Argentina Offers Bounty After Former Red Brigades Terrorist Escapes House Arrest
Argentine authorities launched a manhunt and offered a 20 million peso reward for 74-year-old former Red Brigades terrorist Leonardo Bertulazzi, who escaped house arrest in Buenos Aires using a rope and a faked electronic monitor.
Argentine authorities have launched an extensive manhunt and issued a 20 million peso reward for the capture of Leonardo Bertulazzi, a 74-year-old former member of the Italian Red Brigades terrorist organization who escaped house arrest in Buenos Aires. Bertulazzi, who was awaiting extradition to Italy to serve a 27-year prison sentence, fled his fifth-floor apartment by descending with a rope and harness while tricking his electronic ankle monitoring device.
Investigators revealed that the fugitive manipulated his monitoring device before his escape on November 10. He placed the electronic tracker inside a tube containing animal fat near a heating pad to continuously simulate human body heat, allowing him to evade detection while he descended from the balcony. After dropping to the ground and scaling a gate, he vanished into the surrounding area, prompting an immediate security response.
Criminal Background and Extradition
Bertulazzi was a logistical operative for the Red Brigades, a far-left Italian extremist group active in the 1970s and 1980s that sought to overthrow the state through violence. He was convicted in absentia in Italy for his involvement in the 1977 kidnapping of wealthy shipping heir Pietro Costa, a crime that generated a massive ransom used to finance the organization and fund the subsequent abduction and murder of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro. Although initially arrested in Argentina in 2002 and granted refugee status in 2004, the administration of President Javier Milei revoked that status in 2024, clearing the path for his extradition.
Following his escape, the Argentine government established a financial reward for actionable intelligence leading to his whereabouts. Local authorities subsequently detained a Salvadoran woman and a Uruguayan man on November 14 on suspicion of providing operational assistance during the breakout. The international manhunt remains active as law enforcement agencies coordinate efforts to recapture the fugitive.
