Pietro Caruso (10 November 1899 in

Maddaloni Maddaloni (Neapolitan language, Campanian: ) is a town and ''comune'' of Campania, Italy, in the province of Caserta, about southeast of Caserta, with stations on the railways from Caserta to Benevento and from Caserta to Naples. Main sights The ...

– 22 September 1944 in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

) was an Italian

Fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

and head of the Rome police in 1944. Born in

Campania Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...

in 1899, he fought in the

Bersaglieri The Bersaglieri, singular Bersagliere, (, "sharpshooter") are a troop of marksmen in the Italian Army's infantry corps. They were originally created by General Alessandro La Marmora on 18 June 1836 to serve in the Royal Sardinian Army, which ...

in the final months of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and participated in Gabriele D'Annunzio's occupation of Fiume in 1920-1921. In 1921 he joined the

National Fascist Party The National Fascist Party ( it, Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian Fascism and as a reorganization of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The ...

, and on the following year he participated in the

March on Rome The March on Rome ( it, Marcia su Roma) was an organized mass demonstration and a coup d'état in October 1922 which resulted in Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party (PNF) ascending to power in the Kingdom of Italy. In late October 1922, Fa ...

. In 1923 he joined the Volunteer Militia from National Security, rising in rank over the years from ''capomanipolo'' (

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

) to ''primo seniore'' (

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

). In 1941 he was one of the judges of the Extraordinary Tribunal for Dalmatia. After the

Armistice of Cassibile The Armistice of Cassibile was an armistice signed on 3 September 1943 and made public on 8 September between the Kingdom of Italy and the Allies during World War II. It was signed by Major General Walter Bedell Smith for the Allies and Brig ...

he joined the

Italian Social Republic The Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, ; RSI), known as the National Republican State of Italy ( it, Stato Nazionale Repubblicano d'Italia, SNRI) prior to December 1943 but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò ...

, and organized the confiscation of the

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

belonging to the

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

population of

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

. He met and befriended

Tullio Tamburini Tullio Tamburini (22 April 1892 – 1957) was an Italian soldier, adventurer and fascist official. Life Born in Prato, Tamburini had been a schoolteacher in Florence but was sacked from his job. He then made his way as a petty criminal before s ...

, chief of the police of the Italian Social Republic, who in January 1944 appointed him ''questore'' (police chief) of

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

, and next month of Rome. Together with

Herbert Kappler Herbert Kappler (23 September 1907 – 9 February 1978) was a key German SS functionary and war criminal during the Nazi era. He served as head of German police and security services (''Sicherheitspolizei'' and SD) in Rome during the Second W ...

, the German

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

chief in

, Caruso organised the massacre in

Fosse Ardeatine The Ardeatine massacre, or Fosse Ardeatine massacre ( it, Eccidio delle Fosse Ardeatine), was a mass killing of 335 civilians and political prisoners carried out in Rome on 24 March 1944 by German occupation troops during the Second World War ...

on 24 March 1944 as revenge for an attack the day before by

Italian partisans The Italian resistance movement (the ''Resistenza italiana'' and ''la Resistenza'') is an umbrella term for the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Social ...

on a column of German soldiers in Rome. 335 people, many of them belonging to the

Italian Resistance The Italian resistance movement (the ''Resistenza italiana'' and ''la Resistenza'') is an umbrella term for the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Social ...

, were shot during the massacre. One of the victims,

Maurizio Giglio Maurizio Giglio (20 December 1920 - 24 March 1944) was an Italian soldier and policeman. In September 1943, during World War II, the Italian government concluded an armistice with the Allies. He thereafter transmitted military intelligence by ra ...

, had been one of Caruso's own lieutenants, but had been arrested seven days earlier as a secret agent working for the Allies through OSS. After the

liberation of Rome The Battle of Anzio was a battle of the Italian Campaign of World War II that took place from January 22, 1944 (beginning with the Allied amphibious landing known as Operation Shingle) to June 5, 1944 (ending with the capture of Rome). The op ...

, Caruso was tried for his numerous crimes, sentenced to death on 21 September 1944 and executed by a firing squad of

Polizia di Stato The ''Polizia di Stato'' (State Police or P.S.) is one of the national police forces of Italy. Alongside the Carabinieri, it is the main police force for providing police duties, primarily to cities and large towns, and with its child agencies ...

in the courtyard of the Fort Bravetta in

. The high court of justice also condemned Roberto Occhietto, Caruso's secretary and co-defendant, to 30 years' imprisonment on the same collaboration charge. The eight-man high court, presided over by judge Lorenzo Maroni, heard prosecutor

Mario Berlinguer Mario Berlinguer (; Sassari, 29 August 1891 – Rome, 5 September 1969) was an Italian lawyer and politician. He descended from a noble Sardinians, Sardinian family of Catalans, Catalan origins. As many of his ancestors, he belonged to the Freema ...

characterize the two defendants as “wild beasts” and the verdicts were delivered after two hours' deliberation. Caruso, sentenced to be shot in the back, turned pale as Maroni announced the verdict.Associated Press, “Axis Stooge to Be Shot in Back - Italian Chief of Police Sentenced”, ''The San Bernardino Daily Sun'', San Bernardino, California, Friday 22 September 1944, Volume 51, page 2.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Caruso, Pietro 1899 births 1944 deaths Italian mass murderers Italian fascists Executed Italian people People executed by Italy by firing squad Italian people convicted of war crimes People from the Province of Caserta 20th-century executions by Italy People executed for war crimes Italian military personnel of World War I Executed mass murderers