{on this date in} 1945: Italian partisans kill Mussolini

[eppur_se_muova]

Benito Mussolini, dictator of Italy until his downfall in 1943, has been killed by partisans along with his mistress, Clara Petacci, and some close associates.

Their bodies were taken to Milan from the Lecco district near Lake Como where they were arrested and then killed yesterday.

According to the Times correspondent in Milan, the corpses of Mussolini, Petacci and 12 Fascists are on display in Piazzale Loreto "with ghastly promiscuity in the open square under the same fence against which one year ago 15 partisans had been shot by their own countrymen".

One woman fired five shots into Mussolini's body, according to Milan Radio, and shouted: "Five shots for my five assassinated sons!"
***
more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/28/newsid_3564000/3564529.stm

Motto of the state of Virginia: sic semper tyrannis

[benburch]

1. Ah those were the days!

When a band of Patriots could rid a nation of an evil fascist dictator.

I wonder where Patriots like that have gone?

[enigma000]

2. The end of Nicolae Ceausescu

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolae_Ceausescu#The_end_of_Ceau.C5.9Fescu

On Christmas Day, the two were condemned to death by a military kangaroo court on charges ranging from illegal gathering of wealth to genocide, and were executed in Târgovi?te. During their trial, and before their execution, the couple recited from the "Internationale". They were shot dead after they sang the fourth word.
The Ceau?escus were executed by an officer named Ionel Boeru who shot them with his sub-machine-gun.
The "trial" and execution were videotaped. The footage was promptly released in France and other western countries. Several days later, footage of their trial and pictures of their corpses (but not of the execution itself) was released on television for the Romanian public.

[DrDebug]

3. He destroyed half the city to make room for his palace

Was it the largest building of the world or the second largest building?

[eppur_se_muova]

4. "They were shot dead after they sang the fourth word"...

Man, talk about a bad review.

[enigma000]

5. I've walked out on movies and operas before

but really, getting shot 4 words in? Harsh critics LOL