Moro, the former Br: “Flyer at auction is not one of the 9 originals but a mimeographed in hundreds of copies”

The leaflet claiming the Moro kidnapping put up for auction “is not one of the nine original press releases printed with the famous light italic rotating head IBM found in Rome on March 18, 1978 by the Red Brigades” but a mimeographed text of which they exist ” hundreds of copies “. Paolo Persichetti, former Br and now a historical researcher and author of books and surveys on the Moro case, writes it on his blog Insorgenze.net. In particular, Persichetti explains: “Bruno Seghetti, Adriana Faranda and Valerio Morucci, who dealt with the dissemination of the first communications and letters written by the prisoner, the day after the kidnapping left in a hidden envelope behind a machine for passport photos placed in the underpass of piazza Argentina (no longer existing) the first 5 original copies of the claim of the kidnapping and the polaroid photo of Moro. However, the journalist of Il Messaggero who had been contacted for the recovery could not find it. For this reason the first Red Brigade communiqué he arrived 48 hours late. After being contacted again with more detailed instructions, the same reporter finally took the envelope the following Saturday, March 18. At that point, the brigades distributed another 4 originals in piazzale Tiburtino, via Parigi, via Teulada, via di Ripetta ” . Only “starting from Monday 20 March”, therefore, reconstructs Persichetti, “the Roman column mobilized for a wider dissemination of the press release in the meantime rewritten with another machine and mimeographed: 96 copies were found in via Casilina. On 21 March it was the turn of the suburbs and schools: 66 copies were found in the area of ​​villa Gordiani (via Albona, via Pisino, via Rovigno d’Istria), 15 in via s. Igino Papa in Primavalle, 7 in front of the high school Lucrezio Caro, 1 at the Armellini (where evidently they had sold like hot cakes), 9 again in Primavalle, in via Boromeo in front of the commercial professional institute, and then hundreds of copies were circulated in the days and weeks to come throughout the city as can be read in the report drawn up by the police headquarters on April 29, 1978, when the dissemination of the first press release gave way to the others “. According to the former BR, one of the leading experts in the Moro case,” ito Moretti in the kitchen in via Moltalcini, shortly after the arrival with the hostage hidden in a chest and his transfer to the prison closet obtained from a cavity built into a wall of the apartment. Meanwhile, the font of the text in light italic, the different passage, the number of lines, 81 in the original, instead of the 80 in the mimeographed text circulated in the following days by the Roman column and of which a copy is now up for auction. Other details show the significant difference between the two versions, the presence of a capital ‘I’ in place of the number 1 to indicate the date of March 16, while in the original in light italic, the number is written correctly “.” Not it is the first time that auction houses have auctioned flyers or material written by the Red Brigades “, observes Persichetti, who recalls how” already in 2012 Bolaffi obtained 17 thousand euros for 17 flyers purchased by Marcello Dell’Utri for his private library in via Senato in Milan “. The current one on the flyer, therefore, is” a classic commercial operation of materials and objects that have become relics of the past “, in the opinion of the former Br, which he stigmatizes as” strongly marked by hypocrisy the controversy raised by this sale “, considering that” it does not appear that fascist memorabilia, the busts of Mussolini, the publications of the twenty years on sale in the antique markets cause a similar scandal “. to Persichetti – the historical ignorance of those specialists who requested the intervention of the Ministry of Culture for the acquisition of copies of leaflets that already exist in large quantities in state archives. The only interesting aspect that – in our opinion – highlights this story is the actuality that still covers the history of the 70s, that of the Red Brigades and the Moro kidnapping in particular. A still tormented attention “, a curiosity and a desire to know that” not finding a correct historiographic syntax leads to fetishism “.