New York Times
November 15, 1973 - p.5An Italian 'Death List' of 1,617
Attributed to Rightist Plotters
By PAUL HOFMANN
Special to The New York TimesROME, Nov. 14—Judicial authorities are examining a "death list" of 1,617 Italians whom neo-Fascist plotters had allegedly planned to assassinate. The existence of the list is a matter of intense nationwide interest, and inclusion in it is a political status symbol.
Four persons, including a lawyer and a doctor, were arrested in northern Italy in the last few days and a warrant is out for a fifth. They are charged with subversive activity with a view to committing a chain of crimes to prepare an ultrarightist take-over.
The death roll, with several crates of evidence, was seized in the villa of the arrested physician, Dr. Ciampaolo Porta Casuccia of La Spezia, near Genoa, who served as a volunteer with the German Navy during World War II and is said to have many neo-Nazi friends in West Germany.
The full list has not been published, but many names were leaked. Today newspapers identified scores.
The Communist party leader, Enrico Berlinguer, is listed for assassination, as are many other well-known Communists. Pietro Nenni, the 82-year-old Socialist, is also on the list, as are hundreds of prominent left-wing politicians.
Interior Minister Paolo Emilio Taviani, who is in charge of police forces, is designated, along with some left-of-center members of his party, the Christian Democrats.
Surprisingly, the list includes Giorio-Almirante, leader of the parliamentary arm of neo-Fascism, the Italian Social Movement — National Right Wing. Right-wing extremists have long been criticizing him as too moderate.
The list, 400 of whose entries are Romans, contains the name of two journalists, a man and a woman, who recently caused the displeasure of the Vatican by publishing a book purporting to be based on tape-recorded conversations between priests and persons posing as penitents in confessionals.
Sources close to the investigation named Prince Junio Valerio Borghese, now believed to be in Spain, as a mastermind of the conspiracy. Known as the Black Prince, he is wanted on subversion charges for his alleged role in an abortive coup d'etat in 1971.
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