Selis discovered Giuseppucci’s group and their shared desire to rule Rome after being released from prison. He and Mancini joined Giuseppucci’s organization right away, adding even more strength to it. As a result, it might be argued that Selis was Giuseppucci’s inspiration before the band was formed.
This takes us full circle to Giuseppucci, De Pedis, and Abbatino’s fortuitous meeting. Instead of going to war and murdering one another, they made the decision to work together to form a criminal organization that would rule the whole city. Each brought along members of their respective organizations, and they each kept adding members one at a time until their numbers grew steadily.
Members of the organization received equal portions and subsisted on the profits made by the criminal organization according to the stecca para principle. The majority of the profits, though, were retained in the casa comune, a joint account that was used to buy anything that could help the group, including narcotics, weapons, and even the bribing of public officials.
Successful members had to continue their illegal operations to remain operai del crimine, or “crime laborers,” although money would still be provided to them through their families if any of the members were imprisoned. The organization continued to be decentralized, but Giuseppucci took on a leadership role virtually and was the one to suggest new initiatives and operations.
Sixty-six people were kidnapped in Italy in 1977, most of them were wealthy and political figures. The abduction of Duke Massimiliano Grazioli Lante della Rovere would be the group’s first major mission together.
In addition to being a landowner and Roman nobility, the 66-year-old Duke was married to Isabella Perrone, a member of the family that had formerly controlled the Roman daily “Il Messaggero.” But how could someone posing as the duke be abducted by a group that had just recently come together and had little to no prior experience in the field?
There was a mole in the straightforward answer. Giuseppucci’s friend Enrico, who was acquainted with the duke’s son from their time spent at the racetrack and betting establishment, was able to give the gang all the information they needed to abduct the noble.
The abduction happened on Monday, November 7, 1977, at approximately 18:00 at Settebagni’s Via del Casale di San Nicola. The duke had been at an estate known as the Torretta, which included the duke’s beloved horses in a spacious pasture. Maurizio Abbatino and Renzo Danesi, who drove the cars that stopped the duke and his entourage, were present at the kidnapping, along with four members of a batteria from the Montespaccato area, Giuseppucci, Paradisi, Piconi, Castelletti, and Colafigli. Since many of the members were not experienced in kidnappings, they asked the Montespaccato organization for assistance in hiding the Duke in the rural areas of Campania.
By transporting the duke to many locations—Primavalle, Aurelia, and finally the Salerno region—they were able to deceive investigators. Since De Pedis was incarcerated after a heist, Giuseppucci and Abbatino oversaw the talks between the Banda della Magliana and the Grazioli family. Beginning on December 1st, the group wrote five letters to the family requesting a ransom; the letters were typically accompanied by images of the duke to show the family that he was still living. They also succeeded in hiding the duke’s whereabouts from the authorities by having him carry copies of the La Nazione newspaper, which suggested that he was being detained in Tuscany.
The group eventually lowered their ransom demand from 10 billion to 1.5 billion. The ransom was delivered by the duke’s son on February 14, 1978, after he was given intricate instructions. He was made to search the city for directions by opening trash cans and phone boxes, and eventually he was told to throw the bag with the ransom down a bridge onto the Cassia. The person who picked up the ransom told the duke’s son that he was going to get a call shortly telling him where to meet his father.