US Played Role in '78 Murder of Aldo Moro

State Dept. wanted kidnapped Italian PM 'sacrificed': new book
By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 11, 2008 10:45 AM CDT

A new book reveals the extent of American involvement in the fate of Aldo Moro, the Italian prime minister murdered by left-wing terrorists in 1978. In We Killed Aldo Moro, Steve Pieczenik, a State Department hostage negotiator, writes about his role in the "crisis committee" that leaked a false statement that Moro was dead a month before his murder, reports the Telegraph.

Fearful that Moro would reveal state secrets to secure his release, the committee, with American input, put out word he was dead to show his captors that they would not negotiate. A month later, Moro was shot and his body stuffed into the trunk of a car in Rome. Moro was "sacrificed" for the "stability" of Italy, Pieczenik writes. (More Aldo Moro stories.)

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