Italian Carabinieri

The Italian Carabinieri are consulted during Claude Lebel’s inquiry into the identity of a suspected political assassin. Their reported response helps distinguish ordinary contract killing from the particular threat facing the French government: a foreign statesman targeted for political reasons.

Role in the Inquiry

As Lebel seeks assistance from foreign police forces, information from Italy arrives through discreet enquiries involving the Italian Carabinieri and the Mafia’s chief in Rome, where OAS leaders hide under surveillance. The exchange gives the French investigation a limited but relevant assessment of whether Italian criminal networks might supply the assassin it is seeking.

Assessment of Political Killing

The Italian response distinguishes known contract killers employed by the Italian Mafia from political assassins. According to Lebel’s report, the Mafia’s chief pledged that no Mafia killer would undertake a political killing except on orders, and that the organization would not agree to kill a foreign statesman. The statement does not identify the assassin; it narrows the inquiry by making the Mafia an unlikely source of the attack under investigation.

Significance

The Carabinieri’s contribution is informational rather than operational in the evidence presented: their discreet enquiries produce a judgment that Lebel can weigh alongside the replies from other countries. He says he is personally inclined to believe the assurance, while treating it as one assessment within a still-unresolved search for a professional political assassin. Their brief appearance shows how the manhunt depends not only on French records and police powers but also on carefully handled exchanges with foreign authorities.