Anarchist, born in Coiano, NC Italy. An anarchist textile worker and trade union organizer, he had emigrated to the USA, but returned to Italy and in 1900 assassinated King Umberto I, whom he held responsible for the ruthless suppression of the 189899 riots. He was condemned to life imprisonment, but died in jail in unclear circumstances.
Gaetano Bresci (1869 - May 22, 1901), was an Italian-American anarchist who assassinated Italian King Humbert I.
Militancy
Bresci was born in Tuscany, and emigrated from Italy to the United States of America, making his living as a weaver in Paterson, New Jersey, which had a large Italian-American anarchist community. He was one of the founders of La Questione Sociale, the Italian language anarchist paper published in Paterson. According to Emma Goldman:
In 1898, high bread prices led to demonstrations all over Italy.
Humbert's killing
King Humbert later decorated Beccaris, complimenting him upon his "brave defense of the royal house" —as a result of which Bresci became determined to kill the king. Bresci had his loan to the paper returned (without telling his comrades why), and with the money he went to Italy.
Bresci was captured and put on trial, where he was defended by the anarchist lawyer Francesco Saverio Merlino. He was sentenced in Milan on August 29, 1900, to hard labour on Santo Stefano Island near Ventotene, where numerous other anarchists had also been sent over the years. He was found dead in prison less than a year later, which was attributed to suicide, although he might have been murdered by the guards.
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