Kidnapping of Ciro Cirillo

On April 27, 1981, the Red Brigades (BR) kidnapped the 60-year-old Christian Democrat (DC) politician Ciro Cirillo and killed his two-man escort in the garage of his Naples apartment building. At the time, Cirillo directed reconstruction efforts in Campania devastated by the earthquake in the Irpinia region on November 23, 1980.[1][2] He was released after a controversial deal with the Camorra;[3][4][5] they did not negotiate with the BR and only asked them to release him.[6] This happened several years after the Italian state had refused to negotiate with the BR in their kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro, leading observers and critics to wonder what changed and the reasons behind the state's negotiation.[7][8][9] Cirillo died in 2017.[10][11]

Ciro Cirillo
Cirillo, photographed during his kidnapping by the Red Brigades
Born(1921-02-15)February 15, 1921
Naples, Kingdom of Italy
DiedJuly 30, 2017(2017-07-30) (aged 96)
Torre del Greco, Italy
OccupationPolitician
Known forBeing kidnapped by the Red Brigades

Natural target

Cirillo was a key figure in the Campanian regional DC hierarchy. He was the right-hand man of Antonio Gava, who was one of the national leaders of the Doroteo faction of the DC, responsible for appointments and public works contracts, and someone who knew a great deal about all the behind-the-scenes deals of local Neapolitan politics. As the regional councillor for urban planning, he was in charge of the reconstruction after the 1980 earthquake.[12] Cirillo was therefore seen as a natural target for the Neapolitan column of the BR led by Giovanni Senzani.[13][14]

After two and a half months, the BR threatened to execute Cirillo unless the Naples city government accepted demands it refused in the past.[15] The BR demanded that the authorities requisitioned housing for thousands of Naples families left homeless by the earthquake. They also demanded increased benefits for the unemployed.[16] None of the political demands of the BR were met and in the end they accepted that a ransom was enough to release Cirillo.[17]

Release

Cirillo was released after 89 days on July 25, 1981, against the payment of a ransom of one and a half billion lire, thanks to the decisive intervention of Camorra boss Raffaele Cutolo.[13] Publicly, the DC had refused to negotiate with terrorists, but privately leading politicians such as Antonio Gava and Vincenzo Scotti, and members of the secret services, such as Pietro Musumeci, visited Cutolo in prison and asked him to negotiate with imprisoned members of the Red Brigades.[18][19]

In return, Cutolo allegedly asked for a slackening of police operations against the Camorra, for control over the tendering of building contracts in Campania (a lucrative venture since the devastating earthquake in November 1980) and for a reduction of his own sentence, as well as new psychiatric test to show that he is not responsible for his actions. Both these last concessions were granted.[20]

Aftermath

The outcome of the Cirillo kidnap stood in sharp contrast to the kidnap of the Italian former prime minister Aldo Moro. When Moro was abducted by the BR in 1978, the DC-led government immediately took a hardline position: the "state must not bend" on terrorist demands. They refused to negotiate with the BR, while local DC members in Campania made every effort and even negotiated with criminals to release Cirillo, a relatively minor politician in comparison with Moro.[21] Cirillo died on July 30, 2017, at the age of 96.[22][23]

See also

References
  1. "Around the World; Italian Terrorists Kidnap Politician and Kill 2 Guards". The New York Times. April 28, 1981. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  2. D'Avanzo, Giuseppe (April 12, 2001). "la Repubblica/politica: Cirillo, i misteri del sequestro 'La mia verita' e' dal notaio'". La Repubblica (in Italian). Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  3. "Cirillo, l'uomo dei segreti tra Brigate Rosse, Stato e camorra: 'Fu zittito dalla Dc'". Il Mattino (in Italian). July 31, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  4. "Cirillo, la Camorra, le BR..." Associazione Me.Dia.Re. (in Italian). April 27, 2019. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  5. "Un silenzio lungo 40 anni. Il caso Cirillo e i segreti di quella trattativa tra Stato, camorra e Br". La Repubblica (in Italian). April 26, 2021. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  6. "Caso Cirillo, ex 007: 'La Dc trattò con la camorra, non con le Br'". Roma (in Italian). April 26, 2023. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  7. "[L'intervista esclusiva] 'Cirillo rapito dalle BR e quel riscatto pagato dai costruttori del post terremoto dell'Irpinia. Napoli città infetta'". Tiscali Notizie (in Italian). July 31, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  8. Demarco, Marco (July 30, 2017). "Lo stato e la trattativa con i terroristi Perché per Cirillo sì e per Moro no?". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  9. Consoli, Andrea Di; Scotti, Vincenzo (January 18, 2019). "Quando la DC decise di trattare con le BR per liberare Ciro Cirillo". Il Sole 24 Ore (in Italian). Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  10. "È morto Ciro Cirillo, l'ex Dc sequestrato e liberato dalle Brigate Rosse". Il Giornale (in Italian). July 30, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  11. Comi, Paolo (August 1, 2017). "Chi trattò con la camorra per salvare Cirillo? Forse nessuno". Il Dubbio (in Italian). Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  12. Behan, See Naples and Die, pp. 135-36
  13. Allum & Allum, The resistible rise of the new Neapolitan Camorra, p. 240
  14. "I misteri dell'affare Cirillo" (in Italian). Rifondazione-cinecitta.org.
  15. Red Brigades Threaten Captive’s Life, The New York Times, July 10, 1981
  16. Terrorists Threaten To Kill Hostage In Italy, UPI, July 16, 1981
  17. Behan, See Naples and Die, p. 141
  18. Stille, Excellent Cadavers, p. 77-78
  19. Behan, See Naples and Die, p. 139
  20. Haycraft, The Italian Labyrinth, p. 214
  21. "Terrorismo, misteri italiani. 38 anni fa il rilascio dell'assessore Dc Ciro Cirillo sequestrato dalle Brigate rosse". Insidertrend.it (in Italian). July 24, 2019. Archived from the original on April 1, 2023. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  22. "Morto Ciro Cirillo, il Dc sequestrato dalle Br e rilasciato dopo una oscura trattativa con la camorra". La Repubblica (in Italian). July 30, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
  23. Castigli, Milena (July 30, 2017). "Morto Ciro Cirillo: sequestrato dalle Br, venne rilasciato dopo oscure trattative". In Terris (in Italian). Retrieved August 31, 2023.

Bibliography
  • Allum, Percy; Allum, Felia, The resistible rise of the new Neapolitan Camorra, in Stephen Gundle and Simon Parker (eds) (1996), The New Italian Republic. From the Fall of the Berlin Wall to Berlusconi, New York: Routledge ISBN 0-415-12161-2.
  • Behan, Tom (2002), See Naples and Die: The Camorra and Organized Crime, London/New York: I.B. Tauris Publishers, ISBN 1-86064-783-9.
  • Haycraft, John (1985). The Italian Labyrinth: Italy in the 1980s, London: Secker & Warburg.
  • Stille, Alexander (1995). Excellent Cadavers. The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic, New York: Vintage ISBN 0-09-959491-9.

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