With World War II drawing to its inexorable end and the defeat of Germany imminent Benito Mussolini decided to make a beeline for neutral Switzerland accompanied by his mistress Clara Petacci.
He did not make it. Captured by the partisans Mussolini and his party were summarily executed.
The conventional version of the story says Petacci was shot when she hugged Mussolini and refused to move away from him. After that Mussolini allegedly opened his jacket and screamed, “Shoot me in the chest!” His last wish was carried out.
The next day the bodies of Mussolini, Petacci and others in their party were taken to Milan and hung upside down on meathooks from the roof of an Esso gas station. Angry mobs stoned and ridiculed the bodies before being dumped into an an umarked grave the following grave.
The next year the body of Il Duce was carried off by neo-fascists and remained on the move before being recaptured by the Italian government. After a decade in limbo the remains were handed over to Mussolini’s widow who built the bombastic buffoon a tomb in the family crypt.