and hit the pinned to the abdomen seriously wounding him, while Giai went into action late and in turn fired four shots with the Sten towards the policeman without hitting him. The docking D’Angiullo fell backwards outside the door of the venue, while the second agent, who had not yet entered, responded to the fire by exploding some gusts with his M12 machine gun through the window of the bar in the direction of Giai, causing damage to the counter, but missing the target. There was then a violent firefight between the agent with the M12 and Giai and Bignami inside the venue, while Scotoni, panicked, did not use his shotgun.

At the same time, the driver of the police car and La Ronga and Russo also opened fire outside the place: the clash was characterized by the confusion and emotionality of the terrorists, a large volume of fire and the numerous stray bullets. “Andrea” was accidentally reached by four bullets exploded by the Russo with the Sten, was wounded in the knees and wrist, but continued to shoot with the gun and managed to drag himself to the Fiat 131 where he took the Kalašnikov and reopened the fire in bursts at the policemen. At this point Giai, who had thrown himself to the ground and whose Sten had jammed, warned by La Ronga’s cries of his wound, took Scotoni’s shotgun and ran out of the club exploding a series of shots and approaching “Andrea” to help him.

From the testimonies it would seem that the two surviving agents went back indoors abandoning the M12 and the terrorists managed to get out of the club; La Ronga was half-fainted and Bignami and Russo appeared shocked, while Giai led the escape phase[14]. He recovered the police machine gun and the pistol of the pinned D’Angiullo, and, the Fiat 131 being heavily damaged by gunfire, he took a Simca car parked nearby with the keys inside where Bignami and Russo fled while “Ivan” and Scotoni loaded the wounded Ronga on the police car and fled on that car that, having the two rear tires punctured, could not travel quickly. The Kalašnikov and La Ronga’s pistol remained abandoned on the ground.

While the last and excited phases of the firefight were taking place, he had already fallen to the ground, hit by stray bullets, Emanuele Iurilli, a young 18-year-old student who, being a resident right in Via Millio 64 (in front of the bottle shop) was returning home after school[13]. From the reconstructions carried out after the events it turned out that the young man was probably fatally hit, shortly after turning the corner of the street to reach his home, by the gusts started by the Kalašnikov of La Ronga, who in fact immediately afterwards admitted responsibility with his companions. The young Iurilli, despite the attempt to shelter himself under a car, was severely hit in the chest and died during transport by ambulance to the ‘Molinette’ hospital.