Luciano Lutring (30 December 1937 – 13 May 2013) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

, author and painter, known as "the submachine gun soloist" ("il solista del mitra"), because he kept the weapon in a violin case. Born in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, Lutring carried out hundreds of robberies in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

during the sixties, for an estimated 35 billion lire. On 1 September 1965, during a robbery in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, Lutring was seriously wounded and remained in critical condition for two months. Sentenced to 22 years in prison, he served 12 years in prison in France, during which he began to write and paint, even exchanging letters with

Sandro Pertini Alessandro "Sandro" Pertini (; 25 September 1896 – 24 February 1990) was an Italian socialist politician who served as the president of Italy from 1978 to 1985. Early life Born in Stella (Province of Savona) as the son of a wealthy landown ...

, then Italian President of the Chamber of Deputies. Later, in what is the only recorded case in history, he was pardoned by two presidents,

Georges Pompidou Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou ( , ; 5 July 19112 April 1974) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1969 until his death in 1974. He previously was Prime Minister of France of President Charles de Gaulle from 1962 to 196 ...

of France and Italy's

Giovanni Leone Giovanni Leone (; 3 November 1908 – 9 November 2001) was an Italian politician, jurist, and university professor. A founding member of the Christian Democracy (DC), Leone served as the President of Italy from December 1971 until June 1978. H ...

. In 1966,

Carlo Lizzani Carlo Lizzani (3 April 1922 – 5 October 2013) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and critic. Biography Born in Rome, before World War II Lizzani worked as a scenarist on such films as Roberto Rossellini's ''Germany Year Zero'', ...

directed a film based on his story, ''

Wake Up and Die ''Wake Up and Die'' (Italian: ''Svegliati e uccidi''), also known as ''Wake Up and Kill'' and ''I Kill for Kicks'', is a 1966 Italian crime drama film directed by Carlo Lizzani, based on the real life of Luciano Lutring, an Italian criminal known ...

'', with

Robert Hoffmann Robert Hoffmann (30 August 1939 – 4 July 2022) was an Austrian actor, best known to British audiences for his title role performance in ''The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe'' (1964). Hoffmann was born in Salzburg. ''Crusoe'' was his screen de ...

and

Gian Maria Volonté Gian Maria Volonté (9 April 1933 – 6 December 1994) was an Italian actor, including roles in four Spaghetti Western films: Ramón Rojo in Sergio Leone's ''A Fistful of Dollars'' (1964) and El Indio in Leone's '' For a Few Dollars More'' ( ...

References

Further reading