Friday, August 11, 2023

Actor Held in Bombing of Vatican [archived newspaper article]

 

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.  

1 comment:

  1. 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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