Aldo Moro

Wednesday 9 May 1978

The killer's paper

#extraordinary edition

There is great pain in Italy

Today, 9 May 1978, Aldo Moro, an Italian politician, statesman and jurist, was assassinated, five times President of the Council of Ministers and political secretary of the Christian Democracy.

The assassination of Aldo Moro

Between the offices of the PCI and DC.

13:15 / The body of Aldo Moro found in Rome.

Who was Aldo Moro ?

Born in Maglie on 23 September 1916, he was an Italian politician, jurist and academic very important for the history of Italy. Aldo Moro was elected five times President of the Council of Ministers and was president of the National Council of Christian Democracy, being also a founding member. What is very important in Aldo Moro’s biography is that he was the creator of the famous Historical Compromise.

In 1975 during the local elections the Italian Communist Partyobtained a great consensus and this fact brought the policy back to the strategic proposal of Aldo Moro. According to him, to give a breakthrough to Italy it was necessary to involve the PCI in the government. The meeting between the PCI and the DC turned into a clash and the extreme left tried to boycott the Communist Party, to avoid this political union.

The assassination

What happened ?

Following the idea of Aldo Moro to involve the PCI in the government policy of the time, a proposal that went down in history under the name of Historic Compromise. On 16 March , 1978, a group of far-left terrorists belonging to the Red Brigades intercepted the car in which Aldo Moro was travelling. The first shots were directed at the five policemen who formed the escort of Aldo Moro and then the politician was kidnapped in Via Fani, in Rome. For 45 long days the whole world focused its attention on the kidnapping of Aldo Moro and, In Italy, it was discussed whether to deal with terrorists or not, as required by Aldo Moro written letters and sent during the imprisonment to some politicians of the time.

In the end nothing was done and Aldo Moro was killed by the Red Brigades: the terrorists let him into the trunk of a stolen Renault 4 Red, telling him that they would take him to a safer place and, after covering him with a blanket, shot him ten times. Then Aldo Moro’s body was found in the car today, 9 May in Via Caetani, Rome. It is a strategic choice because it is a street exactly halfway between the headquarters of the DC and that of the PCI.

Body of Aldo Moro

Kidnapping of Aldo Moro