Corpus Christi Caller
February 19, 1965
Accused Man Had Part in ‘Deputy’ Banned in Rome
ROME (AP) A bearded actor who took part in the police
blocked attempt to stage “The Deputy” in Rome was charged Thursday with bombing
a Vatican City wall almost under Pope Paul’s window.
Police accused
Claudio Volonte, 26, whose brother Gian Maria Volonte directed “The Deputy”
cast, in the Wednesday predawn bombing just 100 yards from where the Pope was
sleeping. Police said the actor set off a homemade dynamite bomb that damaged
the Vatican wall two days after performances of “The Deputy” were banned in
Rome.
Volonte denied
the charge. He said at the time of the bombing he was in a private home with a”
friend, pretty actress Dominique Boschero. Authorities said she backed him up.
The specific count against Volonte was “intimidation with explosives.” He was
not jailed, pending action by Rome’s public prosecutor, because he voluntarily
reported to police when he heard they wanted him.
“The Deputy” questions
whether Pope Pius XII did enough to save Jews from Nazi slaughter in World War
II. It was banned under provisions the Lateran Treaty signed in 1929 between
the Holy See and the kingdom of Italy. This pact guarantees “the sacred charter
of Rome as world capital of Catholicism.”
Night watchmen
reported seeing a bearded man fleeing from the Vatican wall moments before the
explosion. No one was hurt, but part of the wall was damaged and Pope Paul was
awakened by the noise.
Investigators
said the beard description, involvement in “The Deputy” controversy and
previous brushes with the law in other bombings pointed to Volonte.
In 1956 he was
acquitted of taking part in a neo-Fascist bomb demonstration against an Italian
Communist Party headquarters. Two years later he was accused in connection with
a bomb attack on another Communist building. Since that time, police said,
Volonte has switched political views and now is a member of the pro-Communist
Italian Socialist Party Proletarian Union.
In “The
Deputy,” under the stage name of Claudio Camaso, he had the part of a Nazi
officer.
Claudio Volonte is none other than Claudio Camaso, who was the tragic younger brother of Gian Maria "El Indio" Volonte. He was born in either 1939 or 1940 in either Rome or Milan, Italy. When he was either 25 or 26, Claudio was responsible for the bombing of the Vatican which took place after his play, "The Deputy", was banned. Claudio protested the ban and blew up the Vatican. Although nobody was injured or killed, Claudio WAS arrested and charged with the bombing and was forced to pay over {200 euros in damages. Sadly, twelve years later, on September 16, 1977, Claudio Camaso committed suicide in a jail cell by hanging himself with bedsheets after being arrested for accidentally stabbing a technician to death during an argument about his girlfriend. He was 37.
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