Italian Terror Suspect Arrested in Venezuela

Special agents have arrested Stefano Delle Chiaie, an Italian neo-fascist sought for the bombing deaths of more than 100 people and other crimes, Col. Porfirio Valera, security police commander, announced Sunday.

Delle Chiaie, a fugitive for 17 years, was one of the world’s most wanted men.

Valera said Delle Chiaie will be deported to Italy after Venezuelan authorities finish interrogating him.

He has been on trial in Italy in his absence in connection with the Aug. 12, 1980, bombing of the Bologna train station in which 85 people were killed and more than 200 injured. The bombing was believed to be the work of neo-fascists.

Delle Chiaie was arrested Saturday at an apartment in a middle-class Caracas neighborhood where he apparently lived for the last three years, Valera said.

“Our security agents had been alerted that Delle Chiaie had fled Bolivia, and they began a long search that concluded yesterday (Saturday),” he told reporters. He said Delle Chiaie tried to escape through a back door, but special police agents gave chase and captured him on the street.

“He politely congratulated our agents and told them it was the first time he had been caught,” Valera said.

Delle Chiaie, 49, used more than 20 aliases after fleeing Italy in 1970, according to Valera. He entered Venezuela in 1984 with a Bolivian passport.

Papers found in the apartment included lists of drug traffickers, Italian neo-fascist literature and a list of Italian extreme rightists in Venezuela, the commander said.

Delle Chiaie fled after being accused of involvement in the Dec. 12, 1969, bombing of a bank in Milan. The blast killed 16 people and wounded more than 100. That case remains unsolved. He is also wanted in other terrorism cases, including two unsuccessful coup plots in 1970 and 1973, a train bombing in August, 1974, and the murder of an Italian judge, Vittorio Occorsio, in 1976.