Remember the 18 2017 March when, at the Paris Orly airport, the bomber Ziyed Ben Belgacem attacked the guards and disarmed a female soldier before being killed? Here, in Rome Fiumicino, just to mention an Italian airport, such a thing would not have happened in these terms. At Fiumicino there are the "laser" teams, which control from above and are ready and able to intervene in cases like these: therefore, hypothetically, such a fact could happen also from us but the terrorist would be immediately neutralized and, above all , would have no way to get hold of any weapon. These teams are trained by the men of the Nocs (Central Security Operations Center), the special forces of our State Police.
Their base at 15 is in Spinaceto, near Rome, very close to the military airport of Pratica di Mare. It is named after the inspector Samuele Donatoni, their only one who fell during a firefight in an attempt to free the businessman Giuseppe Soffiantini from his captors. The ground was a swamp below sea level and the various structures rest on stilts that descend into the ground for over 20 meters to give solidity.
"For a few years now, the base of the Nocs is this", explains the commandant of the Nucleo Andrea Mainardi, very kind and a very special guide to the place. "We share it with the multi-purpose center for competitions and medical examinations, downstairs and with the Fiamme Oro sports groups that train here, in the sports center, where they manage to maintain good levels. We have various disciplines such as boxing, karate, fight, rescue swimming, etc. Others train in Tor di Quinto. The complex is large, one hectare in length, with a dedicated training area where you can try various situations, from climbing to raids to save hostages. The central part is used for offices, armory and dog units and, beyond the canteen, there is a complex with swimming pool, gym and sports field.
We are in a kind of campus that has no other in Italy, that many foreigners when they visit us envy us and also with so many problems of management, being so big it needs continuous maintenance. But we're still fine and can not complain".
The Nocs now consists of over 130 elements, waiting to introduce other people, an 90ina operational, divided into teams and a logistics sector.
The operators of the Core are silent and quick and have the face covered by the mephisto, as always the men of special forces do, whatever the weapon of belonging. A difficult life, because if you get a phone call that signals an emergency you have to run and leave what you're doing, whether it's a concert, a wedding party, an appointment with a girlfriend. It's damn complicated to even have a private life. All this is taken into account when choosing the path of the law and security of the country.
Since their establishment in 1978, the special nucleus of the police has carried out hundreds of actions and arrests, but its name is inextricably linked to the liberation, in January 1982 in Padua, of NATO general James lee Dozier kidnapped by the Br, who returns to Italy never misses a greeting visit. A tangible reminder of those liberations is the red flag with the star circled, "war booty" that dominates the entrance to the floor where the offices are. Then all the rest: from the capture of terrorists of Red Brigades, armed revolutionary Nuclei Nar, First Line, etc, to the liberation of the little Augusto de Megni (photo) in 1991 to that, in '94, of 134 hostages on a Meridian plane hijacked and stopped on the runway of the Leonardo da Vinci airport of Rome Fiumicino. And still the operation Sphinx in Milan in the '95, to dismantle a cell of Islamic terrorists until the interventions, in the town center, to save people held hostage by unbalanced. Not to mention safety in the case of international summits (together with other special bodies such as the Gis of the Carabinieri) or visits by foreign presidents.
They are people prepared, physically and psychologically, they train to be ready playing the role of hostages or terrorists, they are divers, paratroopers, shooters chosen and each discipline is perfected with other special units (amphibious and maritime activities, for example, with the Consubin of the Marina). They also operate with dog-loving units and between dog and man there is a perfect symbiosis of friendship.
It is not easy to become an Nocs operator, because the attribution of that qualification is subject to a complex procedure that provides, first of all, the possession of particular requirements such as having at least two years of service in the Police, not having passed the 31 years of age, a view of 10 / 10 and an excellent psychophysical constitution established by ad hoc medical visits. Eligible results, we proceed with the physical tests: 5 thousand meters in the maximum time of 20 minutes, 100 meters in 14 seconds, long jump not less than 4,5 meters, high jump not less than 1,40 meters, ascent with rope and perch with the sole arms, proof of aquaticity and apnea. Those who pass the physical tests can attend the Nocs operator course, six months highly selective, because on average the ratio between the applications presented and the operators judged suitable at the end of the period is in the order of 1 / 10.
The courses last for a total of two years, the last one step is training at Abbasanta in Sardinia and the students are observed for the balance and the potential on which they can specialize.
After completing specializations, it is inserted in the various sectors of the Operating teams for special actions, Soas.
In the operational support there are also women and, for two years, one in the Operating teams, coming from Flames Gold, free fight sector.
Among the weapons in use, Beretta px4 individual weapon, Hk mp5 long gun, Milkor launchers for smoke bombs. The cars are of all types, some armored for the most delicate services, not of specific brands, from Volvo, Bmw, Audi, Fiat, Renault.
Having been able to visit the base and speak at the same time with the commander Andrea Mainardi (photo) and with Armando Silvestro (who was seriously injured during the liberation of the entrepreneur Dante Belardinelli, kidnapped by a band of Sardinians, injuries that caused him great damage but is still at work today albeit behind a desk and is an example for everyone), a very special historical memory of he evolution of the Nucleus (“still alive at Nocs”, he says), is a further added value for which we thank them, together with the State Police for the permission granted.
Mainardi - For me, having Armando Silvestro here is such a beautiful exchange, so useful ... exchange is fundamental.
Sylvester - When we arrive at an idea, at a conclusion, we do not always agree in defining a continuity but with the comparison one succeeds.
It is an emotion to enter the holy of holies Anti-terrorism ...
M - Of the Special Counter-terrorism Unit. The real "Antiterrorism", as it should be, is now managed by our central management and has become a unit of coordinated survey on the territory made with Intelligence. We should be the "armed" arm.
Operating?
M - Operational arm, however extreme. The central management has its service with operating rooms in the area that investigate, move and go. But when we reach an extreme level we should intervene.
S - "Resolving" arm. There is a moment in which there is a decisive action, in the sense that it must be "conclusive". Because Antiterrorism is made by Intelligence but also by many other things. We are the conclusion of everything.
Sometimes we must close things that others have handled differently. The investigative staff would be able, but not adequately trained. Because an intervention that has to do with the release of hostages in particular places, needs a strong training, a knowledge of techniques, tools, weapons and more, that others understand but not in such a deep way that they can use at the right time.
And they are things that even an operator who knows our tools, which seem simple, must try them and in every situation, he must know them. Because the tools are needed. But if you do not understand their purpose, if you do not have the necessary technical expertise, you risk becoming null and it is also a useless expense. The tool, to serve, must be well studied, one must train well in its use, brought to serve for the required need, otherwise it makes no sense. All expenses are made for this purpose.
Above all in a period of ever greater spending reviews...
M - We are a bit 'privileged, as there is special attention to what we treat and we are a fairly small number. So it is easier to be able to serve and give the maximum.
How do the boys enter the Nocs?
M - From time to time a course is started to introduce new elements. The relationship is one to eight but also one to ten. In the last course set up, on 120 questions, in 9 have passed the selections. If we start from the first selection, in general from the first skimming, a third one arrives, which, between psychological and physical tests, is discarded by another third. Let's say that, at the basic course, there are about fifteen. And at the basic someone else is eliminated or goes away alone for various reasons and, therefore, from the hundred of departure they arrive in ten. And then there is the last rock, that of our base in Abbasanta in Sardinia, where they do real training in the countryside. And where many, even there, leave.
Do you Nocs too have the problem of a few young people in your ranks, as happens with the Armed Forces?
M - Every year, a maximum of two, we try to introduce new boys so as not to age the department too much. But today the police have aged, generically, because we have had the problem of few immissions in recent years, so the average age level rises even in a special department like ours. True, it matters relatively, I have people over 50 who train like a real Highlander.
S - We must also say that, with our training, the remaining people manage to keep themselves young well beyond the 50 years.
How many are you in total?
M - We are around 140 with the new guys we trained in 2017. Among the 80 and 90 are operational and then there are the others, that I would not call them logistic, because the logistics does not exist, it is a terminology used here too but I do not like ...
S - Rather than call it logistics, I would talk about human resources, means and tools: these are the three things that are needed for a special intervention. Without means we do not go anywhere and without tools the action is not perfected. It's the end. The distinction "logistic" is only because they do not do basic operational training, but they are still part of the special departments because they contribute to the resolution and to their competence, in the instrumental, technological and means field.
M - I am happy with Armando Silvestro because he says he belongs to the past, instead he is the most transversal of all, his ideas are the most modern. The beauty of Armando is that he continually calls himself into question and I have had the best initiatives in recent years from him. With him we have created things that I am proud of and that I have to thank him for.
What kind of initiatives?
M - We talked before the operational support that needs "logistical" support. Many times training is privileged for operators, those who, in fact, intervene. It was not thought, however, that even the non-operational part, from the economic to the drivers, was staff who worked but were not continuously trained. Thanks to Armando we have also created specific modules for people who are not necessarily first level operational but who were able to be. Because, it has been said, if it happens that a rifle falls or one is shot down in the front line, it is important that you can take that rifle and intervene in the same way from the second line ...
S - In short, each situation creates an operational theater and, returning to what I said earlier about men, means and tools, those in that context must at least know how to move, not to risk life unnecessarily. These are fundamental things, everyone must know the intervention procedures and how they work. Only in this way can one be in an operative theater and in a certain way, otherwise one risks only doing damage. The context is operational theater. We must move in sync, as in a dance choreography.
The Nocs was born in a difficult time for Italy and not only ...
M - The special departments of the police forces in Italy are two, the other is the Gis del carabinieri. And they are born when Europe is attacked, let's talk about the facts of Monaco of 1972 (v.articolo), when Palestinian terrorists of Black September take Israeli athletes hostage in the Olympic village killing eleven: the whole of Europe is unguarded because special units do not exist, Israel tries to intervene by proposing the sending of their own special team, the Germans refuse and what happens is well known ... From there, at the European level, we begin to build a base to have operators who are no better but more qualified than other normal policemen, to face an attack of a military type too or very strong anyway. As for Italy, we come to the years of the Moro kidnapping: first we had the "Anticommando Squads", an embryo of what Francesco Cossiga, then Minister of the Interior, created, namely Nocs for the State Police and Gis for the 'Carabinieri weapon.
S - Only for culture, otherwise it goes too far back in time: the Anticommando created the prefect Emilio Santillo in the 1974, with the first General Inspectorate for the action against terrorism, after the kidnapping of the judge Mario Sossi and other episodes. There had been losses among the men who fought against the terrorists, so Santillo created a team, the Anticommando, in order to face those problems. The team has worked against the Nap (Nuclei armed proletarians, ed), the Nar (Revolutionary Armed Nuclei) and so on ... Then in '78, as the commander said, with President Cossiga and with the reform of Security Services is created the Ucigos, the central and the Nocs as a counter-terrorism team within the same Ucigos, by the decree of the '78 which also foresaw that all the instruments and men pass to the Nocs. The focus of the actions, in those times, was the kidnapping of the Moro until the capture of the fugitives, the accompaniment of the repentants, now called "collaborators of justice" and so on.
Italy realized that the Nocs existed with the release of NATO General James Lee Dozier, kidnapped by the red brigades by now 36 years ago ...
M - Italy and the world. General Dozier often comes to the commemoration of that event.
S - There was a watershed from Dozier's kidnapping and the intervention to free him, because it seemed like nothing but it was a real intervention planned in every detail. There were the eyes of the world watching Italy, the United States that kept us under pressure. We can say that it was an irruption with the normal times made by people who did not lose their heads despite the pressures, which came in and in a few minutes solved the situation, freed the general and captured who was inside.
M - It is important that you pass the idea that impunity does not exist. This is a structure like the others of the State Police. All that has been done has happened within the scope of the law. Then it is obvious that extraordinary means are used, but it is compared with the event for which it operates.
Read the second part: Sicut Nox Silentes, "Silent like the night": at the base of the NOCS - anti-terrorism and territorial control
(photo: Nocs / author / web)
