1982-alessandro_caravillani-infocard

42 years ago Tuesday, Alessandro Caravillani had the misfortune to be in the vicinity when a fascist gang robbed the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro. (That particular bank was chosen because that's where the police and carabinieri kept their accounts, so the robbery would have more impact on their enemies.) Alessandro was hit in the leg by a stray bullet; when he fell, one of the terrorists thought the umbrella handle sticking out of his jacket pocket was a pistol, and shot him in the head. In Italian law, there is a concept usually translated as 'futile motive'. It is a sentencing enhancement that occurs when a serious crime is committed for a particularly stupid reason (so it commonly shows up in prosecution of racist crimes) - but in this case, the literal translation applies, for the end result of all this bloodshed was a NAR leader getting shot in the groin and captured shortly afterwards.