1987
February 14, Rome
Rolando Lanari, 26 years old, Police Assistant
Giuseppe Scravaglieri, 23 years old, Police Officer
The Valentine’s Day Massacre or the Via Prati di Papa Massacre
The Ambush
At 8:45 AM, a police car from the Flying Squad, the ’47’, was escorting a postal van up Via dei Prati di Papa. The road is narrow, with a embankment on the right and a courtyard wall on the left. As it exits onto Via Borghesano Lucchese, it is forced to stop by the terrorists blocking its path. The car, with no clear line of sight, collides with the postal van. In the brief moment they realize what is happening, there is nothing the three officers on board can do. They are hit by bullets fired from pistols, submachine guns, and pump-action rifles.
The police unit can only attempt a response: Rolando Lanari and Giuseppe Scravaglieri (aged 26 and 23) die in the gunfire exchange, while Pasquale Parente (29 years old) is left seriously injured. The brigands steal a large amount of money: one billion and 150 million lire. The ambush is carried out with unprecedented ferocity, similar to that of the Via Fani ambush for the kidnapping of Aldo Moro in 1978.
After firing their shots, before disappearing, the armed group shoots bursts from a machine gun at the surrounding buildings to intimidate residents and prevent them from seeing, and reporting, the direction taken by the two fleeing cars. A woman is injured.
In the news the next day, in the newspaper ‘La Repubblica’, it reads: “An elderly woman, leaning out of a window of a building in Via Prati del Papa, says: ‘One of the robbers approached the police car, just as the officer driving was trying to get out; he, the assassin, slammed the door shut with a kick, and fired a burst point-blank at him: a beast. It was chilling, I will never forget it.” From a broader perspective, the account of Pietro Agnoletti, a glassmaker who lives in an apartment overlooking Via Prati del Papa, is: “I saw them shoot like maniacs; there was no way to react. One of the three policemen, the one sitting in the back seat (Pasquale Parente), got out of the car, was injured, limping, pressing his hands on his belly; someone from a window pointed out a spot where he could hide, behind the wall of a garage ramp; he slumped down right there, while the terrorists were already fleeing with the sacks taken from the van.”
The Claim
The assault was claimed by the Combatant Communist Party, alongside the Red Brigades (BR), with a phone call to the newspaper ‘La Repubblica’.
The Trial
On September 24, 2002, the Court of Cassation sentenced 6 of the 9 brigands to life imprisonment: Fabio Ravalli, Maria Cappello, Vincenza Vaccaro, Franco Grilli, Stefano Minguzzi, and Tiziana Cherubini. The sentence was confirmed on May 25, 2004.