Kneecapping

Kneecapping is a form of physical attack developed by the Red Brigades in Italy. Members of the group would approach a victim and shoot him in [Page 330]one or both knees. In addition to being physically damaging and excruciatingly painful, the technique was especially effective because it required the assailant to get very close to the victim, demonstrating how vulnerable a person could be. The assailants would get away after the attack, providing evidence of the government's inability to protect people. Further, the group opted to undertake the more difficult task of getting close to a victim rather than shooting him at a distance with a rifle because it demonstrated the abilities of the group. Because the Red Brigades were “only wounding” the victims, even if they were likely to be crippled as a consequence of the attack, the group avoided the negative publicity that would have come with murders. A wounded person also provided continuing publicity for the group.

The Red Brigades may have borrowed this technique from criminal groups in Italy (and elsewhere) that developed kneecapping as a mechanism for extorting money from individuals or for collecting debts. Thus, while it was not an original technique, it was still effective in terms of spreading fear among the target audience and demonstrating the weaknesses of the government. Such audacious attacks also suggested that the Red Brigades could strike at will. While terrorist groups actually pick the more vulnerable targets rather than the well-guarded ones, the appearance that the group could strike at will was very effective.

The Red Brigades eventually escalated their attacks and launched more deadly assaults when they failed to achieve their goals with these assaults. Other groups, however, adopted the use of kneecapping. Both the Irish Republican Army and the Protestant groups in Northern Ireland began using the technique. Although at times they used it against political targets on the other side, Irish groups principally used kneecapping against their own people, as one means on a graduated scale of violence to maintain control within their own communities. The leftist Revolutionary Organization 17 November in Greece also adopted the technique against its opponents on a selective basis. While the Northern Irish groups may have adopted the technique independently of the Red Brigades, the Greek leftists appear to have copied the idea from their Italian compatriots.

The kneecapping technique was effective in its initial stages. It provided great publicity to the Italian Red Brigades, and it proved to be a useful technique for other groups in the right circumstances. There have been very few long-lasting groups, however, that have been able to rely only on kneecapping and similar kinds of assaults. They either escalate to more violent tactics or disappear from the scene when limited violence is ineffective in achieving the objectives of the group.