The Red Brigades was a Marxist–Leninist armed terrorist organization, which was operating as a far-left guerilla and terrorist group based in Italy. It was responsible for numerous violent incidents during Italy's Years of Lead, including the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro in 1978. A former prime minister of Italy through the Organic centre-left, the murder of Aldo Moro was widely condemned, as was the murder of left-wing trade unionist Guido Rossa in January 1979. Sandro Pertini, the then left-wing president of Italy, said at Rossa's funeral: "It is not the President of the Republic speaking, but comrade Pertini. I knew [the real] red brigades: they fought with me against the fascists, not against democrats. For shame!"
Moro photographed during his detention by the Red Brigades
In Italy, the phrase Years of Lead refers to a period of political violence and social upheaval that lasted from the late 1960s until the late 1980s, marked by a wave of both far-left and far-right incidents of political terrorism and violent clashes.
Aftermath of the bombing at the Bologna railway station in August 1980 which killed 85 people, the deadliest event during the Years of Lead, carried out by the neo-fascist terrorist group known as the Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari
A passage of the funerals of the victims of the Piazza Fontana bombing. The funeral march goes through Milan Cathedral Square. Milan, 12 December 1969
Renato Curcio in 2008
Junio Valerio Borghese
