Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa
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Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa (September 27, 1920 – 3 September 1982) was a general of the Italian carabinieri notable for campaigning against terrorism during Italy's 1970s strategy of tension, and later assassinated by the Mafia in Palermo.
Born in Saluzzo, Cuneo, he became commandant of the (military) region of Piemonte-valle d'Aosta in 1974 and created an anti-terrorism structure in Turin, which succeeded capturing in September 1974 Red Brigades members Renato Curcio and Alberto Franceschini, with the help of Silvano "frate mitra" Girotto's infiltration.
On May 1, 1982, Dalla Chiesa was appointed as prefect for Palermo to stop the violence of the Second Mafia War. He was murdered in Palermo on September 3, 1982, on the orders of Mafia boss Salvatore Riina. He and his second wife were being driven through the city at night when a number of gunmen on motorbikes and a car forced the car off the road where it crashed into a stationary vehicle. The gunmen opened fire and Dalla Chiesa was killed along with his wife and their driver. The lead killer was Giuseppe Greco, who was later convicted in absentia of the crime at the Maxi Trial. A number of other gunmen were involved, including twenty-one-year-old Giuseppe Lucchese, who was also convicted of the crime at the Maxi Trial. Riina and various other Mafia bosses, such as Benedetto Santapaola were subsequently convicted for ordering the killing.
Dalla Chiesa was also investigating the death of Mauro de Mauro, a journalist who had himself been investigating on the murder of Enrico Mattei, head of Agip, the Italian oil company.
