Project Interloper

CIA STARGATE release

CIA-RDP96-00788R000100270001-2

Opens with: chill before a northern Italian dawn last

Warning: text for all documents has not been verified. Errors are possible. Check the original by document ID on CREST.

6 pages, machine transcribed from the CIA’s released scan.

INTERNATIONAL
Approved For Release 2000108/07: CIA-RDP96-00788R000100270001-2
How Dozier Was Rescued
T
he scruffy young men wore bulletproof
vests under their sport shirts. In the
chill before a northern Italian dawn last
week they began to filter into Via Pinde-
monte, a residential street in Padua. At .:
about 11:30, as a construction crew with a
bulldozer provided a noisy cover, the 80
plainclothesmen suddenly leaped into ac-
tion. They hustled people out of cars and
phone booths; they grabbed the attendants
from the gasoline station. As the piazza was
cleared, a moving van pulled up to the sub-
urban apartment building and ten masked
commandos dressed in black and cradling'
pup tent in the middle of the room the
rescue squad found U.S. Brig. Gen. James
Dozier, bearded, shoeless and manacled to a
camp bed. "Wonderfull" Dozier cheered.
"OK, police!".
phoned to greet Dozier personally, inter-
rupting the military man in the middle of his'
shave. "I told Nancy he sounded as if he had
just gone down to the corner for five min-
utes," the President said afterward .; He
praised the general's "courage and resolve."
Cheers also rang out at the U.S. Embassy in
Rome and at the NATO military base in
Vicenza. But the triumph was mainly Ita-
ly's-and Italians celebrated in the key of
85-year-old President Sandro Pertini, who
shouted "Bravi! Bravissimi!"
;In 90 breath-taking seconds, Italy's anti-
"terrorist commandos ended Dozier's 42-
day ordeal as a Red Brigades prisoner, deal-
: ing a crunching blow to the cause and
mystique of the brigatisti. Six weeks after
kidnappers jumped him in his Verona home'
and carried him off in a trunk, Dozier, 50,
Not since 1975 had Italy's police rescued
was rushed to freedom. At first he looked
haggard in a borrowed sheepskin coat. But a Red Brigades kidnap victim alive. The
Photos by Edoardo Fornaciari-Gamma-Liaison
'Just one small sacrifice for freedom': Dozier thanks his rescuers and gives his wife, Judith, a belated Christmas hug
M-12 light submachine guns jumped out.
One blocked the exit from the Dea Super-
market on the ground floor. The nine others
sprinted into the building .....
The commandos raced up twenty steps to
the second floor and barged into a dingy
apartment over the street. Facing them in
the hall stood a startled terrorist of the Red
Brigades wearing a jogging suit; he had just
come in with two plastic bags of groceries.
One commando felled him with a karate
chop to the forehead. Another brigatista
rushed into the apartment's middle room,
leveling a pistol equipped with a silencer at
the "people's prisoner" on the floor. But a
commando swung his rifle butt and
knocked down the terrorist before he could
shoot. Three other surprised terrorists sur-
rendered without resistance. Under a blue
once in an army hospital, he asked for a
shave and crew cut, ordered a cheeseburger,
French fries and Coke-then returned to
military trim with dazzling speed. The day
after his rescue, crisply outfitted in uniform,
Dozier conducted his own press briefing
with wife Judith and daughter Cheryl by his
side. In his Florida accent, he thanked "all
those people who were on the praying end of
it," lauded his rescuers as "true profession-
als" and shrugged off his captivity as "just
one small sacrifice for freedom." Turning to
his wife, who had made tearful pleas on
Italian TV for his release, Dozier presented
a belated Christmas gift: a pendant featur-
ing the Lion of Saint Mark, the insignia of
Italy's Veneto region-and of NATO's
Southern Command.
In Washington Ronald Reagan tele-
search for Dozier had deployed 6,000 Ital-
ian lawmen with the support of American
and European anti-terrorist experts-an
operation that exceeded even the 1978 hunt
for former Prime Minister Aldo Moro, who
was executed after 54 days in Red Brigades
. hands. And the rescue established Italy's
secret Leatherheads commando unit as one
of the world's elite anti-terrorist forces (page
44). In one swift strike, the Leatherheads
destroyed the insolent, catch-me-if-you-can
aura of the Red Brigades, sinking the terror-
ists to a psychological and organizational
low (page 42) after twelve years of political
havoc. In the sweep for the American gener-
al, Italian police arrested dozens of terrorist
suspects, seized weapons ranging from
handguns to surface-to-air missiles and con-
fiscated thousands of brigades strategy pa-
Approved For Release 2000/08/07 : CIA-RDP96-00788R000100270001-2BRUARY 8, 1982
1
40
. T . T . . .. ..
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Approved For Release 2000/08/07 : CIA-RDP96-00788R000100270001-2
pers and documents. After Dozier's release
last week, police kept up the pressure, arrest-
ing dozens of suspects around Verona and
uncovering numerous terrorist safe houses
between Verona and Venice.
'NATO Hangman': In kidnapping Do-
zier, the brigatisti had picked a bigger fight
than usual. Never before had the Red Bri-
gades abducted a non-Italian. And by
choosing Dozier, the deputy chief of staff
for logistics and administration in NATO's
Southern Command, the Italian terrorists
were declaring war on the entire Atlantic
alliance. The day after taking the American
general, the Red Brigades pronounced him
a "NATO hangman." In their first commu-
niqué, deposited in a Rome garbage pail, the
terrorists denounced the alliance as · a
"structure of military occupation."
The Red Brigades apparently drove Do-
zier from Verona to Padua, 48 miles to the .
east, and hauled him up in the trunk to a
"People move in and out all the
time," said a local merchant.
"Not many know each other.
This is the place in Padua
where they get their drugs.
This place is full of addicts,
former students, kids without
jobs and fanulloni [dropouts]."
Lifeless at night, Via Pinde-
monte bustled with commerce
by day. Much of the business
centered on the Dea Supermar-
ket under Emanuela Frascel-
la's window in the eight-story
apartment building that locals
call "the skyscraper." "This
was a perfect place for them,"
said a neighbor. "All day long
they unload vans here, bring-
ing stuff to the supermarket. If
the terrorists carried the gener-
al upstairs in a trunk in broad
Fabian-Sygma
1
=
APARTMENT
: WHERE GENERAL
`DOZIER WAS HELD
AYCAPTIVE
(A;
SUPERMERCATO
ENTRANO
Police
seal off
Commando unit storms
apartment building, rushes up
area.
to the second floor and breaks down
the apartment door.
Ib Ohlsson --- NEWSWEEK
The Padua raid: A six-week ordeal ends in a daring 90-second blitz
second-floor apartment at No. 2 Via Pinde-
monte. The apartment had been rented by
Mario Frascella, 51, a local physician who
specializes in lung diseases. His daughter
Emanuela, 20, a history student who was
among those arrested by the Leatherheads
in last week's raid, may have served as the
apartment's legitimate tenant and as the
kidnappers' contact with the outside world ..
According to Padua's daily Il Mattino,.
neighbors noticed Emanuela "buying large
amounts of food regularly." A nearby news-
paper vendor recalled that she had stopped
by to purchase four papers every mos
a
ment, a drab suburb called Guizza where
many of Padua's 50,000 university students
daylight, no one would have
noticed a thing.'
Hours after the abduction,
the Red Brigades announced
that Dozier had been taken to a
"people's prison and will be
submitted to proletarian jus-
tice." Their second communi-
qué accused Dozier of service
as an "assassin and hero of the
American massacres in Viet-
nam." It arrived with a fuzzy
snapshot of the captive general
revealing a bruise under his left
apparent
ing his abduction. Dozier suf-
fered no other physical injuries
Standing tall after 42 days in a pup tent
The general apparently spent most of his
time restrained in the pup tent-a measure
designed to prevent him from ever describ-
ing his surroundings. When the terrorists
wished to talk privately, they clamped
earphones on him playing classical music.
Eventually, the terrorists issued a tran-
script of an "interrogation" of the gen-
eral, saying their "proletarian trial" had
exposed him as a "butcher." Early last
week the Red Brigades issued its fifth com-
munique-complete with a new snapshot
of Dozier showing his growth of beard-
!
1
"suffer d'ATRDP96-00788R000100270001-2.
Commando stuns
terrorist with a blow to the
head before he can shoot Dozier.
1
2009/08/07 : CIA RDR96-00788R000100270001-2vinter offensive.
Brigatisti on trial in Milan last December: Losing the momentum to a revitalized police force
Wounded But Still Dangerous
For the Red Brigades, the rescue of Brig.
anti-terrorist forces have received special
Gen. James Dozier battered its already
equipment and training and have been bet-
badly dented armor, In 1978, at the zenith =ter funded than ever before. A series of
of Italian terrorism when the kidnap-
claws limiting the civil rights of suspected
terrorists and increasing sentences has
murder of former Prime Minister Aldo
Moro was just one of 2,395 acts of political
violence the police appeared outorgan-
ized, outgunned and outwitted by the bri-
gatisti. But a dramatic, string of: police
successes in the past two years has boosted
`the morale of the carabinieri and shifted
sions, which led them to dozens of hide-
the momentum to the authorities
for now "Everybody has this unjustified
tendency to think that nothing- works in
Italy, so why should the police?" says Bri.
at least
Outs, arms caches and false-identification
factories.
By 1980 the number of terrorist inci-
dents had dropped by half to 1,264
and the number of arrests of suspected
an Jenkins of the Rand Corp., an expert on
terrorism. "The truth is that there are , terrorists soared to 1,083. Police contin-
2,000 terrorists in jail- including the top
leadership of the Red Brigades."
Long Struggle: Even so, no one believes
that the terrorist organization is out of
business. It still has as much as $10 mil-
lion -- from kidnappings, bank robberies
and, some say, foreign countries -plus
more than 400 active members and perhaps
10,000 active aboveground supporters.
"The Red Brigades anticipatea
long struggle, with many losses,
and they have constructed an
organization designed to regain
those losses," says Jenkins.
``Over the past twelve years
they have shown impressive re-
cuperative powers." They have
also shown, he cautions, that
they follow every major defeat
with a major retaliatory blow.
But the police are now much
better equipped to combat
them. Since Moro's murder,
Brigades members Libera, Savasta, Frascella, Ciucci: Grim warnings of retaliation
UPI photos
Approved For Rel
42
NEWSWEEK/FEBRUARY 8, 1982
SG1A
Among the plots: as Christian
Democrats held their nation-
ally televised national confer
ence, the brigades planned to
open fire, seize television cam-
Teras, focus on the politicians
being shot and read a commu-
nique on the air.
Police foiled the plan only
days before the convention.
The brigades' setbacks are sig-
nificant not only for their
immediate effects, but also be-
'cause they have a profound im-
pact on recruitment efforts. As
the group loses some of its beat-
the-world glamour, it also loses
some of its appeal to would-be
members. With fewer recruits,
the organization must rely on
less tested, less _committed
Olympia
members who are also less like-
ly to die for the cause and
more likely to talk if captured.
That might explain why police broke the
Dozier case and not the Moro case-and
why Dozier was not killed when police
burst in. According to Claire Sterling, au-
thor of "The Terror Network," other ter-
rorist groups are so alarmed about the bri-
gades' recruitment problems that they
recently held a summit meeting in Lau-
sanne, Switzerland, to offer advice. In at-
tendance: leaders of the Baader-Meinhof
gang of West Germany, the Irish Republi-
can Army, a Basque separatist group called
ETA and the Popular Front for the Liber-
ation of Palestine ...
Petty Bourgeois: The brigatisti have
also hurt themselves with vicious internal
squabbling. After the murder of a chemical
executive by the Red Brigades outside
Venice, the Rome "column" issued a state-
ment saying it disapproved. One copy of a
communiqué from Dozier's kidnappers in-
cluded a hazy, 50-line appendix attacking
the "second column of the August col-
umn"-believed to be a breakaway group
from the Venice unit- for the "petty bour-
geois" offense of stealing brigades' funds.
From prison in Palmi, Renato Curcio,
founder of the brigades, smuggled to a
Paris newspaper a remarkable 10,000-
qued their successes during their search for
Dozier, staging a series of raids on Red
Brigades hide-outs in which they arrested
at least 42 suspected terrorists, including
mastermind Giovanni Senzani, a long-
sought former professor of criminology at
the University of Florence. Police found
missiles, hand grenades, guns and 3,000
pages of documents, including plans
thinned the brigades" ranks. The most im-
portant weapon has been a 1979 govern-
ment decree offering easier sentences for
terrorists who talk. Since then, police have
taken down more than 200 lengthy confes-
Approved For Release 2000/08/07 : CIA-RDP96-00788R000100270001-2
word letter, painfully typed on eight sheets
of flimsy rice paper, that indirectly criti-
cized Dozier's kidnappers for not realizing
that Soviet "social imperialism" was just
as bad as the American kind.
Despite the brigades' setbacks, the Ital-
ian authorities remain extremely wary,
The terrorists "are like World War I gener-
als- they; measure progress in terms of
yards," says Jenkins. Sterling believes that
while the Venice column seems to be on the
ropes, the Milan and Rome columns are"
virtually untouched Italians say the ter.
rorists now are too ingrained in Italian
society- especially throughout the prison
system- to be eradicated easily, if at all.
"It was a very hard blow, but not a decisive
one," said one official in Rome. "We can-
not drop our guard." Indeed, since the
recent raids showed that the terrorists are.
equipped with missiles and other heavy
weapons, even a handful of brigatisti could
launch a major attack ...
'Parasites': Politically, the brigatisti
have been trying to capitalize on the anti-
nuclear, anti-NATO sentimentin Western
Europe."I think the anti-cruise [missile]
lobby is a convenient issue to hide behind
they can feed off it like parasites," says
Edward Moxon-Brown, an expert on ter-
rorism at Queen's University in Belfast
"Rather than thinking this is the end of the
road for the brigades, I think it may be a
whole new beginning, one that has to do
with Italy's membership in NATO." Rob-
ert Kupperman of Georgetown Universi
ty's Center for Strategic Studies agrees, and
he believes there soon might be a loose con
federation of terrorist organizations in Eu-
rope. "[predict that within four to five
months we'll see multiple kidnappings in
NATO countries: to exploit the neutral-
ity forces at work, "he says.
Nevertheless, as Frankfurt University
criminologist Friedrich Geerds points out,
the rescue "will give enormous impetus
and self-confidence to police authorities."
American anti-terrorist experts are espe-
cially optimistic. Everyone agrees on one!
point: the Red Brigades will probably try
to recover its morale and prestige by doing
something spectacular-and soon. At the
weekend, the Red Brigades sent out a mes-
sage vowing to free their imprisoned com-
rades and declaring, "The liberation of
Dozier will not succeed in stopping the
current revolutionary process." NATO in-
stallations throughout Italy remain on
high security alert:" We don't believe ter-
rorism will end simply because Dozier is
free," says one NATO official. "Now is the
most dangerous time of all. The Red Bri-
gades is like a wounded animal, looking to
strike back.", And that means uneasy days .?
ahead for everyone.At
JOHN BRECHER with ELAINE SCIOLINO and
JANET STOBARTA BOFOVedYForRelea
in Verona; MADLYN RESENER in New York
and bureau reports
INTERNATIONAL
but coldly declined to discuss
his release. "Negotiate? What
·for?" demanded the communi-
qué. "The proletariat has nothing
to negotiate with the bourgeoi-
sie." After a few days in captivity,
Dozier told his rescuers, his
guards stopped wearing hoods or
blindfolding him to conceal their
identities. The general took the
carelessness as a sign that he had
been sentenced to die.
Professional: Dozier himself
gave the Red Brigades little propa-
ganda value for its effort. A 1956
West Point graduate, he had col-
lected a Silver Star, Bronze Star
and Purple Heart in Vietnam,
where he served in the Eleventh
Armored Cavalry Regiment. At
the hands of Italian terrorists, he
apparently conducted himself as a
thoroughly professional soldier.
Dozier's "interrogation" · dis-
closed no classified information
about NATO security. Instead,
the five-page transcript released
by the Red Brigades seemed to be
based for the most part on bio-
graphical material seized from his apart-
ment during the kidnapping.
According to a ten-page analysis of the
interrogation prepared for the U.S. Embas-
sy in Rome, Dozier apparently rearranged
and even falsified several dates in his career
to confuse his captors. The U.S. analysts
also noted that Dozier had identified his
Vietnam outfit as "Delta Charlie Battal-
ion"-and some of them guessed that by
adding the superfluous word "Delta," Do-
zier had meant to signal that he was being
held close to water. (Padua is closer to the
shore than Verona, but still lies 19 miles
'west of the Adriatic Coast.) Dozier demon-
strated no inclination to spout leftist rheto-
ric in a bid for freedom. "I think his captors
got a lot more than they bargained for when
they took Jim Dozier," said a NATO friend.
"They were probably more intimidated by
him than he was by them. Jim was probably
the toughest guy they ever got."
As Dozier tried to cope with his captors,
Italian police closed in methodically. Their
manhunt was assisted by at least six Ameri-
can anti-terrorist experts, including special-
ists in intelligence, communications and
operational security. But in the flush of
success, the Italians emphasized that they
had run the show. "We never even saw" the
foreigners, boasted Verona police chief Pa-
squale Zappone. "They all looked on and
marveled at our efficiency. Today we can say
that we are the best in the world." An Italian
judge involved in the investigation dis-
.
sesdoorby/binfoCARDP96400788R0001002700012on of Verona
y the Americans as "absolutely useless." In
one instance, the collaboration turned into a
minor competition. Based on Judith Do- who revealed several
Gianni Giansanti-Sygma
Freedom at noon: Commandos hustle Dozier to safety
can police artists drew sketches of the kid-
nappers. "She said ours were better than
theirs," chortled an Italian investigator.
The investigation that ultimately uncov-
ered the little apartment in Padua was built
on extensive and thorough Italian legwork.
Early last month the dragnet swept up two
well-armed guerrillas in central Rome who
apparently were on the verge of a major
kidnapping. Five days later police stormed
three Red Brigades headquarters in the cap-
ital and captured a key brigades theorist.
The weekend before Dozier's rescue, five
suspected terrorists were arrested in the
countryside north of Rome. Closer to Ve-
rona the search intensified: one local official
guessed expansively that police had combed
through "a million" apartments. In public,
the authorities expressed total frustration.
"Dozier could well be in the hands of the
Martians, for all we know," said one top
investigator.
Hope: At least twice, anonymous callers
announced Dozier's death and sent police
on wild-goose chases looking for the body;
in one case authorities dragged a lake in
search of the remains. But hope was kept
alive; partly because Red Brigades turn-
coats provided clues-possibly encouraged
by harsh police interrogations, or perhaps
even by "rewards" from a mysterious $1.7
million fund established by anonymous
"friends" of Dozier. Finally, the patient
policy of checking each tip paid off. Early
last week investigators narrowed their
and Padua. By some reports, police were
following the lead of a captured terrorist
ral sporet Red Rriondes
INTERNATIONAL
police uncovered clues leading to additional
hide-outs- Approved 696. Release 2oudidBabyclocf
demonte. "It was a textbook operation,"
said one U.S. official. "They cracked the
column, the people talked, and they fol- ': gan to ring the southern suburb in the pre-
lowed up every single lead. They did it right
and it worked."
Meticulous Care: Detectives identified
Dozier's prison at least twelve hours before . the apartment building with a twin set of
the Leatherheads launched their raid. As .
orders: to clear civilians out of the potential
fire zone and to subdue any terrorists who
escaped the commando charge. At a remote
location the attack squad filed into the little
green moving van.
they did throughout the manhunt, the com-
mandos proceeded with meticulous care.'
They decided against a nighttime assault for
fear that Dozier might go unrecognized and
be killed in a cross fire. They also ruled out
The Leatherheads who rescued Dozier
were equipped for every contingency.
Against the possibility of a change in plans
carried'infra-red glasses for night vision and
equipped their weapons with infra-red
night scopes. In case tear gas should be
required, they carried gas masks. They took
along their favorite assault rifle, the Italian-
made M-12, a lightweight, short-barreled
burp gun. They also carried heavy-caliber
pistols strapped to their belts under loose-
fitting shirts and sweaters. And they wore
special, light bulletproof vests reinforced
with thin steel plates. The raiders were led
by a youngish-looking police colonel; his
identity was kept secret.
At 11:35 the raid began with force and
Leatherhead Heroes
When the Italian police received the crucial tip that led to
General Dozier's rescue, they turned to their best men to do the
job: a crack anti-terrorist unit called the teste di cuoio, or
Leatherheads. Roughly 50 highly trained policemen make up
"the elite commando squad, whose official name is the Nucleo
Operativo Centrale di Sicurezza (NOCS). A veil of official
secrecy surrounds almost everything about them, from the
names of their leaders to the location of their headquarters. They
owe their dramatic name to their reputation for toughness and to'
the light leather headgear they wear to shield their faces and
necks and to conceal their identity while in action. And after
last week's daring rescue, some Italians gave another name to the
teste di cuoio: "Supermen.
The Italian Government formed the Leatherhead unit after
the kidnapping of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro
.in 1978. They modeled it after Europe's most respected spe-
cial operations units: Britain's Special Air Service regiment
and Border Protection Group 9, the West German anti-ter-
rorist outfit that freed a group of hijacked Lufthansa passen-
gers in a dramatic raid on the airport at Mogadishu, Somalia,
in 1977. The Italian police allow only their best young officers
they learn judo and karate, high-speed driving skills, sharp-
shooting, demolition and explosives work; they also master the
use of specialized weapons and equipment such as the M-12
submachine guns and lightweight bulletproof vests used in the
Padua raid. The training stresses night operations: the Leath-
erheads who rescued Dozier were carrying special infra-red
glasses for night vision and had infra-red scopes mounted on
their rifles.
The NOCS commandos devote intense study to "knowing the
enemy." They steep themselves in terrorist tactics and methods
and pore over Red Brigades tracts to absorb the murky brigatisti
ideology. They verse themselves in the minute details of terror-
ists' underground life-styles and secret communications tech-
niques. Before the Dozier rescue, that knowledge along with
NOCS expertise in radio interception, phone-call tracing and
other electronic surveillance methods- led to several major
breakthroughs in penetrating the disciplined Red Brigades
network.
to volunteer for the NOCS
unit, and only a fraction of the
applications win acceptance.
To pass muster, volunteers
must show not only enthu-
siasm and intelligence but
also top physical conditioning.
Says one source in Italy's Inte-
rior Ministry, which oversees
the force: "We want well-mo-
tivated men who are strong,
fast, quick and lean."
+ 'Like Marines': The NOCS
commandos undergo the most
grueling and comprehensive
training of any Italian security
force. "They are trained like
U.S. Marines," says one aide
at the Interior Ministry. Once
the men are selected, they go
to the Abbasanta Police Train-
ing Center in the rugged,
rocky hill country of Sardinia;
also the terrain where Italy's
Army Reserve rehearses mili -.
tary maneuvers. At Abbasanta
A NOCS squad in training: Strong, fast, quick, lean
Fierce Rivals: With the Padua raid, the NOCS unit scored its
first major operational victory, Until last week, the most suc-
cessful commando strike against the Red Brigades -. a helicopter
raid on the Trani Prison in southern Italy in late 1980 that freed a
group of hostages held by Red Brigades inmates- was the work
of another anti-terrorist task force, the Special Intervention
Group (GIS), which operates
as an arm of the carabinieri par-
amilitary police under the com-
Glansanti -- Sygma
mand of Italy's Defense Minis-
try. The GIS anti-terrorists are
also called Leatherheads -- and
the NOCS and GIS units are
fierce rivals. Lack of coordina -.
tion between the two groups
has been blamed in the past for
hampering Italy's anti-terror-
ist campaign. No more. The
NOCS commandosarenowna-
.tional-although still anony-
mous-heroes. When Dozier's
rescuers went before Ital-
ian television cameras, they
masked their faces with ski
masks, scarfs," nylon stock-
ings-even a paper bag. The
unspoken message: the Leath-
erheads are ready and eager to
grapple with the Red Brigades
any time they have to.
·MARK WHITAKER with
RON MOREAU in Rome
44
NEWSWEEK/FEBRUARY 8, 1982
Approved For Release 2000/08/07 : CIA-RDP96-00788R000100270001-2
an early-morning mission, worried that the
terrorists might notice the advancing com-
Instead. R.196-00788Rodo bd-in thedark the commandos
timed its attack for the midday bustle. In
preparation, scores of uniformed police be-
dawn darkness to control traffic into the
area. Throughout the morning the 80 plain-
clothesmen casually took stations around
INTERARPLOYFALLFor Release 2000/08/07.yCIA-RDP96-00788R000100270001-2 sunlight and
precision. The commando who charged
into the supermarket shouted, "Keep qui-
et," and told the customers: "We're from
the police. Don't be afraid and don't move."
One woman fainted. Another called home
afterward. "I was being held prisoner in the
market," she recalled. "I thought it might
be a robbery."
Across the street a witness telephoned the
police emergency number, 113, and report-
ed a robbery in progress. "They swarmed
out in civilian clothes, with their bulletproof
vests and waving their submachine guns,
and within seconds the whole piazza had
been emptied," said pastry-shop proprietor
Adriana Boaretto. "Through my shop win-
dow I saw some young fellows with balacla-
va helmets, with plastic bags over their
heads, with scarfs tied around their faces
very serious about it." The brigatisti round-
ed up in Padua represent a cross section of
battle-seasoned veteran terrorists and raw
recruits. In addition to Emanuela Frascella,
the apartment's nominal tenant, they
included:
Antonio Savasta, 27, a leader of the
Rome column of the Red Brigades. Police
suspect the former law student of helping
plan the kidnap-murder of Moro and of
chemical company executive Giuseppe Ta-
liercio. He is also suspected of involvement
in the kidnapping of Ciro Cirillo, an offi-
cial of the ruling Christian Democratic
Party. He won notoriety in a previous en-
counter with police-escaping after a Feb-
ruary 1980 shoot-out in the Sardinian city
of Cagliari.
· Emilia Libera, 26, a Rome nurse and Sa-
vasta's companion. Libera accompanied Sa-
driven to the local police station. About
ten minutes later Ciucci, the wounded ter-
rorist, was carried out and taken to a hos-
pital in an ambulance. After a few minutes
the four remaining brigatisti were led out,
first the two men, then the two women.
"They were all very quiet," said a bystand-
er. "None of them shouted or showed his
fist as they usually do when the television
is around."
Thursday: Safe at Padua's police head-
quarters, Dozier asked to know, first of all,
the day of the week. When told, he repeated
vaguely, "Giovedì, giovedì," (Thursday).
Police offered him a pair of shoes, but he
said, "No, it doesn't matter." He declined a
chair as well, explaining: "I've spent the last
six weeks without standing up, so I want to
stand." He said he was tired and refused
food at first, but drank an espresso and a
HARRY ALLA GUERRA SPERRUSTA E PASSACLIO
ESSENOFLE PER LO TOANSUIONE" EL COMUNISMO!
NELL'ERCIA LEURMERCIYS MELLE MULTINAZIG-
NAU X PROLETARIATO METROFOUTAND 5/ 005TRUI-
SEE COME RYANG.SENT DEL PROCESSO DI RIVOLU-
CIONE PROLETERIA R TUTIG & NONAD !!
Fabian-Sygma
AP photos
A soldier returns to trim: The last Red Brigades portrait, the first cheeseburger and a shave interrupted by the President
and woolen skiing caps. They certainly
vasta during the incident in Cagliari-and
by coincidence last week a Sardinian court
sentenced the pair in absentia to 30-year
prison sentences for attempted homicide.
looked like terrorists, but one could see they
were not, because the police didn't shoot at
them. One came into my shop and told.
everybody to stay inside and keep away By Cesare di Lenardo, 22, a former construc-
from the entrance," Boaretto said. "They
tion worker from Gorizia.
were trying to take care of the people in case
of a shoot-out. Also they wanted the car
park empty in case some terrorist managed
to escape the net."
'Overjoyed': On the second floor of the
apartment building, one of the commandos,
a champion weight lifter, broke through an
unmarked door "with one single blow," as
the police report put it-and promptly con-
fronted and felled the terrorist who was
returning from shopping. Within seconds,
the Leatherheads had arrested all five Red
Brigades jailers without firing a shot. "I was
overjoyed," Dozier said later, "and one of
the finest things I felt was [when] I grabbed
ahold of a policeman, and he had his flak
jacket on, and it felt pretty good."
Dozier had a measure of respect for his
captors. "They are a bunch of dedicated
people," he said. "They are smart, They
Giovanni Ciucci, 32, a former railroad
worker from Pisa. Police named Ciucci as
the terrorist who was aiming a 9-mm Beret-
ta pistol at Dozier's head before a comman-
do struck him down.
The grimy, four-room apartment itself
was a terrorist treasure-trove. Inside, police
found fifteen pistols, five submachine guns,
seven hand grenades, six packages of plastic
explosives, $17,000 in Italian currency, a
mimeograph machine, false identification
documents and a card file of prominent
personalities in the region. Police also re-
covered the steamer trunk used to transport
Dozier, the typewriter that had printed the
five terrorist communiqués in the case-
and the Red Brigades banner that served as
a backdrop in the two photographs of Do-
zier issued by the kidnappers.
Dazed and still shoeless after the rescue
cappuccino. Finally, police chief Gian-
franco Corrias asked Dozier if he would like
totakea shower. The general declined again,
saying, "I just want to go home." "Here was
a man who seconds before had a pistol point-
ed at his head, yet he was the happiest man in
the world," said Corrias. "He never com-
plained-a true officer."
The general was taken to the U.S. mili-
tary hospital in Vicenza for a checkup and a
reunion with Judith and Cheryl Dozier,
who flew in from West Germany. Amid the
tears, celebrations and talk of a Washington
meeting with the President, Dozier indicat-
ed his own preference: a short vacation with
his family and a quick return to his NATO
job. Back in Padua, three commandos in
battle dress were still keeping watch at No. 2
Via Pindemonte eleven hours after their
proudest 90 seconds. "We have been trained
to do this job," said the youngest one, pull-
ing the scarf from his face to speak briefly.
"We are professionals, and today we were
able to show it."
STEVEN STRASSER with ELAINE SCIOLINO
Mir Padua and bureau reports
Approved For Release 2000/08/07 : CIA-RDP96-00788R000100270001-2
NEWSWEEK/FEBRUARY 8, 1982
46

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