1981
August 3, Rome
Roberto Peci, 25 years old, antenna installer, brother of the BR pentito Patrizio Peci
Following his brother Patrizio’s repentance, a prominent member of the terrorist organization, Roberto Peci was kidnapped on June 10, 1981, in San Benedetto del Tronto by a commando of four terrorists. According to what his brother Patrizio writes in his memoir, Roberto had a promising career as a footballer, but he had to give it up due to the consequences that the Peci family suffered after Patrizio joined the ranks of the BR. The kidnapping of Patrizio’s brother, the first repentant of the BR, was decided by the more militant wing of the Brigate Rosse, led by Giovanni Senzani, most likely as “a fierce transversal revenge, behind which was seen a message to keep silent on the mysteries of the Moro case, addressed to the other BRs who had been arrested and became collaborators of justice.”
The “trial” of the Brigate Rosse
Peci was accused of betrayal and betrayal, a consequence of the arrest and subsequent repentance of his brother Patrizio, and in the 55 days of captivity he was often interrogated by his kidnappers, led by Giovanni Senzani; the interrogation was filmed and sent to the press. Before the interrogation, Senzani asked Peci to appear very saddened in the video during the reading of the death sentence, falsely assuring him that it would not be carried out, at least according to the testimony of one of the kidnappers involved in the kidnapping collected by Walter Veltroni. Rai refused the terrorists’ requests to broadcast the trial footage. President Sergio Zavoli argued that the request was not feasible “neither materially, nor legally, nor institutionally.”
The murder
Roberto Peci was murdered on August 3, 1981. Giovanni Senzani himself photographed the moment of the execution, which occurred with 11 submachine gun shots, in an abandoned farmhouse in the Roman countryside, in Via Fosso dello Statuario. The duration of his captivity and the manner of his execution coincide with those suffered by Aldo Moro, kidnapped on March 16, 1978, and killed on May 9, 1978, also with 11 submachine gun shots.