Alessandria court sentences ex-Brigades member Azzolini to 6 years for 1975 Cascina Spiotta killing, Curcio and Moretti time-barred
An Italian court in Alessandria sentenced former Red Brigades member Lauro Azzolini to six years in prison for the 1975 killing of carabiniere Giovanni D'Alfonso, while charges against historic leaders Renato Curcio and Mario Moretti were declared time-barred after being reclassified as anomalous concurrence.
The verdict
On 7 July 2026, the Court of Assizes in Alessandria sentenced former Red Brigades member Lauro Azzolini to six years in prison for the murder of carabiniere Giovanni D'Alfonso. The sentence will be served in continuation with a life term imposed in 1983 for the Via Fani massacre and the kidnapping of Aldo Moro. For Renato Curcio and Mario Moretti, the two historic leaders of the Red Brigades, the court reclassified the charge as anomalous concurrence (concorso anomalo) and then declared it time-barred, meaning no penalty will be imposed.
The prosecution had requested 21 years for Azzolini and life imprisonment for Curcio and Moretti. The judges deliberated for four hours before delivering the verdict.
The 1975 shootout
On 5 June 1975, carabinieri raided a farmhouse at Cascina Spiotta, near Arzello di Melazzo, where the Red Brigades were holding the industrialist Vittorio Vallarino Gancia, kidnapped the previous day. In the ensuing firefight, carabiniere Giovanni D'Alfonso was killed and two other officers were wounded. Red Brigades co-founder Mara Cagol, wife of Renato Curcio, also died. Gancia was freed.
Azzolini, now 83, admitted in court in March 2025 that he was present at the shootout. Curcio, 85, and Moretti, 80, were not at the scene but were charged with moral concurrence in the murder.
- Shootout at Cascina Spiotta: carabiniere D'Alfonso and brigatista Mara Cagol killed, industrialist Gancia freed.
- Investigation reopened after complaint by Bruno D'Alfonso, son of the killed carabiniere.
- Azzolini confesses in court to being present at the shootout.
- Court sentences Azzolini to 6 years, declares Curcio and Moretti time-barred.
Legal arguments and reactions
The court's decision to apply anomalous concurrence means that Curcio and Moretti intended the kidnapping but not the killing of D'Alfonso. The charge, being less serious than the original murder accusation, had already expired under the statute of limitations.
This verdict disavows the prosecution's case. Moretti was accused of moral concurrence, but he had no role in the affair and never wanted D'Alfonso's death. We believe there were grounds for a full acquittal. Still, it is a step toward closing that chapter of our history.
Azzolini's lawyer, Davide Steccanella, called the sentence balanced, noting that his client had confessed and expressed regret for the death. Lawyers for the D'Alfonso family, Nicola Brigida and Guido Salvini, said the truth had been ascertained and the sentence was the most that could be humanly expected after 50 years. Salvini added that any compensation paid by Azzolini should go to an association for orphans, like D'Alfonso's children.
A chapter closed
The trial was reopened after Bruno D'Alfonso, the carabiniere's son, filed a complaint in 2021 with the assistance of lawyer Sergio Favretto. The Turin prosecutor's office launched an investigation in December of that year. A fourth defendant, Pierluigi Zuffada, had already been discharged at the preliminary hearing because the alleged offence was time-barred.
Today's ruling closes one of the last open proceedings stemming from Italy's Years of Lead.
