 Italy's ``gentleman bandit,'' an affable anarchist who courteously robbed banks in the 1960s and 1970s, has died in prison of a heart attack on December 25 at the age of 62.
Horst Fantazzini conducted nonviolent stickups across northern Italy, often using a toy gun according to some stories, and won his nickname after sending roses to a bank teller who had fainted during a robbery. His not-so-gentlemanly 1973 jailbreak attempt was depicted in a 1999 Italian movie called ``Outlaw'' by Enzo Monteleone. Fantazzini wounded three guards and took two more hostages during the standoff. He died Tuesday in prison in Dozza, a suburb outside of the northern city of Bologna, after more than three decades in and out of jail and various escape attempts, a prison official said. He was enjoying ``semi-liberty,'' an alternative sentence which allows model prisoners to spend part of their time outside of jail, until last week when he was re-arrested while trying to rob a Bologna bank and put back in prison full-time. The ``gentleman bandit'' was born in Germany to an anarchist father and became a prominent figure in the Italian anarchist movement himself as well as a supporter of the ``Red Brigade'' extremist group that murdered former Prime Minister Aldo Moro. (Agencies) | 12月25日，意大利著名的"紳士大盜"霍斯特·凡塔齊尼因心臟病突發(fā)在獄中去世，終年62歲。這位看上去和藹可親的"紳士大盜"是一位無政府主義者，曾于二十世紀六、七十年代以一種非常特殊的紳士方式多次搶劫銀行。 凡塔齊尼一生用非暴力的方式"打劫"了意大利北部的大小銀行，據(jù)一些報道稱，他行動時經(jīng)常使用一支玩具手槍。在一次打劫行動中，一名女出納員因驚嚇過度昏了過去，事后這位"紳士"竟然為這位小姐送去了玫瑰以表慰問，從此凡塔齊尼便得了"紳士大盜"這個雅號。 但是凡塔齊尼1973年的那次越獄行動可就不那么紳士了。在那次越獄行動中，凡塔齊尼打傷了3名看守，在與警方的僵持過程中還挾持了2名人質(zhì)。1999年，意大利導演恩佐·孟泰萊恩內(nèi)將凡塔齊尼的這次越獄行動改編為電影，取名《亡命之徒》（"Outlaw"）。  12月25日，當人們歡慶圣誕節(jié)的時候，凡塔齊尼在意大利北部城市博洛尼亞市郊的多扎監(jiān)獄中因心臟病突發(fā)去世。一名監(jiān)獄官員說，30多年來這位"紳士大盜"一直從監(jiān)獄里"進進出出"，并嘗試過多種越獄方式，但是最終還是沒能逃出囹圄。
凡塔齊尼對自己這么多年來的"半自由"式的服刑方式似乎非常滿意，所謂"半自由"式就是監(jiān)獄允許表現(xiàn)良好的犯人在監(jiān)獄外服刑。但上星期，凡塔齊尼企圖打劫博洛尼亞又一家銀行的時候再次被捕，并被取消了"半自由"式服刑的資格。 "紳士大盜"凡塔齊尼出生在德國，其父親也是一名無政府主義者。后來，凡塔齊尼成為了意大利無政府主義運動的風云人物，同時他還是專門從事綁架、謀殺和破壞等恐怖活動的意大利"紅色旅"（ "Red Brigade"）極端組織的支持者，該組織曾于1978年刺殺了意大利總理阿爾多·莫洛。 (中國日報網(wǎng)站譯) |
Updated: 2001-12-31 01:00
