The gang, most of whom were serving police officers with links to right wing extremism,[4] began activity in 1987 with a string of night robberies at tollbooths along Autostrada A14.

[7] In early 1988, the gang killed two security guards and wounded another during supermarket raids; Giampiero Picello on 30 January 1988 in Rimini,[8] and Carlo Beccari on 19 February 1988 in Casalecchio di Reno.

[9] On 20 April 1988, two carabinieri, Cataldo Stasi and Umberto Erriu, were killed after they stopped the gang at a car park in Castel Maggiore, near Bologna.

[10][11] Carabiniere Domenico Macauda was subsequently found to have intentionally misdirected the investigation and manipulated evidence, he was convicted to eight years in prison.

[15][16] On 23 December 1990, the gang opened fire on Romani caravans in Via Gobetti, Bologna killing Rodolfo Bellinati and Patrizia Della Santina, and injuring others.

[18] On 4 January 1991, at around 10pm, in the Pilastro district of Bologna, the White Uno Gang opened fire on a patrol group of carabinieri, killing three.

[21] Andrea Moneta and Mauro Mitilini, managed to respond, injuring Roberto Savi, but were eventually overwhelmed by the gang.

The white Uno involved in the massacre was abandoned in San Lazzaro di Savena in the car park of Via Gramsci and burned; one of the seats was stained with Savi's blood.

The carabinieri believed that the gang led by ex-carabiniere paratrooper Damiano Bechis was responsible,[22][23][24] to which various robberies in Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany had been attributed, including the murder of Primo Zecchi.

[25][26][27][28] While on 20 June 1992, the DIGOS, on the basis of a false testimony from alleged eyewitness Simonetta Bersani,[29][30] arrested brothers Peter and William Santagata, as well as camorrista Marco Medda[31][32] In 1991 the White Uno Gang committed a number of murders.

[33] On 2 May 1991, during a raid on a gun shop in Bologna they killed shop-owner Licia Ansaloni and retired carabiniere Pietro Capolungo.

[35] On 19 June 1991, Graziano Mirri was killed in front of his wife during a robbery at his petrol station in Viale Marconi, Cesena.

[36][37] On 18 August 1991, the gang killed two Senegalese labourers, Ndiaj Malik and Babou Chejkh, and injured a third, Madiaw Draw, in a racist attack in San Mauro Mare.

Three days later, his brother Fabio was arrested at an Autogrill 27 kilometres from the Austrian border with his Romanian lover Eva Edit Mikula.

He was transferred to the operations centre in 1992 for disciplinary reasons, after shaving the head of a young boy found in possession of narcotic substances.

Savi's blunt coldness shocked the audience as he described the most atrocious crimes he committed; when answering questions in the courtroom, he would respond with "affirmative" or "negative".

He worked as a coachbuilder and truck driver, living in Torriana with his Romanian girlfriend, Eva Mikula, whose testimony was decisive in the resolution of the case.

He took part in an assault in Casalecchio di Reno on 19 February 1988, during which security guard Carlo Beccari died, he was therefore sentenced to life imprisonment.