User:WhatADayToday12/Delitto dell'Archetto

The "Delitto dell'Archetto" refers to the murder of Luciano Serragli, the owner of the tavern called "L'Archetto," which took place in Pisa on May 18, 1971.

The investigations into this case were crucial for the subsequent investigations into the Marina di Pisa bombing that occurred a few months earlier, as well as for the discovery of Alessandro Corbara's notes, which revealed the initial steps towards the programmatic development of the activities of the Red Brigades in Italy.

In 1978, the Court of Cassation definitively recognized Alessandro Corbara as guilty of the Marina di Pisa bombing, while acquitting him, due to insufficient evidence, in the case of Serragli's murder. Elsa Maffei and Paola Serragli, respectively the wife and daughter of the murdered tavern owner, were declared guilty of the death of their family member. Glauco Michelotti and Vincenzo Scarpellini, both waiters at the tavern, were convicted for both the aforementioned murder and the bombing on the waterfront.

The Marina di Pisa Bombing and Initial Investigations
On the night of February 13-14, 1971, Giovanni Persoglio Gamalero, a student from Pisa, was walking along the promenade in Marina di Pisa with his wife, heading home. Along the way, he noticed smoke coming out of a butcher shop and stopped to investigate, but was caught in the explosion of a bomb and was injured by a fragment of glass that severed his femoral artery, causing his death before help could arrive.

The initial investigations revealed careful planning of the explosion. An explosives expert stated that the amount of explosive used was 300–400 grams of dynamite, compressed in a metal container. However, it was suspected from the beginning that the bombing did not have a specific target but was intended to intimidate the owner of the butcher shop, Aldo Meucci. Among the suspects was Alessandro Corbara, who was later convicted for the bombing, but during this initial phase, no evidence was found. Corbara was a technical draftsman employed by the Provincial Administration and had some contacts with the Italian Communist Party (PCI) at that time. Among the investigators, the suspicion arose that the bombing had a clear political motive and was intended to intimidate a man known to be hostile to leftist positions. Therefore, they began to investigate "L'Archetto," a tavern frequented by left-wing extremists and anarchists, owned by Luciano Serragli, a communist militant. However, without any evidence linking the patrons of "L'Archetto" to the bombing, the investigation reached a standstill.

The Murder
On the morning of May 21, 1971, an elderly farmer stumbled upon the body of a man, later identified as Luciano Serragli, the 43-year-old owner of the tavern "L'Archetto" in Pisa, by chance on Monte Castellare, not far from the deep cavity known as Buca delle Fate. The body, hidden among bushes, was devoid of identifying objects and disfigured in the face, making identification difficult. The autopsy revealed that death occurred as a result of sudden asphyxiation, possibly due to poisoning, and that the body had been exposed to wild animals for several days.

Investigations
The Carabinieri began gathering testimonies from people close to the victim, and the investigations proceeded more quickly because the investigators had already collected extensive dossiers on the patrons of the tavern, which was a meeting point for anarchists and the most radical and aspiring factions of the extreme left in Pisa.

During the initial interrogations, investigators learned about rumors regarding the relationship between the tavern's waiter, Glauco Michelotti, and the victim's wife, Elsa Maffei, and later also with their 17-year-old daughter, Paola. Serragli, who was aware of these rumors, seemed obsessed with his daughter's honor and, suspecting a pregnancy, wanted her to undergo a gynecological examination. This complex family and work situation guided the path of subsequent investigations. Serragli's relatives also stated that on the night of May 18-19, after a family quarrel, the victim had left home, taking all the savings with him and threatening never to return. However, no missing person report had been filed. Elsa, who described her deceased husband as a heavy drinker, recounted that on the night of his disappearance, he had left home with Samuele Dei, a professional thief and fence. When the tavern's waiters were questioned about this, they seemed to encourage the investigation towards Dei. However, it was soon discovered that Dei had been arrested in the afternoon of May 18 and, therefore, could not have been in the company of Serragli on the night of his supposed escape.

The widow's version of events was also contradicted by a supplier of the tavern, who stated that after her husband's disappearance, the woman had made expensive purchases and even settled a debt, contradicting her previous statement that she had been left without money after her husband's departure.

Further interrogations of people close to the suspects confirmed the ambiguous relationships between Michelotti and the Serragli family, suggesting that they were the main motive for the crime. Paola, Serragli's daughter, under the pressure of the interrogations, began revealing details that incriminated herself and others in the affair. In particular, she revealed that a few days before the murder, Alessandro Corbara, a regular customer at the tavern, had gone to Monte Castellare to examine the area and find a good hiding place for the body. However, he could not accompany the two waiters and coordinate the entire operation. She also heard from her mother that Scarpellini wanted to silence her father, fearing that he might inadvertently reveal something about the Marina di Pisa bombing while intoxicated.

On May 21, Michele Montomoli, an anarchist student and frequent visitor of the tavern, declared that discussions about dynamite attacks were common at "L'Archetto." He mentioned that some conversations he overheard in the past made him believe that Corbara and the waiters were involved in the Marina di Pisa bombing that took place on February 13 of the same year. Montomoli even claimed to have received direct confirmation from Scarpellini about his involvement in the bombing.

Alessandro Corbara's Diary
Following Paola Serragli's testimonies, the magistrate ordered a search of Corbara's office, taking into consideration numerous anonymous letters that implicated him in the preparation of the bomb in Marina di Pisa and the planning of Serragli's murder.

In Corbara's office at the Palazzo della Provincia, explosives, fuses, detonators, and various types of initiators were found. Most importantly, notes written by Corbara were discovered, later referred to in the court ruling as "more explosive than explosives" and summarized under the title "Political Assessments of Our Group." The ruling included several excerpts: "we welcome with enthusiasm the birth and progress of revolutionary groups; we discuss the Vatican and American influence on our political and social structure, the Christian Democracy (DC) of the center-left government, and the SIFAR affair; we argue that 'when the very foundations of our already limited constitutional order are touched, peaceful resistance alone is not enough.' In short, we suggest the need to follow two parallel lines: an overt political action in traditional forms and a clandestine action that 'materially causes damage; destruction of property, some heavy personal lessons for capitalists who tighten the screws or zealous police officers; direct surprise attacks on the established order.'"

In the Fogli di lotta di sinistra proletaria (Papers of Proletarian Left Struggle) distributed by Renato Curcio and considered the ideological and operational antechamber of the Red Brigades, published a few months earlier, one could read: "... The organization of violence is a necessity of the class struggle... Against the institutions that administer our exploitation, against the laws and justice of the masters, the most determined and conscious part of the struggling proletariat has already begun to fight to build a new legality, a new power. And to build its organization."

Il gruppo che si era formato all'Archetto, a culmination of the most extremist groups that emerged after '68, had established a program that later aligned with the more determined and militarized line of the Red Brigades.

Trial
The first-degree trial, held at the Court of Assizes in Pisa, concluded on July 13, 1974, with heavy sentences for the defendants:


 * Alessandro Corbara was acquitted due to lack of evidence in the murder of Luciano Serragli and the concealment of the body but was sentenced to eight years in prison for manslaughter aggravated by the death of Giovanni Persoglio and one year and six months for possession of weapons and explosives.


 * Glauco Michelotti was sentenced to 24 years in prison for the murder of Luciano Serragli, with an additional three years for concealing the body. He also received one year and four months for causing the abortion of Paola Serragli and six months for possession of war ammunition.


 * Vincenzo Scarpellini was sentenced to 24 years in prison for the murder of Luciano Serragli, with an additional three years for concealing the body and another year for the theft of Myotenlis, the drug used to carry out the murder. He also received one year and four months for causing the abortion of Paola Serragli and six months for possession of war ammunition. In addition to these sentences, he received eight years in prison for the Marina di Pisa bombing. The total sentence amounted to 37 years and 10 months, which was later reduced to 30 years.


 * Elsa Maffei was sentenced to 24 years in prison for the murder of her husband, with an additional two years for concealing the body and one year and four months for the abortion of her daughter. She also received four months for insurance fraud. In total, she was sentenced to 27 years and 8 months in prison.


 * Paola Serragli was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the murder of her father, with an additional year for concealing the body and two more years for the abortions she had undergone. Her total sentence amounted to 15 years in prison.

Additional convictions were handed down to minor defendants.

On January 14, 1976, the Court of Assizes in Florence confirmed the verdict of the Pisan judges but reduced Paola Serragli's sentence to eleven years in prison. Two years later, the Court of Cassation definitively upheld the sentence.