Ex-Red Brigades Militant Escapes House Arrest in Argentina Prior to Extradition
Former Red Brigades member Leonardo Bertulazzi, 74, escaped from house arrest in Buenos Aires while awaiting extradition to Italy, using a harness to rappel from a fifth-floor balcony.
Leonardo Bertulazzi, a 74-year-old former member of the Red Brigades terrorist group that terrorized Italy in the 1970s, has escaped from house arrest in Argentina while awaiting extradition to his homeland to serve a 27-year prison sentence, authorities in Buenos Aires confirmed on Wednesday.
The Red Brigades were founded in 1973 by Renato Curcio, adhering to a Marxist-Leninist ideology. During their active years in the 1970s and 1980s, group members wounded and killed dozens of judges, politicians, journalists, and industrialists, being responsible for an estimated 14,000 attacks.
Logistic Role in Aldo Moro's Kidnapping
According to the Argentine government, Bertulazzi was linked to the logistical side of the 1978 kidnapping of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro, who was abducted in March of that year and found dead two months later in the trunk of a car in central Rome.
Bertulazzi participated in the abduction of shipowner Pietro Costa, and used the ransom money to purchase the apartment on Via Montalcini in Rome where Moro was held hostage. In 1987, an Italian court sentenced Bertulazzi in absentia to 27 years in prison for criminal conspiracy and membership in an armed gang, but he had already fled to Argentina.
Decades on the Run and Escape
Bertulazzi was first arrested in Argentina in 2002 after decades on the run, but was released shortly after. In 2024, police arrested him again after the right-wing administration of President Javier Milei revoked his refugee status. He had been under house arrest in Buenos Aires since August 2024.
In July 2025, Argentina approved his extradition to Italy after the Supreme Court rejected his final appeal. However, the Argentine judiciary allowed him to await extradition under house arrest due to his age. That decision proved fateful when Bertulazzi escaped from his residence in the San Telmo neighborhood.
According to local media reports, Bertulazzi, who was wearing an electronic ankle monitor, managed to escape by rappelling down with a harness from the fifth-floor balcony of his home. When police realized his monitor was inactive, they arrived at the residence to find the device disconnected, having been attached to a thermal simulation device to fool authorities. The Argentine government announced a 20 million peso reward (approximately $13,000) for information leading to his capture.
