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James Bond Literary Wikia
Giuseppe Petacchi
Name: Giuseppe Petacchi
Affiliation: SPECTRE
Nationality: Italy Italian
Rank: Colonel
Sibling(s): Dominetta Vitali
Occupation: Pilot
First appearance: Thunderball
Last appearance: Thunderball

Colonel Giuseppe Petacchi was an Italian pilot hired by the criminal organisation SPECTRE to hijack a British bomber and its atomic payload.

History[]

Giuseppe Petacchi was originally from Bolzano and has a much younger sister, actress Dominetta Vitali. During World War II, when it becomes clear which side will win, he kills the two other men on his aircraft and flies his plane to an Allied base, pretending he has been harbouring Allied sympathies all along. As a result, he was hailed as a war hero. Petacchi's real motivation is his own self-interest. He has had a good career, but he wants out now, and he wants money. His current material desire is an extravagant Maserati.

Petacchi is carefully chosen by the independent criminal group SPECTRE to steal an air force plane that contains the two nuclear weapons called "Plan Omega". Petacchi gets on the flight as a NATO observer. He waits patiently for his opportunity, and then he puts on an oxygen mask and sets off poison gas in the plane. After a few minutes, the crew members all begin choking and dying.

"Petacchi said happily, ‘Good evening. Good evening. I am delivering one plane in good condition.’ (He had thought the joke out long before.) ‘Please sign here.’"
― Ian Fleming.[src]

Petacchi takes over the plane and pilots it to his rendezvous in the mid-Atlantic, with SPECTRE operative Emilio Largo's ship, the Disco Volante. He skillfully lands the aircraft on the water and as it floats, he exits the plane by climbing upon the wing. Prepared for a friendly meeting with his employers, he is instead murdered by them, to cut him out of the ransom money.

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