Ideology

The late seventies were a time of political violence in the form of bombings, assassinations, and street warfare between rival militant factions. Fioravanti was one of a number of teenage activists in Rome who saw the state-sanctioned far-right political party as betraying them, through inaction in the face of attacks by political opponents and the police. Influenced by leftist movements, a large group of far right youths, including Fioravanti and his close associates, moved from street-fighting to terrorism. Unlike their left-wing counterparts, they emphasised personal qualities like spontaneity and willingness to fight, even in a lost cause, over political objectives. Fioravanti has said, "About defeat we never cared, we are a generation of losers, always on the side of the defeated."^[3] Italy was seen as a 'sick', unjust and repressive state. In a 2005 interview, Fioravanti characterized this former rationale for terrorist activities as 'total stupidity', and said 'exultation and rage' in his milieu had fed a collective delusion.^[4]

Personnel

The original core members consisted of those close to Fioravanti: Franco Anselmi, magistrate's son Alessandro Alibrandi and Fioravanti's brother Cristiano. Two of the most active terrorists, Gilberto Cavallini, who was a fugitive, and 17-year-old Luigi Ciavardini, became part of the core group after the first armed actions. Others were the part-Eritrean George Vale and Massimo Carminati (later to become a major figure in the Italian underworld). Mambro became active in NAR violence and romantically involved with Fioravanti during 1979. Testimony at their trial described the couple as "always together".^[5]

Fioravanti was a good friend of Carminati, and through him he was introduced to some members of Rome's dominant criminal gang members, including Massimo Sparti, who became close to Cristiano. Their anti-hierarchical ethos precluded any formal leader, though Fioravanti was the main organizer. He anticipated others would be drawn to emulate NAR, and that other cells would spring up spontaneously, as they shifted to taking action irrespective of the consequences;. Fioravanti advocated small, fast moving groups, as he intended the name "Armed Revolutionary Nuclei" to be adopted by largely independent cells.

Armed violence

Fioravanti was doing military service when the first killing occurred, it is believed to have been committed by either Cristiano or Alibrandi in September 1977; a leftist militant was shot dead. The victims of Armed Revolutionary Nuclei that followed included several policemen (this was justified on the grounds of them being 'thugs and torturers'), comrades suspected of treachery, and investigating magistrates including Mario Amato.^[6] Fioravanti was 23, and Mambro 21, when warrants charged them with the Bologna massacre bombing of 2 August 1980, which killed 85 people and both Fioravanti and Mambro were subsequently convicted of.^[7]

Trial

The trial began in January 1987; there were 20 defendants. For the first time since Fioravanti's arrest he and Mambro were reunited when they were placed together in the cage Italian courtrooms have for those accused of violent crimes. They pleaded guilty to responsibility for numerous murders, but denied they or their group carried out the Bologna massacre. The prosecution said that Fioravanti had admitted to crimes which demonstrated an indiscriminate ruthlessness, and that he had espoused an ideology that justified attacks similar to Bologna, as had Mambro.^[27]

The crucial evidence against Fioravanti and Mambro in the Bologna bombing was given by a witness some thought untrustworthy: small-time criminal and Banda della Magliana member Massimo Sparti.^[28][29] He alleged that, two days after the blast, Fioravanti had come to him to obtain false documents, and said he worried someone might recognize Mambro from the station. The testimony contained inconsistencies; Sparti was released from prison in 1982, ostensibly because of terminal cancer, although he was still alive 15 years later.^[10]

Fioravanti's alibi for the morning of 2 August was weakened by its lack of precision: he had initially said he was in Treviso, but subsequently asserted he had travelled with Mambro and Ciavardini to a meeting in Padova early that day. Cristiano and another NAR member became prosecution witnesses: both recalled that, days after the bombing, Mambro had worried about being accused of the massacre, spoke of being in Padova at the time of the explosion, and expressed concern about them being believed.^[10][28]

In July 1988 Fioravanti and Mambro were found guilty of responsibility for the Bologna train bombing, as well as for the crimes they admitted; they were sentenced to ten life terms, plus 250 years.^[30] Massimiliano Fachini and Sergio Picciafuoco were also given life sentences for the bombing. Several NAR members were given prison sentences for being members of an illegal armed group. At the same trial, Gelli and General Pietro Musumeci were convicted of offences not directly related to the massacre.^[30] Delle Chiaie was acquitted of subversive association.

In 1990, an appeal acquitted all four of those convicted of responsibility for the bombing, but Fioravanti and Mambro were again prosecuted and convicted: in 1995, a final judgement by the Supreme Court confirmed their earlier convictions and sentences.^[31][32] After a series of separate trials, in 2007 Ciavardini was also convicted of responsibility for the Bologna bombing. Protestations of innocence from all three won them a measure of support from some politicians, jurists and academics.^[28][33]