Italian Unabomber

The Italian Unabomber (/ˈjuːnəbɒmər/) was an unknown terrorist that committed a series of bombings in the Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia regions of Italy from 1994 to 2006.

The Italian Unabomber placed small booby-trapped objects in public spaces in Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia which were designed to detonate when handled by a passerby and seriously injure but not kill the victim. The Italian Unabomber was named by the international press in reference to Ted Kaczynski, the American Neo-Luddite terrorist and mail bomber known as the "Unabomber",[1] but the Italian bomber made no political or economic demands. Over 30 explosive devices were attributed to the Italian Unabomber[2] and resulted in numerous people receiving injuries including the removal of digits and limbs.

On August 28, 2006, Italian police raided the house of Elvo Zornitta, a 49-year-old engineer, who had been under surveillance for a year with assistance from the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation. In January 2009, after years of investigations, the case was dropped after the prosecutors asked for its dismissal, for lack of evidence.[3][4] Zornitta received €2,500,000 as compensation for his arrest and trial which included false evidence.

To this day, the Italian Unabomber remains unidentified.

Timeline of attacks

1994
  • August 21, 1994
    • The first attack attributed to the bomber occurred during a bird parade attended by 50,000 in Sacile (near Pordenone).[5] Four people sustained minor cuts from debris scattered by the crude bomb planted on the ground.
  • December 17, 1994
  • December 18, 1994

1995
  • March 5, 1995
    • Two distinct bomb-tube explosions were observed in the downtown area of Azzano Decimo.
  • September 30, 1995
    • In the first attack resulting in a serious injury, an elderly woman activated a booby trap, resulting in an amputated arm.
  • December 11, 1995
  • December 24, 1995
  • December 26, 1995

1996
  • April 2, 1996
  • April 22, 1996
    • Bomb explodes in Bannia di Fiume Veneto.
  • August 4, 1996

2000

2001
  • November 2, 2001
  • November 6, 2001
    • A bomb explodes after it is placed inside a tube of tomato sauce, on sale at the 'Continente' supermarket in Portogruaro, seriously injuring a woman in the left hand.
  • November 17, 2001
    • A bomb is discovered inside a mayonnaise sauce tube by an alarmed customer and safely defused by bomb disposal technicians in Portogruaro.

2002
  • July 23, 2002
    • A bomb is discovered in the supermarket 'Iperstanda' inside a Nutella jar and safely defused by bomb disposal technicians in Porcia.
  • September 2, 2002
  • November 2002
    • A woman at Cordignano lost a thumb and two fingers while handling a booby-trapped tube of tomato paste in her kitchen.
    • An unnamed woman from near Venice discovered an unusually heavy and hard tube of mayonnaise she had bought in a supermarket. Police discovered a primitive explosive device within the tube.
    • A man reported to police that an egg he had bought at a local market had been tampered with. No injuries. The Italian police found a hair and traces of saliva in adhesive tape on the egg box and extracted a DNA sample.
  • December 25, 2002
    • A bomb explodes outside the Duomo in Cordenons.

2003
  • March 24, 2003
  • April 25, 2003

2004
  • April 2, 2004
    • A bomb is discovered inside a church in Portogruaro and safely defused by bomb disposal technicians.

2005
  • January 26, 2005
    • A Kinder egg placed in the street in Treviso exploded after being kicked by passing schoolchildren. Such eggs usually contain a toy or prize. None of the children were harmed.[7] The attack took place near the Treviso court house, and so may have been designed to taunt investigators there.
  • March 13, 2005
    • Three children were injured when one attempted to light an electrical votive candle during Mass at the church in Motta di Livenza. The girl inserted coins and turned a handle to operate the candle when a small bomb exploded, injuring her left hand and two bystanders.
  • March 16, 2005
    • One Italian Unabomber-style bomb was found in a small fish box in a humanitarian supply box sent to Romania from the village of Concordia Sagittaria. The bomb did not explode due to a low battery charge.
  • July 9, 2005
    • An unexploded bomb was found under the seat of a female's pushbike in Portogruaro, which had been left for several days in front of a train station. The bomb probably did not explode due to an electrical malfunction in the bomb's battery, caused by intense rain in the preceding days.

2006
  • May 6, 2006
    • Massimiliano Bozzo, a 28-year-old nurse from Mestre, walking with his girlfriend near the mouth of the river Livenza, found a bottle apparently containing a message. The bottle also contained an explosive device which exploded damaging his left hand, with consequent loss of his thumb.[8]

2009
  • January

References
  1. Sambruna, Grazia (16 December 2017). "La vera (e incredibile) storia di Unabomber, che ha fatto nascere Matrix e Fight Club" [The true (and incredible) story of Unabomber, which gave birth to the Matrix and Fight Club [sic]]. linkiesta.it (in Italian). Retrieved 25 March 2022. In Italia lo stesso nomignolo divenne famigerato tra il 1990 e il 2000 quando un attentatore seminava il panico nel Veneto piazzando ordigni rudimentali ma efficaci tra Pordenone, Portogruaro e Lignano. [In Italy the same nickname became infamous between 1990 and 2000 when an attacker sowed panic in Veneto by placing rudimentary but effective bombs between Pordenone, Portogruaro and Lignano.]
  2. Buscema, Massimo (September 2015). "Why Mathematical Computer Simulations Are the New Laboratory for Scientists". Substance Use & Misuse. 50 (8–9): 1058–78. doi:10.3109/10826084.2015.1012934. Retrieved 25 March 2022. Figure 12
  3. "Man probed for Unabomber crimes". 10 March 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. "Elvo Zornitta: Una Vita Distrutta dall'Ingiusta Accusa di Essere Unabomber". 9 September 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. Bomb Injures Three at Bird Festival. (1994, August 21). Associated Press. Retrieved July 13, 2005, from LexisNexis/Academic/News/News Wires/All available wire reports database.
  6. "Italian 'Unabomber' strikes again". 26 April 2003. Retrieved 2020-06-25 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
  7. Popham, Peter (27 January 2005). "Italian 'Unabomber' uses child's chocolate egg to hide explosive". independent.co.uk. The Independent. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  8. Moore, Malcolm (8 May 2006). "Nurse maimed by Italy's Unabomber". telegraph.co.uk. The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 29 October 2006. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  9. "Unabomber, Zornitta scagionato "E' il giorno della resurrezione" - cronaca - Repubblica.it". 17 January 2009.
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