← Murder: True Crime Stories
Loading summary
Transcript33 lines
- [00:01]
Carter Roy
Hi, listeners. It's Carter Roy. Before we get into today's episode of Murder True Crime Stories, I want to tell you about another show I think you'll Hidden History with Dr. Harini Bhatt. Every Monday, Dr. Bhatt goes where history gets mysterious. Vanished civilizations, doomsday prophecies, paranormal phenomena and events that science still can't fully explain. Dr. Bot treats these moments like open case files. Not myths, not superstition, just incomplete explanations waiting for a closer look. Hidden History drops every Monday. Follow now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen, so you never miss a mystery. This his crime house. On March 16, 1978, the man kissed his wife goodbye, walked downstairs and got into a car. He was headed to one of the most important meetings of his life. He never made it. Instead, 91 shots were fired in broad daylight on a busy Roman street. Five of the man's bodyguards were slaughtered in seconds.
- [01:27]
Dr. Harini Bhatt
And.
- [01:27]
Carter Roy
And he was dragged into the trunk of a car and driven away. The world knew who did it. The killers called the press and announced it themselves. But what happened next is where the real mystery begins. Because for 55 days, the Italian government had the chance to save him, and they chose not to. This is the kidnapping and assassination of. Of Aldo Moro. People's lives are like a story. There's a beginning, a middle, and an end. But you don't always know which part you're on. Sometimes the final chapter arrives far too soon, and we don't always get to know the real ending. I'm Carter Roy, and this is Murder True Crime Stories, a crime house original powered by Pave Studios. New episodes come out every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Welcome back to another episode of Murder Mystery Fridays, where I'm covering unsolved cases with questions that I can't get out of my head. The ones where the evidence points in multiple directions and every theory feels like a possibility. And today, I'm joined by Dr. Harini Bhatt, the host of Hidden History, the debut show from pave's new history studio, Rewind.
- [02:52]
Dr. Harini Bhatt
Thanks so much for having me, Carter.
- [02:53]
Carter Roy
Absolutely. So glad you're here. Now, in case you haven't discovered it yet, Hidden History is one of those shows you just can't miss. Every week, Harini tackles some of history's biggest mysteries that defied explanation then and now. Whether it's a deadly dancing plague that took over an entire European city in the 1500s, the Roswell UFO crashed, or the unsolved disappearance of two English princes at the height of the war that inspired Game of Thrones Parinis, leaving no stone unturned. You can check out new episodes every Monday on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and on YouTube at HiddenHistoryPod. Follow and subscribe so you don't miss a moment.
- [03:41]
Dr. Harini Bhatt
You said it perfectly. I am having a blast with it so far. The community we're building is incredible.
- [03:47]
Carter Roy
I cannot recommend it enough. Today Harini will help me introduce our case. Then be sure to stick around at the end as I talk to Harini more about Hidden History and why fans of Murder True Crime Stories will love it as much as I do. And after that, we'll share a special preview of Hidden History with you.
- [04:06]
Dr. Harini Bhatt
Thanks again Carter. I am especially glad to be joining you for this episode because like you said, it's such a haunting murder mystery. I'm talking about the Assassination of Aldo Moro on the morning of March 16, 1978, former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro was kidnapped off a busy street in Rome by a far left terrorist group called the Red Brigades. Five of his bodyguards were killed in the attack. Aldo himself was held captive for 55 days. During that time he wrote 86 letters begging for his life. His family pleaded with the government the so did the Pope. More than 16 million Italians took to the streets to beg for his release. Despite all that, the government did Nothing and on May 9, 1978, Aldo Moro was shot 10 times in the trunk of a car. The Red Brigades were convicted and the case was officially closed. But the questions never went away. Why did the Italian government refuse to negotiate? Who really wanted Aldo Moro silenced, and was the CIA involved? All that and more coming up.
- [05:27]
Commercial Announcer (e.g., Progressive Auto Insurance)
You're listening to this podcast, so I know you've got a curious mind. Here's a helpful fact you might not know yet. Drivers who switch and save with progressives save over $900 on average. They make it super simple. Pop over to progressive.com, answer some questions and you'll get a quick quote with coverage options tailored to your choices. Plus you'll see which discounts you may qualify for, like the online quote discount or savings for paying in full. In fact, 99% of Progressive Auto customers earn at least one discount. See if you could save when you switch to Progressive, you'll feel good about making a savvy choice. Visit progressive.com and see if you can enjoy a little extra cash back. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates national average 12 month savings of $946 by new customers surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2024 and May 2025. Potential savings will vary.
- [06:16]
Dr. Harini Bhatt
You survived the Miami weekend, nailed the speech and maxed out your credit card in the name of friendship. Now you've got one hangover, four pastel dresses, and zero reasons to wear them again. Sell them on, Depop. Just snap a few photos and we'll take care of the rest. And you at least get six some of your dignity money back. Someone on Depop wants what you've got. Start selling now, Depop. Where taste recognizes taste.
- [06:50]
Carter Roy
To understand why anyone would want Aldo Moro dead, you have to understand who he was. And to do that, you have to go back to the beginning. Aldo Moro was born on September 23, 1916, in the region of Puglia in southern Italy. Known as the country's boot heel, Puglia was one of the most underdeveloped parts of the country. Its people were among the poorest in all of Italy. But Aldo's parents had bigger plans for their son. His mother was a teacher, his father a school inspector. They understood the value of education and they made sure Aldo did too. When he was five, the family relocated to the port city of Taranto, the where the schools were better. And by the time he was 18, Aldo had graduated near the top of his class. He'd always been ambitious, always hungry to make a mark on the world. He just hadn't found his arena yet. After Aldo graduated, the family moved again, this time to Bari, the capital of Puglia and one of southern Italy's most important economic centers. It was there, surrounded by the noise and energy of real civic life, that Aldo found his calling. Politics. Italy in the early 20th century was technically a democracy, but King Victor Emmanuel III still had a lot of influence over politics. In 1922, when Aldo was just six years old, the King appointed Benito Mussolini as prime minister. What followed was a decades long fascist regime that reshaped the country from the inside out. Mussolini ruled through fear. He instituted a police state, imprisoned critics, built a cult of personality around Roman imperial history, and pulled Italy into conflicts it had no business fighting. For a young man growing up under this regime, it was hard to know any different. Like a lot of young Italians at the time, Aldo wasn't immediately turned off by Mussolini. In some ways, he was even impressed by Mussolini's ability to project national unity. So when Aldo enrolled at the University of Bari to study law, he joined a fascist student organization. It seemed like the natural thing to do. But Aldo had another defining trait that would eventually pull him in a different direction. He had grown up deeply Catholic, and this wasn't A casual show up on Sunday kind of faith. It was a real thing. And the more he leaned into it, the more Mussolini's ideology started to feel like a problem. In 1935, 19 year old Aldo joined a second student group, the Italian Catholic Federation of University Students. Known by its Italian acronym, F U C I fuci. The organization was run by the Catholic Church as a way to connect university students to their faith and and it stood in sharp contrast to the fascist group Aldo was also a member of. Mussolini's government was using fascist college groups to create a monopoly over education, deliberately shaping young men into loyal subjects of the state. The FUSI resisted that. They championed independent thought and allegiance to God, not government. Because the organization was backed by the Vatican, Mussolini couldn't touch it the way he did his other opponents. Under the Fusi's influence, Aldo began developing his own moral and political identity. He also met a friend who had come to define his entire life, a young Catholic priest named Giovanni Battista Montini. And the more time Aldo spent within the fusi, the more the fascist group lost its appeal. Eventually he dropped out of it altogether. It was a quiet act of conscience. But in Mussolini's Italy, choosing faith over Fascism was never entirely without risk. By 1939, Aldo was about to graduate from the University of Bari. And Montini, who had risen to become chief of staff to Pope Pius xii, had a new job for him. He wanted Aldo to serve as the national president of the FUSAE in Rome. Aldo accepted. He moved to Rome, stepped into the role with confidence and privately he began envisioning what a truly democratic Italy might look like. He was still a few years away from having the power to build it, but the dream was already forming. In 1940, Mussolini allied Italy with Adolf Hitler and dragged the country into World War II. At the time, it probably seemed like a winning bet. France and Belgium were crumbling. Mussolini thought Britain was next and he wanted a share of the spoils. He was wrong. Britain held. The United States and the Soviet Union entered the war. By 1942, the Italian army was badly outmatched. That year, 26 year old Aldo was drafted. He resigned his Fusee presidency and left for war, leaving a young idealist named Giuliani Andreotti in his place. Remember that name. He'll come back into the story. And not in a flattering way. In July 1943, Allied forces invaded Sicily. The Italian military had already suffered devastating losses in North Africa. There was no stopping what was coming. The blame fell on Mussolini and King Victor Emmanuel III finally dismissed him as prime minister. After 20 years, the fascist regime was beginning to crack. That same month, Aldo, still technically in the army, helped lead a conference of Catholic intellectuals. They were trying to lay the groundwork for what Italy might become after the war. After a week of deliberation, the group published a document called the Code of Camaldoli. It was a sweeping blueprint for Italian economic policy, one that emphasized family, Catholic values and equality under the law, and support for the poor. It was a remarkable document for its time, and it gave Aldo something concrete to build on. In the months that followed, he co founded a newspaper in Bari called La Rasegna, or the Review, which promoted the code of Commandoli's ideas and gave a platform to center right thinkers. On September 8, 1943, Italy officially surrendered to the allies. The long process of rebuilding began, and Aldo Moro wanted to be at the center of it. As new democratic institutions took shape, the Code of Camaldoli served as the ideological foundation for a new political party, the Christian Democrats. Aldo was one of its founding members. He also had some personal milestones. In 1945, he married a woman named Eleonora, who he'd met through the Fusi. She was an intellectual in her own right, studying Italian literature at the University of Rome, and they would go on to have four children together. And soon, Aldo got some more good news. In 1946, King Victor Emmanuel III abdicated the throne. Aldo was appointed vice president of the Christian Democracy Party. In the general election that year, he was elected to the Constituent assembly, the body tasked with drafting Italy's new constitution. Two years later, with the new government up and running, he was elected to the Italian Parliament and made vice Minister of Foreign Affairs. At 32 years old, Aldo Moro was no longer just a dreamer, he was a power player. Over the next 15 years, Aldo became one of the most formidable figures in Italian politics, which was no small feat. The country's political landscape was extraordinarily fractured. You had the centrist Christian Democrats, the left wing Italian Socialists and Communists, and the right wing Italian Social Movement, the made up of nostalgic former Fascists. Navigating all of that required patience, strategic thinking and a willingness to make uncomfortable compromises. Aldo had all three. In 1960, he helped push out the conservative head of the Christian Democrats to build an alliance with the Socialist Party. It was a bold move, and it worked. He became the party's new leader. In June 1963, Giovanni Battista Montini, the priest who had given Aldo his first major role, became the new Pope Paul vi. He promised reform, unity and a church Focused on the poor. Six months later, 47 year old Aldo Moro was appointed Prime Minister of Italy. He and the Pope were making similar promises at the same moment in time. That wasn't a coincidence. They'd been building toward this together for decades. Aldo's first term as Prime Minister showed his potential and his limits. He built a coalition with the Italian Socialist Party, the first time they'd held real power since the post war period. But political infighting and rising inflation made it nearly impossible to push through the reforms he'd promised. And by the end of his five years in office, the Christian Democrats were weaker than when he started. When Aldo left office in 1968, the Socialists and communists were gaining ground. The political right saw this happening and they were alarmed. What happened next tells you a lot about what Italy was up against in those years. And it sets the stage for everything that followed. On April 25, 1969, right wing terrorists, reportedly with support from the CIA, detonated a bomb inside a bank at the Piazza fontana in Milan. 17 people were killed, 88 more were wounded. I want you to sit with that for a moment. A bomb inside a bank in the middle of a City, killing 17 people. This wasn't a fringe incident. It was the opening shot of what would become known as the years of Lead. A roughly two decade period of political violence that tore through Italy from both the left and the right. And Aldo Moro was standing right in the middle of it.
- [18:55]
Dr. Harini Bhatt
Girl, Winter is so last season. And now spring's got you looking at pictures of tank tops with hungry eyes. Your algorithm is feeding you cutoffs. You're thirsty for the sun on your shoulders. That perfect hang on the patio sundress. Those sandals you can wear all day and all night. And you've had enough of shopping from your couch. Done. Hoping it looks anything like the picture when you tear open that envelope. It's time for a little in person spring treat. It's time for a trip to Ross. Work your magic. This episode is brought to you by. Prime Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime Originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistible love stories. And the book to screen favorites you've already read twice off campus. Elle every year after the Love Hypothesis, Sterling point and more, slow burns, second chances, chemistry you can feel through the screen. Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime.
- [19:58]
Carter Roy
On August 3, 1974, 58 year old Aldo Moro was preparing for an important meeting in Munich, Germany. Late in the evening, he boarded an overnight Italicus express train at Rome's main station. Just before the train departed, a few government officials asked him to step off and sign some papers. He did, and the train left without him. At 1:23 in the morning, a bomb exploded on the train's fifth car. Twelve people were killed. Another 48 were wounded. According to some historians, Aldo Moro was the intended target. The attack was attributed to a far right Italian terrorist group called the Black Order. Did they know Aldo was on that train? Did someone tip off the government officials who pulled him off before it blew? Nobody has ever given a straight answer to either of those questions. What we do know is that someone wanted Aldo Morro dead badly enough to blow up a train full of innocent people to get to him. Two months after the Italicus bombing, Aldo was appointed Prime Minister for a second time. Italy was looking for a steady hand amid the chaos, and he was the obvious choice. His second term was just as difficult as the first. But he kept moving. And crucially, he kept talking to the Communist Party. And by the mid-1970s, the Communists were the second largest party in Italy, coming close to surpassing the Christian Democrats themselves. Aldo didn't see the Communists as a threat. He saw them as partners, people who could actually help him stabilize a country that was coming apart at the seams. When he left office in 1976, he announced his intention to return for a third term. And this time he wanted to bring the Communists with him. The idea was to form what became known as the Historic Compromise, a governing coalition that united the Christian Democrats and the Communist Party under a single government. It was a radical idea for the Cold War era. A Western government formally partnering with Communists was genuinely shocking, and it made certain people very nervous. On March 16, 1978, Aldo was on his way to the Chamber of Deputies to finalize the deal. It was supposed to be the day his political vision became reality. It was also the last day he would ever walk free. Aldo started his morning as he always did. A pastry, an espresso, a shave. He kissed his wife Eleonora goodbye and went downstairs to his waiting car. What he didn't know was that 11 men carrying submachine guns had already taken up positions along his route. They were all members of the Red Brigades, a Marxist Leninist terrorist organization founded in 1970 with the stated goal of sparking an armed revolution in Italy. Their aim was to establish a Communist republic, sever Italy's ties to the Western world, and align the country with the Soviet Union instead. Over the years, they had kidnapped politicians and industrialists, kneecapped enemies and targeted schools. And by 1978. They were one of the most feared organizations in the country. The operation against Aldo was organized with remarkable precision because many of the terrorists didn't know each other personally. Several wore uniforms from Italy's national airline, Alitalia, to prevent friendly fire. Others dressed as telephone workers to sabotage nearby phone lines. They even slashed the tires of a florist van parked on the street, just in case it was in the way. At 8:45 that morning, Aldo's car pulled out of his apartment building and headed toward the Chamber of Deputies. His security detail turned left down Via Fonni. All their weapons were in the trunk and none of the guards had been formally trained to use them, which is wild to think about. The most powerful man in Italian politics, a known assassination target, was being driven through Rome by bodyguards who weren't weapons trained and whose guns were sitting in the trunk. Someone looked at that setup and thought it was fine. Someone was very, very wrong. That detail haunts me. As Aldo's car reached the end of Viofani, two Red Brigade's vehicles pulled out to block the exits. The security team tried to push through, but couldn't. They were trapped. And that's when the Red Brigades stepped out. They fired 91 shots. 45 of them hit the security detail. All five bodyguards were dead within seconds. Aldo sat in the car, covered in their blood, unharmed. A Fiat pulled alongside the bullet ridden vehicle. The terrorists dragged Aldo out and put him in the car. The whole thing took three minutes. A few minutes later, the Red Brigades called Ansa Italia's top news agency and claimed responsibility. Now the architect of the historic compromise was gone. And whoever had decided the historic compromise could never happen got exactly what they wanted. The question is, who were those men? Exactly? The Red Brigade's operation was led by a 32 year old commander named Mario Moretti. He had grown up in a middle class family that supported Mussolini, but after college he'd refashioned himself into a communist revolutionary. By 1978, he was one of the organization's mar most prominent figures. Moradi watched Aldo's negotiations with the Communist Party with what can only be described as ideological fury. He didn't see the historic compromise as progress. He saw it as betrayal, a sellout of true communist principles. In exchange for a seat at the establishment's table, he wanted to make a statement. He also wanted to free the Red Brigade's imprisoned founders, who had been arrested in 1974 and sentenced to 18 years each. His plan was simple, at least on paper. He would trade Aldo for the Red Brigade's imprisoned leaders and in doing so, forced the Italian government to recognize the organization as a legitimate political force. Moretti had followed Aldo for months. He watched his daily routines, tracked his movements, and knew that Aldo walked his grandson to a local church each morning with a single guard at his side. He saw that Aldo's driver took different routes each day, which meant the ambush would have to happen close to home before the car had a chance to divert. The Red Brigades even traveled to Czechoslovakia to rehearse the attack using cars and dummies. This was not a spontaneous act of violence. It was a meticulously planned military operation. When the historic compromise looked like it was days away from being finalized, Moradi decided it was time to act. Within an hour of the attack on Aldo, Moro Viafani was swarming with police. Aldo's wife, Eleonora, rushed to the scene with their children. Five dead bodyguards lay in the streets. The Pope sent her a telegram. Interior Minister Francesco Cociga, the man responsible for national security, mobilized 13,000 police officers. Every possible lead was pursued. They even arrested and interrogated the florist whose tires had been slashed. What the police didn't notice was the Red Brigades driving back to the scene of the attack and abandoning the getaway cars just one block from Viofani. It was a deliberate taunt, and it worked. By the end of the same day, the Italian parliament had shelved the historic compromise. The Christian Democrats, now led by Aldo's old colleague Giulio Andreotti, retained power without the Communist alliance Aldo had spent years building. Two days after the kidnapping, a reporter from Il Massagiro, one of Italy's leading newspapers, received a call from an anonymous number. The caller claimed to be the Red Brigades. The reporter said, if you're the Red Brigades, I'm Buffalo Bill. The caller gave directions to an envelope. The envelope contained a letter declaring war on the Italian state announcing Aldo's trial before a people's tribunal, and a Polaroid photograph of Aldo scowling in front of the Red Brigade's banner. He was alive, and the clock had started ticking.
- [30:14]
Dr. Harini Bhatt
Plan B is a backup birth control option that's there for you when things don't go according to plan. It specifically works after unprotected sex and before pregnancy occurs by temporarily delaying ovulation. Plan B is available nationwide at all major retailers and through delivery apps like DoorDash. No ID, prescription or age requirement. It's the number one OBGYN recommended brand of emergency contraception, and it won't impact your future fertility. That's freedom to be use as directed. Starting a business can seem like a daunting task unless you have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website to marketing, to selling and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need. There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz and Allbirds continue to trust and use them. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into Sign up for your $1 per month trial@shopify.com SpecialOffer hi
- [31:14]
Carter Roy
listeners, it's Carter Roy. Are you interested in the mysterious parts of history? Like when in 1518, an entire European city couldn't stop dancing? Or in 1908 when something flattened over 800 square miles of Siberian forest in an instant? I am excited to tell you about a new show, hidden history with Dr. Harini Bhatt. Dr. Bhat has spent her entire career demanding evidence and asking, why? Now, every Monday on Hidden History, she's going where history touches the unknown vanished civilizations, doomsday prophecies, paranormal phenomena and events that science still can't find fully explain. Dr. Bott treats these moments like open case files. Not myths, not superstition, just incomplete explanations waiting for a closer look. At the end of every episode, she'll tell you exactly what she thinks happened and ask, what if it happened today? Hidden History drops every Monday. Follow now on Apple podcast, podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen, so you never miss a mystery. Here's where this case really gets under my skin, because there are actually two questions here, and people tend to only ask one of them. The first is, who killed Aldo Moro? The second is, who let him die? And I think that second question is a lot more complicated than anyone in power has ever been willing to admit. Now, let me walk you through what we know. Over 55 days in captivity, Aldo wrote 86 letters. He proposed prisoner exchanges. He offered money. He made legal arguments about the state's duty to protect its own citizens. He wrote to colleagues, to old friends, to the Pope. This was a man who had spent 30 years building bridges, and he was using every last one of them. More than 16 million Italians, over a quarter of the country's entire population at the time, took to the streets to demand the government negotiate for his release. Even the Mafia got involved. The increased police presence was bad for business, so they allegedly sent a message to the Red Brigades, negotiate or will kill your imprisoned leaders. None of it mattered. On March 31, just two weeks into the crisis, the Christian Democrats released a formal statement. The party wrote, and I'm paraphrasing here that as long as they stood firm against negotiations, the killing of Moro would represent a spiritual victory for Italy and a definite defeat for the terrorists. A spiritual victory. Those were the words they chose. While their former leader was alive, writing letters begging for his life, his own party was already describing his death as a victory. Think about that now. The official reasoning for refusing to negotiate was principled. The government argued that giving in to terrorist demands would set a dangerous precedent. It would invite future kidnappings and extortion. You don't negotiate with terrorists. That was the position. I understand the argument. I do. But I can't stop thinking about what happened. Oh, just three years later. In 1981, the Red Brigades kidnapped Ciro Cirillo, another Christian Democrat politician. The same party that had publicly written off Aldo Moro's life as a spiritual sacrifice turned around and negotiated with the Red Brigades through the Mafia to get Torillo freed. They never explained why they'd reversed course. So the principle wasn't really a principle. It was a rule that applied to Aldo Moro and apparently nobody else. But why? None of what I'm about to say has been definitively proven. But these aren't fringe theories. Serious journalists, historians and parliamentary investigators have all gone down these roads. So let's go down them together. The first theory is the most straightforward. The historic compromise would have completely reshuffled power in Italy. A Christian Democrat Communist government meant the Christian Democrats no longer ran the show alone. Giulio Andreotti and others in the party stood to lose an enormous amount of influence if Aldo pulled it off. Letting him die kept things exactly the way they were. The second theory involves the United States. During the Cold War, Washington was deeply hostile to any Western government drifting toward Communism, even a democratic parliamentary version of it. The CIA had already been linked to the Piazza fontana bombing in 1969, which happened right as left wing parties were gaining ground in Italy. The idea of a Christian Democrat Communist coalition in one of Western Europe's biggest countries would have set off alarm bells at CIA headquarters. And here's where it gets really uncomfortable. There is a disputed account reported in multiple Italian investigations, that Aldo was directly warned by American officials, including then Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, to walk away from the historic compromise. The message, according to sources close to Morrow, was not subtle. Pursue this and you will pay a heavy price. Aldo pursued it anyway. Now, the third theory is the one that unsettles me the most, because it doesn't require foreign governments or Cold War politics and just requires powerful men protecting themselves. Aldo Moro knew where the bodies were buried, literally and figuratively. Thirty years at the center of Italian politics meant he knew about the secret networks, the backroom deals, the compromises that never made it into any official record. He knew what had really happened during the years of lead and who had actually been behind some of the violence. During his 55 days in captivity, the Red Brigades interrogated him extensively. They were building their political case against the Italian state. And Aldo talked not because they broke him, but because he had always believed the truth mattered. And once he realized his own party wasn't coming for him, he stopped having any reason to hold back. Some historians have asked a question that I think deserves to be taken seriously. What if certain powerful people in Italy weren't just afraid of the historic compromise? What if they were afraid of what Aldo might say if he ever walked out of that apartment alive? A man who had been interrogated for two months, who had decided his colleagues were cowards, who had vowed to leave the party and speak freely. That man could do a lot of damage. I am not telling you that's what happened. I'm telling you that serious people who have spent years studying this case have considered it, and I think you should know that Pope Paul VI, Aldo's oldest friend, made one last attempt. On day 37, he wrote an open letter to the Red Brigades. Not a call for negotiation. The Church had fallen in line on that too. Just a plea. On his knees, he asked them to free Aldo. No conditions, no deals. Just let him go. The Red Brigades read the letter to Aldo, but it still wasn't enough. And it only made Aldo feel more desperate. His letters after that get harder to read, darker, more bitter. He wrote to Francesco Cociga, the Interior minister, the man who was supposed to be finding him, the man who had once been his friend. He told him he had killed him three times. Once by providing inadequate security, once by refusing to negotiate, and once by making public statements that had antagonized the Red Brigades further. In early May, the Red Brigades held a nationwide vote on what to do. They had been holding Aldo for nearly two months. No deal was coming. The debate among their cells was whether to kill him or. Or keep trying. They voted to kill him. On May 7, 1978, Aldo wrote his final letter to his wife, Eleanora. He told her they had informed him he would be killed soon. He told her the government could have saved him if they had wanted to. He told her it was the end. He asked her to kiss the children. As a devout Catholic, Aldo asked for a Priest. The Red Brigades had a connection with a radical young priest who came to give Aldo his last rites and absolution. Aldo refused his final meal. He took a shower and brushed his teeth. He dressed in the same suit he had been wearing the day he was taken. Navy blue striped shirt, dark tie. On the morning of May 9, 1978, Aldo's captors carried him down to the building's parking garage in a large wicker basket, hidden from view. Mario Moretti helped load him into the trunk of a red Renault station wagon and covered him with a red sheet. He told Aldo he was being driven to a new location. Then Moraite took out a silenced pistol and shot Aldo 10 times in the chest. Not one bullet struck his heart. It took him between five and 10 minutes to bleed to death. The Red Brigades wrapped Aldo's body in orange vinyl and drove to a street called Via Caetani in the Roman city center. The location wasn't an accident. Via Caetani sits exactly halfway between the headquarters of the Christian Democrats and the Italian Communist Party. The message was clear. The historic compromise is dead, just like Aldo Moro. Later that day, the Red Brigades called Aldo's assistant and gave the location of the car. Police found the red Renault at 1:30 in the afternoon. In his last will and testament, Aldo asked that there be no public demonstrations, no national mourning, no state funeral, and no medals given in his name. He specified that none of his former political allies were to attend his funeral. He was not asking to be remembered as a murder. He was making a final statement about the men who had let him die. He knew exactly what his death meant and who had chosen to let it happen. I find that composure, even in his final weeks, remarkable. The clarity of it, the dignity. He never stopped thinking about what his story meant, even as he was living through its worst chapter. What followed in the years after Aldo's murder was largely a validation of his worst fears about the direction Italy was heading. The Christian Democrats stayed in power, but steadily lost ground to the rising right wing, including openly neo fascist parties. The economy kept struggling, hitting the country's poorest people hardest. The years of lead continued for another decade, with hundreds more deaths from terrorist attacks. And then, in 1981, the Red Brigades kidnapped Ciro Chiropractic, the same party that had refused to lift a finger for Aldo, negotiated for Cirillo's release through the Mafia and got him home safe. No explanation, no statement, no reckoning. The Red Brigades were largely dismantled by 1981. Mario Moretti was captured and ultimately received six life sentences for his role in Aldo's murder. He later gave interviews in which he discussed the operation in detail, calling it a political action and defending his decisions. Moradi has never publicly expressed remorse. There have been multiple official investigations into Morrow's case since 1978. Parliamentary commissions in 1983, 1998, and again in the 2010s have examined what the government knew and when, what role foreign intelligence agencies may have played, and whether any rescue operation was deliberately sabotaged. None of them have come close to a real answer. Documents have been lost. Witnesses have died. Some officials have declined to testify. The picture remains frustratingly incomplete. I keep coming back to those final days. The shower, the suit, the letter to Eleanora. A man who knew exactly what was coming and faced it with everything he had. He was 61 years old, four kids, a wife who loved him, a lifetime spent trying to build a better Italy. None of that saved him. And the people who could have saved him chose not to. Whether that was because of Cold War politics, domestic power struggles, fear of what he knew, or all three, Aldo Moro was not just a victim of the Red Brigades. He was a victim of a political system that decided he was more useful dead than alive. That should make you angry. Not just sad. Angry. Because he wasn't a symbol or a chess piece or a spiritual victory. He was a person. And he deserved better. Thanks so much for listening. I'm Carter Roy and this is Murder True Crime Stories. Come back next time for the story of another murder and all the people it affected. And now I'm welcoming back Dr. Harini Bhatt, the host of Hidden History, the debut show from pave's new history studio, Rewind and be sure to stick around after for a special preview of Hidden History. Harini, I am so excited to talk to you more. We'll get into all the things Hidden History soon, but first I want to start with with you. Your background is so fascinating. Can you share a little bit more about yourself?
- [47:17]
Dr. Harini Bhatt
Absolutely. As you can maybe see from my name, I have a doctorate in pharmacy. This was not the career I was expecting to have by any stretch of the imagination. But during COVID I started posting science videos on TikTok and as the saying goes, the rest is history. Pun intended. And all of this came to Hidden History with PAVE and the new Rewind series. So I'm really excited to start this because what I do with my channel is I tell science with context, which in my eyes is just the history. What is the story around the science. And that is basically what we're doing with hidden history. We're talking about these unexplained mysteries, these unanswered questions. We're going into all the theories, but through all these stories is a through line of science. It's going to be really fascinating.
- [48:03]
Carter Roy
I am completely hooked already just hearing about it, but also from listening to it. I mean, I am loving hidden history so far. I feel like it really, it stands apart from other history shows because of how deep you go into the mystery of it, the science of it, the what of it. And that's what I think fans of murder true crime stories will really love, especially because I know you're covering some murder mysteries on the show as well.
- [48:24]
Dr. Harini Bhatt
Yeah, it's one of my favorite things about hidden history. When you think about history, so much of it seems settled, but the truth is there's still so much out there that we don't know, even for events that are seemingly explained. Case in point and spoilers ahead. One of our early episodes is on the Princes in the Tower, which is a murder mystery that will feel right out of Game of Thrones because the case actually took place during the wars that inspired it. This happened at the tail end of the wars of the Roses, a series of conflicts between two rival houses around the middle of the 15th century for the English throne. Sound familiar?
- [48:59]
Carter Roy
Yeah. Yes. Both because I know a little about this and of course have watched Game of Thrones. And this is what I love about the history science. Even the murder mystery conjunction is really drilling down onto these things that feel like myths or lore or things we've heard, but you're like, oh, there is real evidentiary fact behind it, which fascinates me.
- [49:18]
Dr. Harini Bhatt
Right when the dust started to settle, the heir to the throne was a teenage boy whose uncle decided he wanted the crown for. For himself. So he had the prince and his little brother imprisoned in the Tower of London and they were never seen again. The settled history says they were murdered by one of their uncle's agents, but not everyone is so sure. And getting into those possibilities is one of the things I love most about hidden history.
- [49:42]
Carter Roy
I am sold. I want into that tower. I want to know what happened. Harini, thank you so much for joining us. And before we get out of here, can you you tell everyone where they can find hidden history?
- [49:53]
Dr. Harini Bhatt
Yes, you can check out new episodes every Monday on Apple podcasts or Spotify and on YouTube. HiddenHistoryPod. Follow and subscribe so you don't miss a moment.
- [50:03]
Carter Roy
I really am a huge fan and I highly recommend the show I can't wait to see where it goes.
- [50:08]
Dr. Harini Bhatt
Thank you. Thanks for having me.
- [50:09]
Carter Roy
Thanks for being here. And of course you're welcome back anytime. And thanks to all you for joining us. Murder True Crime Stories is a Crime House original powered by Pave Street Studios Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on social media, Rimehouse on TikTok and Instagram. Don't forget to rate, review and follow Murder True Crime Stories wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference and to enhance your Murder True Crime Stories listening experience, subscribe to Crime House plus plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode early and ad free. We'll be back on Tuesday. True Crime Stories is hosted by me, Carter Roy and is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. This episode was brought to life by the Murder True Crime Stories team. Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benedon, Natalie Pertofsky, Lori Marinelli, Cassidy Dillon, and Russell Nash. Thank you for listening.
- [51:15]
Dr. Harini Bhatt
When it comes to mass psychogenic illness, there's not much you can do to protect yourself, your mind and body. Weaponize your own belief against you, blurring the line between fiction and reality until a perceived threat is made very real. And once it has you in its grip, there is no letting go. Before we get out of here, I want to introduce you guys to a segment we'll be doing at the end of each episode called if It Happened Today. As the name suggests, I'll be looking at the event in question and asking, what would it be like if it happened right now? So let's imagine that on a summer day in 2026, a young woman steps out of her downtown apartment and just starts dancing. Your first thought would probably be, this girl's on something and you wouldn't be alone. It's actually been pointed out that the Dancing Plague has a lot of similarities to modern rave culture. The Dancing Plague has even been called the world's longest rave. And think about it. People at raves go long stretches without food, water, or rest while they dance. Their movements aren't graceful or coordinated. Of course, there are plenty of ravers out there who aren't on drugs, and soon enough people would realize this girl in the street isn't on them either. So maybe you'd think as more people join in, is this a flash mob? Some sort of protest? Maybe an event put on by an online streamer? I'm sure it would come off as all fun and games with bystanders livestreaming to TikTok and every social media app until the dancers start collapsing. Doctors would take some of the dancers in for testing just to find that nothing is physically wrong with them. And all of a sudden it would be all over the Internet. Endless Reddit theories, blog posts and speculation. Maybe some fringe religious groups would take it as a sign that the apocalypse is here. One thing's for sure, there would be plenty of opinions on it. But eventually, with what we know about mass psychogenic illness now, someone would realize the truth. The question is, would anyone believe them? If we're actually thinking about it with a modern lens, like if that happened today, I think the best, best analogy is Havana Syndrome. If the dancing plague happened in 2026, I'm pretty sure scientists would label it as mass psychogenic illness. In other words, mass hysteria. In our current landscape, it's easy to go online and find a viewpoint that supports your thinking. It can be a good way to seek out a community of like minded people or fall into a dangerous echo chamber. Back in 1518, the ceremony at the Shrine of Saint Vitus helped the dancers feel like something was helping them, that they had found the solution to their curse. They united around a common cause and found a way through. But could that happen today, in 2026? You tell me. Would we be able to harness the fear that started our dancing plague and work together to end it? Or maybe we succumb to it one by one, until the whole world is one big deadly party thanks for listening to this preview of my new show, Hidden History. If you want to hear what happens next, follow Hidden History on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or subscribe on YouTube.
- [54:27]
Carter Roy
Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile.
- [54:29]
Dr. Harini Bhatt
I don't know if you knew this,
- [54:30]
Carter Roy
but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have
- [54:38]
Dr. Harini Bhatt
one of your assistant's assistants switch you
- [54:40]
Carter Roy
to Mint Mo Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to do@mintmobile.com
- [54:45]
Dr. Harini Bhatt
Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full terms@mintmobile.com looking for your next listen?
- [55:00]
Carter Roy
Check out hidden history with Dr. Harini Bhatt every Monday. Dr. Bhatt goes where history gets mysterious vanished civilizations, doomsday prophecies and events that science still can't fully explain. Follow Hidden History now on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.