ITALY: Terrorist Roundup

Getting closer to Moro 's murderers

For six weeks the third-floor apartment at Via Pallanza 6, in an outlying working-class district of Milan, had been staked out by police of Italy's special antiterrorist squad. Visitors to the apartment were photographed as they entered the building and tailed as they left. Finally, the authorities were ready to strike. In a coordinated two-day sweep directed by Carlo Alberto Delia Chiesa, 58, a much-decorated carabinieri general, police arrested nine key members of the terrorist Red Brigades organization, broke into four of their hideouts and confiscated numerous arms and a wealth of material on terrorist activities.

The roundup of Italian terrorists was carried out under a stringent security blackout. Much of the evidence seized at the hideouts was reportedly related to the kidnaping and murder last spring of former Christian Democratic Premier Aldo Moro, 61. Among the pieces of evidence: four unpublished Polaroid snapshots of Moro while he was being held, tapes of Moro's interrogation by his captors, detailed minutes of a kangaroo court that decided his fate, complete lists (including prices) of all materials used in the kidnaping, written critiques of the abduction and other operations by the brigatisti, photostats of letters Moro wrote during his captivity, as well as other letters he wrote that were never sent. There was also reported to be a complete list of the places where Moro was held in Rome.

The security blackout was imposed following the arrest in Milan last month of Corrado Alunni, 30, a leading member of the Red Brigades. The police complained that the wide press coverage given to Alunni's capture had interfered with a similar dragnet. Among those arrested last week were Antonio Savino, 29, who escaped from prison last year and is accused of murdering a district attorney in Genoa; Paolo Sivieri, 24, found with evidence linking him to the kneecapping of an Alfa Romeo executive in Milan the day before his arrest; and Bianca Sivieri, 29, Paolo's sister, an elementary schoolteacher who lived with Savino.

Also seized were Nadia Mantovani, 26, a friend of imprisoned Red Brigades Founder Renato Curcio, and Lauro Azzolini, 35, who had been sought in connection with the murder of the president of the Turin bar association last year. There were unconfirmed rumors that Mario Moretti, 36, the top suspect in the Moro assassination, was also in police custody. To speed proceedings, all nine will stand summary trial within two weeks on charges of possessing arms and explosives—a protective measure to ensure that the defendants are not released while authorities ponder more serious charges against them.