Ilario Pantano
Ilario Pantano was born in New York City and grew up in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood. He attended the private Horace Mann School in New York on scholarship, and afterwards enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and participated in the first Gulf War as a TOW gunner. Pantano completed scout/sniper training, and was promoted to sergeant, remaining in the Marine Corps until 1993.
Following his return to civilian life, Ilario Pantano earned an economics degree from New York University. He built a successful career as an energy trader for Goldman Sachs, and moved on to become a movie producer with a New York firm called The Shooting Gallery.
Immediately after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Ilario Pantano rejoined the Marines. He was accepted as an officer candidate, and after completing Officer Candidate School, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, at the age of thirty. Pantano became a popular officer and his superiors described him as the best platoon commander in his battalion. His men reported that they appreciated the extra training drills he put them through.
Pantano went to Iraq in February of 2004 with 2nd Battalion 2nd Marines. This was quickly followed by the intense fighting in Fallujah during Operation Vigilant Resolve in April 2004. On April 15th 2004, acting on intelligence extracted from captured opposition fighters, Lieutenant Pantano led his platoon against a compound near the town of Mahmudiyah.
As they approached the compound, the platoon saw a vehicle with two Iraqis in it. Pantano ordered his men to stop the vehicle and to have the occupants of the vehicle handcuffed. The vehicle was searched for weapons. Lieutenant Pantano remained with the captives, while the rest of his platoon secured the compound. The compound was deserted, but his men found a cache of arms, including several mortar aiming stakes, a flare gun, three AK47 rifles, 10 AK magazines with assault vests and IED making material.
When Pantano learned the compound contained weapons he ordered two men to watch for enemies. He then released the captives from their bonds. Lieutenant Pantano then used hand signals to order the captives to search the vehicle again. During the search of the vehicle he felt the Iraqis posed a threat to him. They were talking, and Pantano believed they were conspiring together. When they both turned to face each other, he shouted "Stop!" in both Arabic and English, and when they did not, he shot them. After emptying his magazine, he continued to fire. He later stated: "I then changed magazines and continued to fire until the second magazine was empty...I had made a decision that when I was firing I was going to send a message to these Iraqis and others that when we say, 'No better friend, No worse enemy,' we mean it. I had fired both magazines into the men, hitting them with about 80 percent of my rounds."
After this event, one of Pantano's own men, whom he had demoted, disputed Pantano's claim of self-defense. The military charged Ilario Pantano with premeditated murder in February 2005. But by May of the same year, he was cleared of all charges.
On June 12, 2006, Pantano's autobiographical account of his experiences, "Warlord: No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy," was released.
