‘.~ vweek they began to filter into’Via Pinde- " monte, a residential street in “Padua. -At .plainclothesmen suddenly leaped into ac-. * he scruffy young men wore bulletproof “pup ‘tent in the middle of the room the “tod -vests under :their. sport shirts-In thé ©. rescue squad found U.S. Brig. Gen. James * chill before a‘northern Italian. dawn last :* Dozier, bearded, shoeless and manacled toa “camp bed. “Wonderful” Dozier cheered. In 90 breath-taking seconds, Italy’ 8 anti- etrorist commandos endéd Dozier’s 42- “about 11:30, as a construction crew with a bulldozer provided a noisy. cover, the 80°. tion. They hustled people out of cars and , ing ‘a crunching blow to the ‘cause and . phone booths; they grabbed the attendants. mystique of the brigatisti. Six weeks after from the gasoline station. As the piazza was * kidnappers jumped him in his Verona home’ | +, cleared, a moving van pulled up to the sub- and carried him-off in a trunk, Dozier; 50, urban apartment building and ten masked *: was rushed to freedom. At first he looked ‘commandos dressed i in. black and cradling © - bapgard in ina borrowed sheepskin coat. But , day ordeal asa Red Brigades prisoner, deal- M-12 light submachine guns jumped outs ¢ One blocked the exit from the Dea Super- market on the ground floor. The nine others sprinted into the building. ~ bh let The commandos raced up twenty steps to. the second floor and barged into a dingy - apartment over the street. Facing them in — the hall stood a startled terrorist of the Red Brigades wearing a jogging suit; he had just come in with two plastic bags of groceries. One commando felled him with a karate chop to the forehead. Another brigatista rushed into the apartment’s middle room, leveling a pistol equipped with a silencer at the “‘people’s prisoner” on the floor. But a commando swung his rifle butt and knocked down the terrorist before he could shoot. Three other surprised terrorists sur- rendered without resistance. Under a blue . ‘once’ in an army hospital, lie asked ‘for | a shave and crew cut, ordered a cheeseburger, French fries and Coke—then returned to military trim with dazzling speed. The day after his rescue, crisply outfitted in uniform, Dozier conducted his own press briefing with wife Judith and daughter Cheryl by his side. In his Florida accent, he thanked “all those people who were on the praying end of it,” lauded his rescuers as “true profession- als” and shrugged off his captivity as {‘just onesmall sacrifice for freedom.” Turnin gto his wife, who had made tearful pleas on Italian TV for his release, Dozier presented a belated Christmas gift: a pendant featur- ing the Lion of Saint Mark, the insignia of Italy’s Veneto. region—and ‘of NATO's Southern Command. -. In- Washington Ronald Reagan tele- 40. Approved For Release 2000/08/07 : CIA-RDP96-00788R0001QQ22009Ireeruary 8, 1982 7 phioned to greet Dozier personally, inter- rupting the military man in the middle of his shave. “I told Nancy hesounded as ifhe had just gone down to the corner for five min- - utes,” tthe President said afterward.:He' praised the general’s “courageand resolve.” Cheers also rang out at the U.S. Embassy.in Rome and at the NATO miilitary base in» ‘Vicenza. But the triumph was mainly Ita- ly’s—and Italians celebrated in the key of _ 85-year-old President Sandro Pertini, who shouted “Bravi! Bravissimil” — - Not since 1975 had Italy’s police rescued Sa ‘Red Brigades kidnap victim alive. The ~ Photos by Ee Edoardo Foredan--Ganma Liaison Tusi c one small snerifce for freedom’ * : Dozier Hanks ise rescuers rsand giv ves his wife, Judith a belated co hug ~ search for Dozier had deployed 6, 000 Ttal- ian Jawmen with the support of American and European anti-terrorist experts—an operation that exceeded even the 1978 hunt for former Prime Minister Aldo Moro, who was executed after 54 days in Red brigade: hands. And the rescue established Italy’s ‘secret Leatherheads commando unit as one . ofthe world’s eliteanti-terrorist forces (page - 44). In one swift strike, the Leatherheads destroyed theinsolent, catch-me-if-you-can _ aura of the Red Brigades, sinking the terror- : ists to a psychological and organizational low (page 42) after twelve years of political havoc. In the sweep for the American gener- al, Italian police arrested dozens of terrorist suspects, seized weapons ranging from handguns tosurface-to-air missiles and con- fiscated thousands of brigades strategy pa- 2 Sey pot bat
Lo LAWL a eT Ee atte, cet reindeer cette mae aL at ai An = mi es ee erermeteccntrengetiere ear See er = roca meanness nates tReet re ~ . pers and documents. After Dozier’s release last week, police kept up the pressure, arrest-_ ing dozens of suspects around Verona and uncovering numerous terrorist safe houses between Veronaand Venice. oy ‘NATO Hangman’: In kidnapping Do- _ zier, the brigatisti had picked a bigger fight than usual. Never before had the Red Bri- gades abducted a non-Italian. And by choosing Dozier, the deputy chief of staff for logistics and administration in NATO’s Southern Command, the Italian terrorists - were declaring war on the entire Atlantic alliance. The day after taking the American general, the Red Brigades pronounced him a “NATO hangman.” In their first commu- niqué, deposited ina Rome garbage pail, the terrorists denounced the alliance as-a “structure of military occupation.” The Red Brigades apparently drove Do- zier from Verona to Padua, 48 miles to the east, and hauled him up in the trunk to a Raa =i Ly oo eas t| ae in The Padua raid: A six-week ordeal ends in a daring 90-second blitz second-floor apartment at No. 2 Via Pinde- monte. The apartment had been rented by ario Frascella, 51, a local physician who specializes in lung diseases. His daughter Emanuela, 20, a history student who was among those arrested by the Leatherheads in last week’s raid, may have served as the apartment’s legitimate tenant and as the kidnappers’ contact with the outside world.- According to Padua’s daily Il Mattino,. neighbors noticed Emanuela “buying large amounts of food regularly.” A nearby news- paper vendor recalled that she had stopped re ROME PAR Bead 2thid BM CHRD %6 -00788R00010 Co ment, a drab suburb called Guizza where many of Padua’s 50,000 university students Aeneas bay ak bay '. + Approved For Release 2000/08/07 : CIA-RDP “People move in and out all the time,” said a local merchant. “Not many know each other. This is the place in Padua where they get their drugs. This place is full of addicts, former students, kids without jobs and fanulloni [dropouts}.” Lifeless at night, Via Pinde- monte bustled with commerce ‘by day. Much of the business centered on the Dea Supermar- ket under Emanuela Frascel- la’s window in the eight-story apartment building that locals call “the skyscraper.” ‘This was a perfect place for them,” said a neighbor. “All day long they unload vans here, bring- ing stuff to the supermarket. If - the terrorists carried the gener- wal upstairs in a trunk in broad He been) sya _ Commando unit storms _ apartment building, rushes up : “*. tothe second floor and breaks down - "the apartment door. tT) Ib Ohtsson—Newsween daylight, no one would have _ noticed a thing.” Hours after the abduction, the Red Brigades announced that Dozier had been taken toa “people’s prison and will be submitted to proletarian jus- tice.” Their second communi- qué accused Dozier of service as an “assassin and hero of the American massacres in Viet- nam.” It arrived with a fuzzy snapshot of the captive general ing his abduction. Dozier suf- fered no other physical injuries - PU erica gi tnd Ne Ea att 0 ES SR Ru, iE ERE 6-00788R000100270001-2 Fabian—Sygma Standing tall after 42 days in a pup tent a The general apparently spent most of his time restrained in the pup tent—a measure designed to prevent him from ever describ- _ ing his surroundings. When the terrorists wished to talk privately, they clamped ’’ earphones on him playing classical music. - Eventually, the terrorists issued a tran- * script of an “interrogation” of the gen- ~ eral, saying their “proletarian trial’? had exposed him as a “butcher.” Early: last week the Red Brigades issued its fifth com- muniqué—complete with a new snapshot ay} J001-2. mmando stuns ‘ terrorist with a blow to tha head befora he can shoot Dozier. of Dozier showing his growth of beari—'
saoannannazynanna 4 : 0100870001 2,inter offensive.. | Among the plots:-as Christian ° » a : Democrats held their nation- | 8% % ally televised national :confer. . Fence, the brigades planned to F open fire, seize television cam- Feras, focus on the politicians . _ |-being’shot and read'a commu- days “befor i The brigadés’ setbacks are sig-.. nificant not~only ; for their. F ‘immediate effects, but also be- * & ‘cause they havea profound im-.. ; pact on recruitment efforts.As ” "the group loses some ofits beat- ° t “ the-world glamour, it also loses : » some of its appeal to would-be ‘ Emembers. With fewer recruits, : ¢ organization ‘must‘rely on * less “-committed arrests of. suspecte d °! Venice, the Rome “ iss in-_:> ment saying it disapproved. One copy ofa E communiqué from Dozier’s kidnappers in- cadersip of th Red ‘Brigades ; Dozier, ‘staging a series of raids on Red © cluded a hazy, 50-line appendix attacking yone el VES: igades hide-outs in which they arrested “the “second column of the August col- least 42 sn spected terrorists, including - , “umn”—believed to be a breakaway group | mastermind ‘Giovanni Senzani, .a “long- “ fromthe Venice unit—for thé “petty bour- maght former professor of criminology at“ geois” offense of stealing brigades’ funds. the University of Florence. Police found . From prison in Palmi, Renato Curcio, hand grenades, guns and 3,000. founder of the: brigades,” smuggled to a pages of . documents, | including Plans Paris newspaper ‘a remarkable 10,000- Appeaved For Rel COCO TOOT SG1A <7FEBRUARY 8, 1982
INTERNATIONAL but coldly declined to. discuss his release. “Negotiate? What -for?” demanded the communi- qué. “The proletariat has nothing to negotiate with the bourgeoi- sie.” After a few days in captivity, Dozier -told . his rescuers, his guards stopped wearing hoods or’ . blindfolding him to conceal their identities. The general took the carelessness as a sign that he had _ been sentenced to die. ’. Professional: Dozier himself gave the Red Brigades little propa- ganda value for its effort. A 1956 West Point graduate, he had col- lected a Silver Star, Bronze Star © and Purple Heart in Vietnam, where he served in the Eleventh Armored Cavalry Regiment. At .the hands of Italian terrorists, he " apparently conducted himselfas a thoroughly. professional soldier. Dozier’s “interrogation” — dis- closed no classified information about NATO security: Instead, the five-page transcript released ~ - by.the Red Brigades seemed to be based for the most part on bio- graphical material seized from his apart-— ment during the kidnapping. . _. According to a ten-page analysis of the interrogation prepared for the U.S, Embas- 4| -. sy in Rome, Dozier apparently rearranged . and even falsified several dates in his career to confuse his captors. The U.S. analysts - also noted that Dozier had identified his .- Vietnam outfit as “Delta Charlie Battal- ‘ion”—and some of them guessed that by adding the superfluous word “Delta,” Do-. zier had meant to signal that he was being held close to water. (Padua is closer to the . Shore than Verona, but still lies 19 miles. ‘west of the Adriatic Coast.) Dozier demon-. .strated no inclination to spout leftist rheto- ‘ricin a bid for freedom. “I think his captors ' gota lot more than they bargained for when they took Jim Dozier,” saida NATO friend. “They were probably more intimidated by him than he was by them. Jim was probably the toughest guy they ever got.” As Dozier tried to cope with his captors, Italian police closed in methodically. Their manhunt was assisted by at least six Ameri- can anti-terrorist experts, including special- ists in intelligence, communications and operational security. But in the flush of - success, the Italians emphasized that they - had run the show. “We never even saw” the foreigners, boasted Verona police chief Pa- squale Zappone. “They all looked on and _ marveled at our efficiency. Today wecan say that weare the best in the world.” An Italian judge moves) in the investigation dis- ain extremely. wary: iS terrorists ‘arelik World War! gener ‘als—they: meastre: progress: in -terms: 0 yards,” Says Jenkins. Seng peeves that - ee ne Milne sti Fal ” t society—especially’ throughout the prison E eradicated: easily, if at all ary, yard blow, but nota decisive. one: “Official ii in- Rome. “We can i ‘weapons: "even: oe could launcha’ major, attack. “ty eater tors ae SUralag Studies : Hiebelieves t here soon mig hibe ‘point: the Red ae will probably try to recover its morale and prestige by doing “ -something spectacular—and soon. At the::" t weekend, the Red Brigades sent out a mes- . - sage vowing to.freé their imprisoned com- rades and ‘declaring,: ‘The liberation of Dozier: will-not: ‘succedd.in stopping the F current revolutionary process.”? ‘NATO i ins . Stallations:: throughout: ‘Italy. ‘remain. ori high security alert: {We don’t believé t -rorism will end’simply- because. Dozier. free,” saysone NATO official. ‘ ‘Now is th most’ dangerousitime: of all: The Red. Bri- gades is likea wounded animal, looking to 4 strike back? And thatimeans uneasy days “ahead for everyones Scam eR ; “SJOHN BRECHER with: 3 bento JANET STOBAR’ Pree dase pas) esi) RDP SEGO7S in Verona; SRE in New York t ROT OB OTe) utely useless.” oneinstance, thecollaboration turnedintoa minor competition. Based on Judith Do- - and bureau reports < : i t : - Approved For Release 2000/08/07 : CIA-RDP96-00788R000100270001-2 Gianni Giansanth_Sygma ‘Freedoni at noon: : Commandos hustle Dozier tosafety can police artists drew sketches of the kid- nappers. “She said ours were better than theirs,” chortledan Italian investigator. The investigation that ultimately uncov- ered the little apartment in Padua was built ° on extensive and thorough Italian legwork. Early last month the dragnet swept up two ‘well-armed guerrillas in central Rome who apparently were on the verge of a major kidnapping. Five days later police stormed three Red Brigades headquarters in the cap- ital and captured a key brigades theorist. The weekend before Dozier’s rescue, five suspected terrorists were arrested in the countryside north of Rome. Closer to Ve- rona the search intensified: one local official guessed expansively that police had combed through “a million” apartments. In public, the authorities expressed total frustration. “Dozier could well be in the harids of the Martians, for all we know,” said one top investigator. Hope: At least twice, anonymous callers announced Dozier’s death and sent police on wild-goose chases looking for the body; in. one case authorities dragged a lake in search of the remains. But hope was kept alive; partly because Red Brigades turn- coats provided clues—possibly encouraged by harsh police interrogations, or perhaps even by “rewards” from a mysterious $1.7 million fund established by anonymous “friends” of Dozier. Finally, the patient policy of checking each tip paid off. Early | last week investigators narrowed their TBSRCOOTOOLTOEG tre of Verona and Padua. By some reports, police were following the lead of a captured terrorist why revealed covaral coeret Read Rrosdac
police unco hide-out demonte. “It was a textbook operation,” said one U.S. official. “They cracked the © column, the people talked, and they fol- lowed up every single lead. They did it right and it worked.” Meticulous Care: Detectives “identified _ -. an early-morning mission, worried that the Dozier’s prison at least twelve hours before ~ the Leatherheads launched their raid. As. they did throughout the manhunt, the com- mandos proceeded with meticulous care.‘ They decided against a nighttime assault for fear that Dozier might go unrecognized and _ be killed in a cross fire. They also ruled out ‘terrorists might notice the advancing com- coetec apge ile ROHRIORRY: FRE ROPE oir seROuT HHT Hide: ..,,timed its attack for the midday bustle. In _ preparation, scores of uniformed police be- : gan to ring the southern suburb in the pre- _ dawn darkness to control traffic into the area, Throughout the morning the 80 plain- clothesmen casually took stations around. the apartment building with a twin set of . orders: to clear civilians out of the potential ' fire zone and to subdue any terrorists who escaped the commando charge. Ataremote ~ location the attack squad filed into the little ‘green moving van. . The Leatherheads who rescued Dozier were equipped for every contingency. Against the possibility of a change in plans the commandos rnight vision and . equipped their weapons with infra-red night scopes. In case tear gas should be required, they carried gas masks. They took along their favorite assault rifle, the Iralian- made M-12, a lightweight, short-barreled _burp gun. They also carried heavy-caliber pistols strapped to their belts under loose- fitting shirts and sweaters. And they wore special, light bulletproof vests reinforced with.thin steel plates. The raiders were led by a youngish-looking police colonel; his identity was kept secret. At 11:35 the raid began with force and ‘Leatherhead Heroe: ee When the Italian police received the crucial ‘tip that led to General Dozier’s rescue, ‘they turned to'their best men todo the: 5 job:,a crack: anti-terrorist: unit called ‘the-teste“di_cuoio, : » Leatherheads ‘Roughly:50 highly trained. policemen make up » Operative ‘Centrale di* Sicurezza. (NOCS).-A: “veil: ‘of. official - secrecy - “surrounds: almost : ‘everything * ‘about them,’ from the: ~ names of their leaders' to the location of their headquarters. They » = owe their dramatic name to theinreputation| for toughness and to: va - -lsts’ ’ underground life-styles and secret communications tech- : -forist outfit that freed. oe ‘group. P 9: need 1 Tofthansi nee “Y gers ‘in a dramatic raid on the airport at’Mo; -in-1977, The Italian police allo - they learn judo and karate, high-speed driving skills, sharp- shooting, demolition and explosives work; they also master the ~ use.of specialized weapons and equipment such as the M-12 ubmachine guns and lightweight bulletproof vests used in the Padua raid. ‘The training stresses.night operations: the Leath- etheads ‘who rescued Dozier wére carrying special ‘infra-red » glasses. for night vision and had infra-red scopes. ‘mounted on a nemy.”’ They steep themselves in terrorist ee: and methods _ and pore over Red Brigades tracts to absorb the murky brigatisti - ideology. They verse themselves in the minute details of terror- ~ NOCS expertise in radio interception, phone-call tracing and “ ther’ ‘electronic. surveillance: methods—led ‘Ao:several gas,” "the NOCS eee its 7 -Fierce Riyals: With the Paduar . st major operational: victory: “Until last‘week;.the:most suc- *; cessful commando strike against the Red Brigades—a hélicopter .- raid on the Trani Prison in southern Italy in late 1980 that, freeda -. oup of, hostages held by Red Brigades inmates—was the work. orist task force, the’ Special Intervention. . anna ens ee IL . to -volunteer, for. the..NOCS unit, and only a fraction of the "applications. win acceptance. To pass _muster,.; volunteers must ‘show: not..only’ enthu- - ‘siasnt, and_ intelligence © but >also top physical. conditioning. -}. ~ Says one source in Italy’s Inte- <rior Ministry; which oversees .. the force: “We want well-mo- . tivated ‘men ‘who are. strong, * fast, quick and lean.” ‘|. ‘Like Marines: The NOCS ; - “comimandos undergo the most." .. grueling and “comprehensive ™ | training of any Italian security -. force.. “They are trained like :- U.S. Marines,”. says one aide - * at the Interior Ministry: Once“ _ the men are selected, they go. | to the Abbasanta Police Train- . : ing Center in the rugged,’> ! _ rocky hill country of Sardinia;-. also the terrain where Italy’s - Army Reserve rehearses mili-.:, Group (GIS), which operates | ‘asan arm ofthecarabinieri par. . amilitary police under the com mand of Italy’s Deferise Minis- — «try. The GIS anti-terrorists are “also called Leatherheads—and . | «the NOCS and GIS units are | ‘ ..fierce rivals. Lack of coordina: ". ‘tion: between the two. groups “has been blamed in the ‘past for “hampering Italy’s anti-terror- “ist campaign. No more. The “NOCScommandosarenowna- :.tional—although still anony- : mous—heroes. When Dozier's rescuers “went before Ital- :ian television cameras, they =masked their faces with ski _ masks, “scarfs,” nylon stock. rings—even a paper bag. The "unspoken message: the Leath- — *érheads are ready and eager to . "grapple with the Red Brigades any time they |! have to. ‘ o -MARK WHITAKER with "._, RON MOREAU in Rome NEWSWEEK/FEBRUARY 8, 1982 Approved For. Release 2000/08/07 : CIA- RDPS6- 00788R000100270001 -2 = - EEE el te aE i CT Ey Tra