MMP: Red Brigades Walter Alasia

Red Brigades Walter Alasia

The Red Brigades Walter Alasia (BR-WA) was the first of three main groups to break from the Red Brigades (BR), Italy's main terrorist organization, beginning in 1980.

AT A GLANCE

Overview

Brief Summary of the Organization's History.

Overview Overview

Organization

How does a group organize? Who leads it? How does it finance operations?

Organization Organization

Strategy

How does a group fight? What are its aims and ideologies? What are some of its major attacks?

Strategy Strategy

Major Attacks

What are the group's most famous attacks? What are some key attacks in the group's evolution?

Major Attacks Major Attacks

Interactions

What is the group's relationship with the community? How does it interact with other groups?

Interactions Interactions

Maps

What is the group's relationship with other militants over time?

Maps Maps

Key Statistics

1980

First Recorded Activity

1980

First Attack

1981

Last Recorded Activity

Contact

MAPPINGMILITANTS@LISTS.STANFORD.EDU

How to Cite

Mapping Militant Organizations. “Red Brigades Walter Alasia.” Stanford University. Last modified June 2018. mappingmilitants.cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/profiles/red-brigades-walter-alasia

OverviewBrief History

Overview

Formed	November 12, 1980
Disbanded	January 1983
First Attack	November 12, 1980: Two members of the BR-WA killed an industrial manager on a train in Milan. (1 killed)
Last Attack	June 3, 1981: Members of the BR-WA kidnapped a manager of the Alfa Romeo car company in Milan. They released him July 23, 1981. (0 killed)
Updated	June 27, 2012

The Red Brigades Walter Alasia column (BR-WA) was the first of several groups that split from the Red Brigades, Italy's largest left-wing terrorist organization, beginning in 1980. It formed when the Red Brigades' Milan column split from the central authority. It targeted mostly factory managers in an effort to re-focus the Italian left on the workers' struggle. Like the BR and its other successors, the BR-WA disintegrated due to arrests, the death of some members, and arrested members' cooperation with authorities.

Narrative

The Red Brigades Walter Alasia (BR-WA) was the first of three main groups to break from the Red Brigades (BR), Italy's main terrorist organization, beginning in 1980.[i] The BR-WA had been the Milan column of the BR but split from its parent organization over ideological and personal disputes. It was named after a BR militant who had been killed in a shootout with police in 1976.

The BR-WA argued that the core organization had lost touch with the working class. This dispute had come to the surface in summer 1979, when the BR and its Milan branch issued competing strategic documents on the workers' struggle in the factories.[ii] The BR central command tried and failed to resolve the groups' differences at a meeting in Rome the following summer.[iii]

The BR-WA in essence declared its independence with the killing of an industrial manager on a train in Milan in November 1980 without the approval of the BR's national leaders.[iv] The BR formally expelled the Walter Alasia column in response shortly afterward. The split was the first of several stemming from ideological disputes over the core mission of the BR as many of its historic leaders were arrested.

The BR-WA may have intended to take over the national leadership of the entire BR, but it did not expand beyond Milan or stage more than a handful of successful attacks.[v] It survived independently only three years. Like the BR and its other successors, the group disintegrated due to arrests, the violent deaths of some members, and other members' cooperation with authorities.[vi]

[i] Brigaterosse.org. "Le Brigate rosse – Colonna "Walter Alasia" (1980-1983)." September 11, 2005. Available: http://www.brigaterosse.org/brigaterosse/storia/alasia.htm

[ii] Brigaterosse.org."Le Brigate rosse – Colonna "Walter Alasia" (1980-1983)." September 11, 2005. Available: http://www.brigaterosse.org/brigaterosse/storia/alasia.htm

[iii] Fenzi, Enrico (Deposition) in Moran, Sue Ellen (ed.). Inside a Terrorist Group: The Red Brigades of Italy. Diane Publishing, 1987. pp. 199-201.

[iv] Brigaterosse.org. "Le Brigate rosse – Colonna "Walter Alasia" (1980-1983)." September 11, 2005. Available: http://www.brigaterosse.org/brigaterosse/storia/alasia.htm

[v] Brigaterosse.org. "Le Brigate rosse – Colonna "Walter Alasia" (1980-1983)." September 11, 2005. Available: http://www.brigaterosse.org/brigaterosse/storia/alasia.htm

[vi] Friday, Carolyn. "Why Italy Got Tough on Red Brigades Prisoners." The Christian Science Monitor, March 3, 1982. Available: http://www.csmonitor.com/1982/0303/030362.html

Organizational StructureLeadership, Name Changes, Size Estimates, Resources, Geographic Locations

Leadership

There are no recorded leaders for this group.

Name Changes

There are no recorded name changes for this group.

Size Estimates

1983: 123 people prosecuted for involvement in the BR-WA (La Mappa Perduta)[i]

[i] Curcio, Renato (ed). La Mappa Perduta. Roma: Sensibili alle foglie, 1994. p. 187. Also available via Brigaterosse.org."Le Brigate rosse – Colonna "Walter Alasia" (1980-1983)." September 11, 2005. Retrieved April 16, 2012, from http://www.brigaterosse.org

Resources

Geographic Locations

There are no recorded geographical locations for this group.

StrategyIdeology, Aims, Political Activities, Targets, and Tactics

Ideology and Goals

Communist revolutionary

Left-wing

The Red Brigades Walter Alasia (BR-WA), like all of Italy's left-wing terrorist groups including the Red Brigades and its other successors, generally sought to overthrow the Italian state and replace it with a dictatorship of the proletariat. The group argued that the historic core of the Red Brigades had lost touch with the working class and was too hierarchical. In this regard, the BR-WA ideologically resembled BR rival Prima Linea (PL), whose founders had split from the Red Brigades in the mid-1970s over similar disagreements.

Political Activities

There are no recoreded political activities for this group.

Targets and Tactics

The BR-WA targeted factory managers almost exclusively, killing two and kidnapping one. The group staged only a handful of successful attacks over its three-year lifespan, however. Unlike the BR's other offshoots, it did not focus on politicians, magistrates, law enforcement, or prisons.

Major AttacksFirst Attacks, Largest Attacks, Notable Attacks

Major Attacks

Disclaimer: These are some selected major attacks in the militant organization's history. It is not a comprehensive listing, but captures some of the most famous attacks or turning points during the campaign.

November 12, 1980: Two members of the BR-WA killed an industrial manager on a train in Milan. (1 killed)[i]
November 28, 1980: Members of the BR-WA killed an engineer near his home in Milan. (1 killed).[ii]
February 17, 1981: Four members of the BR-WA killed a hospital director as he was getting out of his car in Milan. The victim had previously attempted to curb the BR's influence among his patients. (1 killed).[iii]
June 2, 1981: Members of the BR-WA kidnapped the director of production of the Alfa Romeo car factory in Milan. They released him July 23. (0 killed).[iv]

[i] Brigaterosse.org. "Breve storia delle Brigate rosse (1970-1987) Parte III." June 4, 2006, available: http://www.brigaterosse.org/brigaterosse/storia/storia3.htm; Associazione Italiana per Vittime del Terrorismo, Schede/1980/BRIANO, available: http://www.vittimeterrorismo.it/memorie/schede/briano.htm

[ii] Segio, Sergio. Una Vita In Prima Linea. 1. ed. Milano: Rizzoli, 2006. p. 372.

[iii] Segio, Sergio. Una Vita In Prima Linea. 1. ed. Milano: Rizzoli, 2006. p. 372, and Associazione Italiana Vittime del Terrorismo. Schede/1981/MARANGONI. Available: http://www.vittimeterrorismo.it/memorie/schede/marangoni.htm

[iv] Segio, Sergio. Una Vita In Prima Linea. 1. ed. Milano: Rizzoli, 2006. p. 373.

InteractionsForeign Designations and Listings, Community Relations, Relations with Other Groups, State Sponsors and External Influences

Designated/Listed

This group has not been designated as a terrorist organization by any major national government or international body.

Community Relations

The relationship between Red Brigades Walter Alasia and the communities in which it resides is unknown.

Relationships with Other Groups

The BR-WA was one of three main groups that split from the Red Brigades, Italy's largest left-wing terrorist group, beginning in 1980. The others were the Red Brigades Fighting Communist Party (BR-PCC) and the Red Brigades Guerrilla Party (BR-PG). BR-WA was previously known as the Milan wing of the BR prior to the split.

The BR-WA and the BR were ideological rivals. The BR-WA may have wanted to take over the main organization but never spread beyond its original base in Milan before it was rapidly dismantled by law enforcement.[i]

The BR-WA was ideologically aligned with the Red Brigades Guerrilla Party (BR-PG) and with Prima Linea (PL), the second-largest left-wing terrorist group in Italy. Members of the BR-WA, the BR-PG, and the PL discussed collaborating on a prison break but cancelled the operation because it was too difficult.[ii]

[i] Fenzi, Enrico (Deposition) in Moran, Sue Ellen (ed.). Inside a Terrorist Group: The Red Brigades of Italy. Diane Publishing, 1987. pp. 199-201.

[ii] Segio, Sergio. Una Vita In Prima Linea. 1. ed. Milano: Rizzoli, 2006. p. 201.

State Sponsors and External Influences

There are no publicly available external influences for this group.

MapsThe project develops a series of interactive diagrams that “map” relationships among groups and show how those relationships change over time. The user can change map settings to display different features (e.g., leadership changes), adjust the time scale, and trace individual groups.