Rome: A group of terrorists, the “Black September” group, pull out machine guns and take the police officers hostage. They take them down through the exit. A Lufthansa 737, an Air France jet, and a Pan American jet preparing for takeoff are parked on the runway. But it still has two ladders attached to the front and rear entrances. They climb up from behind, enter, and throw two phosphorus bombs. Thirty-four dead in total. A massacre. Then they climb down and run toward the Lufthansa plane. They want to take it over so they can take off and leave. But there’s also the ladder. It needs to be unhooked for them to take off. Still holding their weapons, they force the captain, some airport workers, and a customs officer to help them with the maneuver. They shoot. The terrorist pushes forward, threatening the pilot, the worker, and the officer with a weapon. His name is Antonio Zara, he’s from Molise, and he has all the courage of a twenty-year-old man who just turned twenty: he tries to fight back, pulls out a gun, but the other man shoots him first. In the back. His green beret collapses onto the concrete. His legs move unnaturally: these are the last moments of his life. The plane then takes off. It reaches Kuwait City; the terrorists will be arrested some time later.
