Giuseppe Pinelli Dies in Police Custody (1969)

Mon Dec 15, 1969

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Giuseppe “Pino” Pinelli (1928 - 1969) was an Italian railroad worker and anarchist who fell to his death on this day in 1969 while being detained by Italian police. His death became the subject of the play “Accidental Death of an Anarchist” by Dario Fo.

Pinelli was a member of the Milan-based anarchist association named “Ponte della Ghisolfa”, and was also the secretary of the Italian branch of the Anarchist Black Cross. He organized young anarchists in the “Gioventu Libertaria” (Libertarian Youth) in 1962 and helped found the “Sacco and Vanzetti anarchist association” in 1965.

A few days before Pinelli’s death, Italian fascists from the “Ordine Nuovo” orchestrated a bombing campaign in Milan; one bomb in Piazza Fontana killed 17 people and injured 88. The bombing was blamed on Italian anarchists, and Pinelli was detained along with many other leftists, including Pietro Valpreda, who was falsely convicted and served eighteen years in prison.

Just before midnight on December 15th, 1969, Pinelli fell to his death from a fourth floor window of the Milan police station. Three police officers interrogating Pinelli, including Commissioner Luigi Calabresi, were put under investigation in 1971 for his death, but legal proceedings concluded it was due to accidental causes.

Calabresi was later gunned down at his home in 1972, for which left-wing journalist Adriano Sofri was convicted in 1997.