Banditi a Milano (1968)

After an attempted lynching, a documentary is made to reconstruct the events that led the citizens of Milan to erupt in response to the extreme violence that followed a robbery. In an interview, Police Commissioner Basevi looks back at the changes in Milan’s underworld after the social changes brought about by the economic boom: extortion of nightclub owners and operators of illegal gambling dens, racketeering, the criminals’ different and more violent behavior, the reluctance and code of silence among those subjected to the racket’s abuses, new recruitment into prostitution, and the ruthlessness shown toward anyone trying to escape it. A wounded robber trying to flee on foot is rescued from the crowd by the police. The crowd is furious because of the bloodthirsty rampage of the bandits, who have raced through the city firing indiscriminately. A frantic search for the other fleeing robbers begins, but everything remains uncertain and is complicated by false reports and fabrications by attention-seekers. The commissioner then questions the man in custody, a certain Bartolini, and manages to get him to reveal his accomplices’ names and recount the gang’s previous exploits. He dwells in particular on the “triple hit”: three robberies committed in Milan two years earlier within forty minutes, catching the police unprepared. He then recounts how they lived in Turin, posing as businessmen while waiting to carry out the jobs planned by Piero, who, with his feverish mind and exaggerated personality, dominated them all. The fourth member, a young man named Tuccio, had previously worked in the carpentry shop owned by Piero’s father, where Piero had hidden the weapons. When Piero realizes the boy has discovered his secret, and is no fool, he trains him and draws him into the gang’s latest criminal undertaking. The four set off by bus, boarding at different stops in Turin. Once in Milan, after scouting the bank they have targeted, they first steal a car and leave it in a parking lot, then steal another one to use in the robbery. After the heist, the car is identified, and police patrol cars begin a coordinated encirclement, this time following a prearranged plan. During the chase, the first shots are fired from the robbers’ car, but the police try to get them out of the city before returning fire. Realizing this, the bandits head back toward the center, firing into city traffic and causing deaths, injuries, and one crash after another. When an unmarked police car finally manages to pull alongside them, the bandits ram it, but after the collision they have to abandon their now-useless car. The four split up and continue their escape on foot. Piero and Sandro run together, pistols in hand, telling passersby they are police officers before disappearing. The driver, wounded in the arm, is carrying the bag of money and a machine gun. Although he soon gets rid of them, a passerby sees him and gives chase: the crowd is upon him before the police can reach him. As the brave passerby is being taken to police headquarters, he suffers a heart attack. The boy, despite being slightly wounded, manages to board a bus and return home to Turin. The next day, however, he is arrested. Meanwhile, Piero and Sandro head across the fields, but are hunted down by the police and the Carabinieri. After several days on the run and nights spent sleeping in the open, driven by hunger, they enter a village to buy food, but are recognized and reported to the Carabinieri. The officers find them in an abandoned railway gatehouse and, exhausted and starving, they allow themselves to be arrested without resisting. Taken to police headquarters and surrounded by Carabinieri and journalists, Piero does not give up his swagger, putting on airs as a major criminal and boasting that he has carried out no fewer than seventeen robberies.