In those days, the white trams that came down from the villages of Brianza were overflowing with passengers at Piazzale Loreto. The trams were stopped by the Black Brigades, and the workers were forced to disembark and file past that poor heap of corpses, watched closely by fascists armed to the teeth, ready to arrest anyone who dared to protest or even show an act of pity.

Within an hour, the tale of the massacre and the grim faces of the guards watching over the corpses spread throughout all the factories and the city. Anyone with a relative, friend, or comrade arrested or in hiding rushed over, their hearts in their throats, praying not to find them in the pile.