Thursday, January 28, 2010

THIS DAY IN CRIME HISTORY: DECEMBER 28, 1982

On this date in 1982, US Army Brigadier General James Dozier was rescued by Italian police. Dozier, who had been kidnapped by Italian Red Brigades terrorists 42 days earlier, was being held in an apartment in the northern Italian city of Padua. After determining the General's location, the Italian police sent in the NOCS, a special operations unit trained in hostage rescue. A bulldozer was started near the building to cover the noise of the rescuers as they moved into position. A 12-man NOCS team stormed the apartment and overpowered the terrorists without firing a shot, rescuing the General, and taking five of his captors into custody.

Further reading:

Wikipedia - James L. Dozier

Wikipedia - Red Brigades

NY Times - General Dozier Freed in Major Red Brigades Defeat

Air & Space Power Journal - The Dozier Kidnapping: Confronting the Red Brigades

SpecWarNet - NOCS
Posted by John D. at 12:58 PM
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2 comments:

RT said...

Wow, I don't ever recall ever hearing about that. I was a news junkie when I was a yute.

Growing up, Europe and the Middle East were always in such turmoil: bombs, more bombs, and people throwing rocks at guys with big weapons.

I remember watching the Patty Hearst thing when I was little, thinking I would get kidnapped.

January 28, 2010 10:48 PM
John D. said...

RT,
I was in college when this happened. I was taking criminology at the time, and my professor was from Padua, where General Dozier was rescued. Needless to say, it was the main topic of conversation in class the day after the rescue.

In '99, I was going through a school for the military, and General Dozier (who was retired by then) spoke to the class about his hostage experience. Interesting stuff.

January 29, 2010 8:38 PM

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