During the Second World War, there were a number of brutal police forces that operated
that struck fear into the hearts of the public.
One of the most feared was the Gestapo who operated inside German occupied lands and
Nazi Germany, and they helped to ensure that Hitler instilled his dictatorship over the
people.
The Gestapo instructed the German people to even turn in their neighbours if they suspected
that they were anti-Hitler or part of resistance activities.
Inside of Italy, after Mussolini took powers there was a fascist police force set up that
operated in the same manner, to protect his dictatorship.
The Head of the Police in Rome was Pietro Caruso, who was executed by firing squad in
September 1944 following his fall from grace and the liberation of Rome.
So join us today as we look at, ‘The BRUTAL Execution of Pietro Caruso’ remember to
support our channel, please make sure to subscribe.
Pietro Caruso was born on the 10th November 1899 inside of Campania.
Little is known about his early life, but he was active in the First World War.
He fought in the Italian army during the final months of the conflict, and he remained inside
of the military during the early part of the 1920s.
But as many people did across Italy in the 1920s, he joined the National Fascist Party.
Mussolini was rising to power rather rapidly, and in 1922 Caruso was involved in the March
on Rome.
Here Mussolini and his blackshirts demonstrated and were involved in a coup that resulted
in the National Fascicst Party and Mussolini becoming in power.
Mussolini was appointed Prime Minister on the 29th October 1922, and served as the dictator
of the country as he consolidated his power.
The March on Rome was a prominent demonstration and it left an impression on Hitler who would
later befriend Mussolini and form with him the Axis Alliance.
Caruso was there at the March on Rome, and he must have been favoured by Mussolini and
his men.
In 1923 he joined the Volunteer militia from National Security, who were commonly known
as the Blackshirts and were the paramilitary wing of Mussolini’s party.
Inside of this were special militias who would be in charge of security and other aspects
of the government.
Caruso eventually rose throughout the ranks, and he became a Leftenant and then a Leftenant
Colonel and was seen as one of the most senior figures in the paramilitary wing.
In 1941 he was involved in legal matters, and served as one of the judges for the Extroardinary
Tribunal for Dalamatia.It held four trials during its time that imposed 48 death sentences,
carrying out 35 of these.
This court was involved in lands annexed by the Italians following the Axis invasion and
capture of Yugoslavia.
Caruso was involved as a judge, and because this he would later be accused of being a
war criminal.
In 1943 following the armistice signed between Italy and Britain, he joined the Italian Socialist
Republic and was involved in confiscating gold and property from Jewish populations.
With this he was doing the same that nazi looters were doing, stealing valuables and
art from Jews but he then rose to the Chief of Police in Rome.
He had met Turilio Tamburini and Caruso and he became close, and before becoming the Chief
of Police in Rome he was appointed the Police Chief of Verona.
It was whilst he was serving as the Chief of Police in Rome, that Pietro Caruso organised
the Ardeatine Massacre.
During this, 335 civilians and political prisoners were killed inside of quarries near to Rome.
The reason this was ordered was as there had been an attack against SS Police in central
Rome the previous day, in which a bomb had killed 28 SS policeman and two civilians.
Reprisals for killing SS men and Germans was brutal especially in occupied lands.
For this Caruso and his Gestapo equivalent ordered the mass killing of over 300 people,
many innocent civilians who were rounded up and gathered in Rome before being marched
out to quarries.
The killings took place with exeuctioners placing bullets into the heads of men who
had knelt down in front of them, and there were so many bodies that the caves were blown
up to try and conceal the crimes.
One of those executed was Maurizio Giglio, a leftenant who served under Caruso, but had
been caught spying for the Allies and the Americans.
This massacre haunted the people of Rome, as such brutality against innocent civilians
would not be forgotten.
As the war turned against the Germans, and things fell apart in Rome as it was liberated,
Pietro Caruso was arrested by the liberators and handed over to the Italians.
For his crimes in being a collaborator and involved in massacres, he was sentenced to
death and this execution would take place inside of the a courtyard in Fort Bravetta
in Rome, and was carried out by a Police Firing Squad.
It was said of the execution of Pietro Caruso, ‘A closed grey van drove into the courtyard
of the fort.
It stopped by a hillock of brown grass.
In front of the hillock stood a bare pine chair.
A vans rear door opened.
A group of Italian men in grey green uniforms stepped out, one of them carried crutches
and a priest came out next and then did Pietro Caruso.
Caruso it was said was the most hated man in Rome after Mussolini, and it was said he
had an apartment where he himself tortured victims with his bare hands.
He had a broken hip when he went to his execution.
It was said his left foot barely touched the ground as he was led to his execution.
He stood when he heard the death sentence as it was read out, and he was wearing a bright
blue well cut suit, and a white handkerchief from his jacket pocket.
As the firing squad stood opposite him, he said to them ‘aim well.’
He was then taken to the chair, and had had trouble on it with his hip.
His body was then bound to the chair, and he was left speaking to the priest.
Caruso said one final prayer and kissed a tiny crucifix that the Pope had sent him,
and then the priest stepped away.
Caruso was not facing his executioners, he was turned away from them.
He turned his head a little, and he cried out Viva L’Italia.
Eight standing men and 8 kneeling men aimed their rifles and the signal to shoot then
was given.
They fired well into him.
The shots entered his back, and also his head causing a rather bloody scene.
Execution by shooting a seating man in the back was an old Fascist custom so it was only
fitting that Caruso died in this way.
Pietro Caruso was a war criminal who’s actions as the Chief of Police in Rome despite coming
into the position late in the war, caused so much hurt and devastation.
He’s mostly associated today with the massacre of over 300 civilians following the bombing
of the SS men, and for being in the pockets of the Germans and also the Gestapo.
Like so many who rose with the dictators during the Second World War, Caruso met his end in
a bloody way being sentenced to death, and at the barrel of a firing squad.
Thanks for watching.
To support please make sure to subscribe.
Thanks again for watching.