“Accusing my father of a possible involvement in a murder or of having relations with the mafia is a slap in the face to his memory and history.” Thus Stefano Andreotti, son of the 7-time Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, expresses that he is “saddened by the words” of Rita Dalla Chiesa regarding a possible involvement of the historic representative of the DC in the killing of General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa. “The sentences from Palermo and Perugia have disproven” any such hypotheses, he emphasizes, recalling how there was instead “a relationship of great mutual respect” between his father and the general.
Rita Dalla Chiesa points to Andreotti behind her father’s death: “Killed for a favor to a politician”
Andreotti had great faith in Dalla Chiesa
“My father had great faith in the general; he wanted him to head the special anti-terrorism unit, giving him powers that allowed for great results against the Red Brigades.” After ’79, Giulio Andreotti remained out of government, only to return in ’83 as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Craxi government. “In those years, before his tragic murder – the son recounts – Dalla Chiesa would come to Rome and ask to meet with my father to exchange ideas and discuss, cordial meetings between people who respected one another.” “My father – he explains – advised Dalla Chiesa against going as Prefect to Palermo, suggested he should request greater powers to be able to coordinate the fight against crime not only in Sicily, but also in the other regions of the South, the ‘ndrangheta in Calabria and the camorra in Campania.”
The value of legality according to Dalla Chiesa: “It’s like a feeling”
simona romagnoli
The correspondence between Andreotti and Dalla Chiesa
Stefano Andreotti also revealed a letter exchange from 1979. In the first letter, dated September 3, 1979, Giulio Andreotti addresses the general, writing that he appreciated his decision to remain at the head of the anti-terrorism unit, renouncing his return to the position of General of the Carabinieri. “Dear General – Andreotti writes, who has just left Palazzo Chigi where Francesco Cossiga has arrived – I know that accepting the confirmation of your appointment is burdensome, but I also know your patriotism and think about what effect the announcement of a different solution would have caused, and therefore we must be even more grateful. I wish you good work and send my warmest regards.” On the 16th of the same month, Dalla Chiesa replies: “I am very grateful for the feelings of solidarity and encouragement that you have kindly sent me; I knew of your benevolence and – with a touch of presumption – also of your regard, but being able to read such kind expressions at a time of particular inner turmoil, and when I most longed for a return to the ranks and therefore into the shadows, did me good and gave me that little bit of oxygen I needed,” the general writes. “I continue to hope that within a few months my aspirations may find their realization; that emotional states will also allow room for those who, more than wanting to appear, wish to preserve the faith of humility and modesty in the service of our State; but I am also certain that in the time period for which you have requested me to continue to play a part, my performances will be characterized as you wish, by the truest sense of responsibility toward the government and the community. I renew, Mr. President, the expressions of my gratitude,” the text concludes.
Why Andreotti did not attend Dalla Chiesa’s funeral
Then in September, after 100 days as Prefect in Palermo, the tragic end on Via Carini: the general is slaughtered by bursts of Kalashnikov. “My father was shocked by that murder – he assures – Moreover, he knew well the wife Setti Carraro and her family; he had been friendly with her and had helped her during the Red Cross days.” However, Andreotti did not attend the funeral: “My father had no government roles at that time; he wrote a heartfelt telegram sent to the general’s brother, Romeo, in the diary of those days we find words of esteem and condolences for Dalla Chiesa,” continues Stefano, who with his sister Serena has edited a critical edition of his father’s diaries in recent years. However, in the records of that time, a comment from Andreotti himself ended up, justifying his absence from the funeral, explaining that he “preferred baptisms to funerals.” “It’s indeed a very unfortunate remark – Stefano admits – but it certainly did not express his thoughts at the time.”
Andreotti’s oath before death
Stefano Andreotti prefers to remember instead what the former Prime Minister wrote in the letters he left to his children, to be read the day after his death on May 6, 2013. “My father left serenely; he had true faith, in those lines we read on the evening of his passing, it was written ‘I swear before God that I had nothing to do with the Mafia, except to fight it, nor with the murders of Dalla Chiesa and Pecorelli’”.