Luciano Lutring (30 December 1937 – 13 May 2013) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

, author and painter, known as "the submachine gun soloist" ("il solista del mitra"), because he kept the weapon in a violin case. Born in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, Lutring carried out hundreds of robberies in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

during the sixties, for an estimated 35 billion lire. On 1 September 1965, during a robbery in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, Lutring was seriously wounded and remained in critical condition for two months. Sentenced to 22 years in prison, he served 12 years in prison in France, during which he began to write and paint, even exchanging letters with

Sandro Pertini Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio "Sandro" Pertini (; 25 September 1896 – 24 February 1990) was an Italian socialist politician and statesman who served as President of Italy from 1978 to 1985. Early life Born in Stella (province of Savona) as t ...

, then Italian President of the Chamber of Deputies. Later, in what is the only recorded case in history, he was pardoned by two presidents,

Georges Pompidou Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou ( ; ; 5 July 19112 April 1974) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1969 until his death in 1974. He previously served as Prime Minister of France under President Charles de Gaulle from 19 ...

of France and Italy's

Giovanni Leone Giovanni Leone (; 3 November 1908 – 9 November 2001) was an Italian politician, jurist and university professor who was President of Italy from 1971 to 1978. A founding member of Christian Democracy (Italy), Christian Democracy (DC), Leone br ...

. In 1966,

Carlo Lizzani Carlo Lizzani (3 April 1922 – 5 October 2013) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and critic. Biography Born in Rome, before World War II Lizzani worked as a scenarist on such films as Roberto Rossellini's '' Germany Year Zero'', ...

directed a film based on his story, ''

Wake Up and Die ''Wake Up and Die'' (, ), also known as ''Wake Up and Kill'' and ''I Kill for Kicks'', is a 1966 Italian-French crime-drama film directed by Carlo Lizzani, based on real life events of Luciano Lutring, an Italian criminal known as "the machine-gun ...

'', with

Robert Hoffmann Robert Hoffmann (30 August 1939 – 4 July 2022) was an Austrian actor, best known to British audiences for his title role performance in '' The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe'' (1964). Hoffmann was born in Salzburg. ''Crusoe'' was his screen d ...

and

Gian Maria Volonté Gian Maria Volonté (9 April 1933 – 6 December 1994) was an Italian actor and activist. He is best known for his roles in four Spaghetti Western films: Ramón Rojo in Sergio Leone's ''A Fistful of Dollars'' (1964), El Indio in Leone's ''For a ...

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Further reading