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Bresci (c. 1890s)

Gaetano Bresci (1869–1901) was an Italian anarchist who assassinated King Umberto I of Italy. He became an anarchist after experiencing exploitation in the workplace and later emigrated to the United States, where he joining the Italian immigrant anarchist movement in Paterson, New Jersey. News of the Bava Beccaris massacre motivated him to return to Italy to assassinate Umberto. Bresci killed the king on 29 July 1900, during Umberto's scheduled appearance in Monza, amid a sparse police presence. The government of Italy suspected that Bresci had been a part of a conspiracy but no evidence was found to indicate that others were involved. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and confined on Santo Stefano Island, where he was found dead of an apparent suicide the following year. After his death, Bresci became a martyr for the Italian left-wing. He inspired the American anarchist Leon Czolgosz to assassinate United States president William McKinley. (Full article...)