You must have an open mind to read this book, because in Italy all public opinion (supported by civil courts) is certain that the Ustica plane (1980, eighty-one victims) was shot down by a missile, while outside our borders the technicians (supported by many of their Italian colleagues, and also by the sentences of the Italian criminal courts) say that the tragedy was caused by a bomb. We do not take a position, but we believe that it is the task of information to give voice to the thesis that goes against the current; and on this subject the counter-current thesis in Italy is that of the bomb.
The authors of “Ustica, a civil injustice. Because the State will pay 300 million for an air battle that never took place “(Rubettino, 290 pages, 15 euros) are General Leonardo Tricarico, former Chief of Staff of the Air Force, and Gregory Alegi, university professor, historian and journalist, who among other activities taught Aviation History at the Air Force Academy. Tricarico and Alegi explain: “The civil sentences condemn the Italian state to pay 300 million euros in compensation for the shooting down of the DC-9 in an air battle which, however, according to the criminal sentences never took place”. In particular, the authors believe they can document that the Libyan Mig, perhaps linked in some way to the massacre, actually fell on the Sila on 18 July 1980, that is, three weeks after the destruction of the DC-9 Itavia; furthermore, the book highlights the analyzes of the experts who did not find any entry holes for a missile on the remains of the plane recovered at sea, and instead found traces of an internal explosion. The question obviously cannot be resolved in a few lines; in the contradiction between civil and criminal sentences, the debate remains open.
Leonardo Tricarico and Gregory Alegi, “Ustica, a civil injustice. Because the State will pay 300 million for an air battle that never took place ”, Rubettino, 290 pages, 15 euros