Gladio in Italy
Encyclopedia
While "stay-behind
" anti-communist networks existed in all NATO countries, the Italian branch of Operation Gladio
was the first one to be discovered. It was set up under Minister of Defense
(from 1953 to 1958) Paolo Taviani
's supervision. Prime minister Giulio Andreotti
(DC
) publicly recognized it on 24 October 1990, speaking of a "structure of information, response and safeguard", with arms caches and reserve officers.
(DC
) publicly recognized the existence of Gladio, a NATO stay-behind
anti-communist organisation, on 24 October 1990. He gave to the Commissione Stragi, the parliamentary commission led by senator Giovanni Pellegrino
in charge of investigations on bombings committed during the years of lead in Italy, a list of 622 civilians who according to him were part of Gladio. Andreotti also assured that 127 weapons caches had been dismantled, and claimed that Gladio had not been involved in any of the bombings committed from the 1960s to the 1980s (further evidence implicated neofascists linked to Gladio, in particular concerning the 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing
, the 1972 Peteano attack by Vincenzo Vinciguerra
, the 1980 Bologna massacre
in which SISMI
officers were condemned for investigation diversion, along with Licio Gelli
, head of Propaganda Due
masonic lodge, etc.). Andreotti declared that the Italian military services (predecessors of the current SISMI had joined in 1964 the Allied Clandestine Committee created in 1957 by the US, France, Belgium and Greece, and which was in charge of directing Gladio's operations. However, Gladio was actually set up under Minister of Defense
(from 1953 to 1958) Paolo Taviani
(DC) 's supervision.
Vincenzo Vinciguerra
, a far-right terrorist, had already revealed Gladio's existence during his 1984 trial. Gladio was involved in the "strategy of tension
" during the "lead years", which started with Piazza Fontana bombing
in December 1969. Thirty years later, during a trial of right-wing extremists, General Giandelio Maletti, former head of Italian counter-intelligence, claimed that the massacre had been carried out by the Italian stay-behind army and right wing terrorists on orders of the CIA in order to discredit the Italian Communist Party
(PCI).
After the discovery by judge Felice Casson of documents on Gladio in the archives of the Italian military secret service in Rome, Giulio Andreotti
, head of Italian government, revealed to the Chamber of deputies the existence of "Operazione Gladio" on 24 October 1990, insisting that Italy has not been the only country with secret "stay-behind
" armies. He made clear that "each chief of government had been informed of the existence of Gladio". Former Socialist Prime Minister Bettino Craxi
claimed that he had not been informed until he was confronted with a document on Gladio signed by himself while he was Prime Minister. Former Prime Minister Giovanni Spadolini
(Republican Party), at the time President of the Senate, and former Prime Minister Arnaldo Forlani
, at the time secretary of the ruling Christian Democratic Party claimed they remembered nothing. Spadolini stressed that there was a difference between what he knew as former Defence Secretary and what he knew as former Prime Minister. Only former Prime Minister Francesco Cossiga
(DC) confirmed Andreotti's revelations, explaining that he was even "proud and happy" for his part in setting up Gladio as junior Defence Minister of the Christian Democratic Party. This lit up a political storm, requests were made for Cossiga's (Italian President since 1985) resignation or impeachment for high treason. He refused testifying to the investigating Senate committee. Cossiga narrowly escaped his impeachment by stepping down on April 1992, three months before his term expired.
In addition to preparing for a Soviet invasion, the stay-behind also was to act in case of a communist government being elected in Italy. Since Italy was the country most likely to vote into power a communist government (with the communist party
receiving up to 36% of the popular vote, being at times the strongest party in parliament), the Italian branch of Gladio also became the largest NATO "stay-behind" organization.
, which started Italy's anni di piombo, and the 1974 "Italicus Expressen" train bombing were also attributed to Gladio operatives. In 1975, Stefano Delle Chiaie
met with Pinochet
during Franco
's funeral in Madrid
, and would participate afterward in operation Condor
, preparing for example the attempted murder of Bernardo Leighton
, a Chilean Christian Democrat
or participating in the 1980 'Cocaine Coup' of Luis García Meza Tejada
in Bolivia
. In 1989, he was arrested in Caracas
, Venezuela
and extradited to Italy to stand trial for his role in the Piazza Fontana bombing. Despite his reputation, Delle Chiaie was acquitted by the Assize Court in Catanzaro in 1989, along with fellow accused Massimiliano Fachini (as yet no convictions have been made for the attack). According to Avanguardia Nazionale
member Vincenzo Vinciguerra
: "The December 1969 explosion was supposed to be the detonator which would have convinced the politic and military authorities to declare a state of emergency
".
member Vincenzo Vinciguerra
confessed in 1984 to judge Felice Casson
of having carried out the 31 May 1972 Peteano terrorist act, in which three policemen died. Until Vinciguerra's trial, the Red Brigades
were accused of having carried it out. Vinciguerra explained during his trial how he had been helped by Italian secret services and fled away to Francoist Spain after the Peteano massacre. He was abandoned by Gladio as soon as he started talking about it, declaring for example during his 1984 trial:
bombing of the Central Station
at Bologna
, Italy, on the morning of 2 August 1980, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 200. The attack has been attributed to the neo-fascist
terrorist organization, Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari
, and connected to Operation Gladio
, which has been investigated by the EU.
In November 1995, Neo-Fascist terrorists Valerio Fioravanti and Francesca Mambro were convicted to life imprisonment as executors of the massacre. Licio Gelli
, headmaster of P2
and former OSS
/CIA operative, received a sentence for diversion of the investigation, as well as Francesco Pazienza and SISMI
officers Pietro Musumeci and Giuseppe Belmonte. Avanguardia Nazionale
founder Stefano Delle Chiaie
, who was involved in the Golpe Borghese
in 1970, was also accused of involvement in the Bologna massacre.
's kidnapping and assassination by the Red Brigades
had actually been masterminded by a "lucid superpower" and was inspired by the "logic of Yalta
". Christian-Democrat Aldo Moro was negotiating the "historic compromise
" which would have allowed the Communist Party
to enter into government for the first time since the May 1947 expulsion (which had also taken place in France
).
Pecorelli painted the figure of General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa
as "general Amen", explaining that it was him that, during Aldo Moro's kidnapping, had informed Interior Minister Francesco Cossiga
of the location of the cave where Moro was detained. In 1978, Pecorelli wrote that Dalla Chiesa was in danger and would be assassinated (Dalla Chiesa was murdered four years later). After Aldo Moro's assassination, Mino Pecorelli published some confidential documents, mainly Moro's letters to his family. In a cryptic article published in May 1978, wrote The Guardian
in May 2003, Pecorelli drew a connection between Gladio and Moro's death. During his interrogation, Aldo Moro had referred to "NATO's anti-guerrilla activities." Mino Pecorelli, who was on Licio Gelli
's list of P2 members
discovered in 1980, was assassinated on 20 March 1979. The ammunitions used, a very rare type, where the same as discovered in the Banda della Magliana
's weapons stock hidden in the Health Minister's basement. Pecorelli's assassination has been thought to be directly related to Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, who was condemned to 20 years of prison for it in 2002 before having the sentence cancelled by the Supreme Court of Cassation
in 2003 due to the statute of limitations.
Stay-behind
In a stay-behind operation, a country places secret operatives or organisations in its own territory, for use in the event that the territory is overrun by an enemy. If this occurs, the operatives would then form the basis of a resistance movement, or would act as spies from behind enemy lines...
" anti-communist networks existed in all NATO countries, the Italian branch of Operation Gladio
Operation Gladio
Operation Gladio is the codename for a clandestine NATO "stay-behind" operation in Italy after World War II. Its purpose was to continue anti-communist actions in the event of a shift to a Communist party led government...
was the first one to be discovered. It was set up under Minister of Defense
Italian Minister of Defense
This is a list of Italian Ministers of Defence since 1947....
(from 1953 to 1958) Paolo Taviani
Paolo Emilio Taviani
Paolo Emilio Taviani was an Italian political leader, economist and historian of the career of Christopher Columbus....
's supervision. Prime minister Giulio Andreotti
Giulio Andreotti
Giulio Andreotti is an Italian politician of the now dissolved centrist Christian Democracy party. He served as the 42nd Prime Minister of Italy from 1972 to 1973, from 1976 to 1979 and from 1989 to 1992. He also served as Minister of the Interior , Defense Minister and Foreign Minister and he...
(DC
Christian Democracy (Italy)
Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....
) publicly recognized it on 24 October 1990, speaking of a "structure of information, response and safeguard", with arms caches and reserve officers.
Giulio Andreotti's revelation
Prime minister Giulio AndreottiGiulio Andreotti
Giulio Andreotti is an Italian politician of the now dissolved centrist Christian Democracy party. He served as the 42nd Prime Minister of Italy from 1972 to 1973, from 1976 to 1979 and from 1989 to 1992. He also served as Minister of the Interior , Defense Minister and Foreign Minister and he...
(DC
Christian Democracy (Italy)
Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....
) publicly recognized the existence of Gladio, a NATO stay-behind
Stay-behind
In a stay-behind operation, a country places secret operatives or organisations in its own territory, for use in the event that the territory is overrun by an enemy. If this occurs, the operatives would then form the basis of a resistance movement, or would act as spies from behind enemy lines...
anti-communist organisation, on 24 October 1990. He gave to the Commissione Stragi, the parliamentary commission led by senator Giovanni Pellegrino
Giovanni Pellegrino
Giovanni Pellegrino is an Italian politician.Born in Lecce and a lawyer by profession, he was a Senator of the Republic from 1990 with the Italian Communist Party and the Democrats of the Left to 2001...
in charge of investigations on bombings committed during the years of lead in Italy, a list of 622 civilians who according to him were part of Gladio. Andreotti also assured that 127 weapons caches had been dismantled, and claimed that Gladio had not been involved in any of the bombings committed from the 1960s to the 1980s (further evidence implicated neofascists linked to Gladio, in particular concerning the 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing
Piazza Fontana bombing
The Piazza Fontana Bombing was a terrorist attack that occurred on December 12, 1969 at 16:37, when a bomb exploded at the headquarters of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura in Piazza Fontana in Milan, Italy, killing 17 people and wounding 88...
, the 1972 Peteano attack by Vincenzo Vinciguerra
Vincenzo Vinciguerra
Vincenzo Vinciguerra is an Italian neo-fascist activist, a former member of the Avanguardia Nazionale and Ordine Nuovo . He is currently serving a life-sentence for the murder of three policemen by a car bomb in Peteano in 1972...
, the 1980 Bologna massacre
Bologna massacre
The Bologna massacre was a terrorist bombing of the Central Station at Bologna, Italy, on the morning of Saturday, 2 August 1980, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 200. The attack has been materially attributed to the neo-fascist terrorist organization Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari...
in which SISMI
SISMI
Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare was the military intelligence agency of Italy from 1977-2007....
officers were condemned for investigation diversion, along with Licio Gelli
Licio Gelli
Licio Gelli is an Italian financier, chiefly known for his role in the Banco Ambrosiano scandal. He was revealed in 1981 as being the Venerable Master of the clandestine Masonic lodge Propaganda Due...
, head of Propaganda Due
Propaganda Due
Propaganda Due , or P2, was a Masonic lodge operating under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient of Italy from 1945 to 1976 , and a pseudo-Masonic or "black" or "covert" lodge operating illegally from 1976 to...
masonic lodge, etc.). Andreotti declared that the Italian military services (predecessors of the current SISMI had joined in 1964 the Allied Clandestine Committee created in 1957 by the US, France, Belgium and Greece, and which was in charge of directing Gladio's operations. However, Gladio was actually set up under Minister of Defense
Italian Minister of Defense
This is a list of Italian Ministers of Defence since 1947....
(from 1953 to 1958) Paolo Taviani
Paolo Emilio Taviani
Paolo Emilio Taviani was an Italian political leader, economist and historian of the career of Christopher Columbus....
(DC) 's supervision.
Vincenzo Vinciguerra
Vincenzo Vinciguerra
Vincenzo Vinciguerra is an Italian neo-fascist activist, a former member of the Avanguardia Nazionale and Ordine Nuovo . He is currently serving a life-sentence for the murder of three policemen by a car bomb in Peteano in 1972...
, a far-right terrorist, had already revealed Gladio's existence during his 1984 trial. Gladio was involved in the "strategy of tension
Strategy of tension
The strategy of tension is a theory that describes how to divide, manipulate, and control public opinion using fear, propaganda, disinformation, psychological warfare, agents provocateurs, and false flag terrorist actions....
" during the "lead years", which started with Piazza Fontana bombing
Piazza Fontana bombing
The Piazza Fontana Bombing was a terrorist attack that occurred on December 12, 1969 at 16:37, when a bomb exploded at the headquarters of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura in Piazza Fontana in Milan, Italy, killing 17 people and wounding 88...
in December 1969. Thirty years later, during a trial of right-wing extremists, General Giandelio Maletti, former head of Italian counter-intelligence, claimed that the massacre had been carried out by the Italian stay-behind army and right wing terrorists on orders of the CIA in order to discredit the Italian Communist Party
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party . Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played...
(PCI).
After the discovery by judge Felice Casson of documents on Gladio in the archives of the Italian military secret service in Rome, Giulio Andreotti
Giulio Andreotti
Giulio Andreotti is an Italian politician of the now dissolved centrist Christian Democracy party. He served as the 42nd Prime Minister of Italy from 1972 to 1973, from 1976 to 1979 and from 1989 to 1992. He also served as Minister of the Interior , Defense Minister and Foreign Minister and he...
, head of Italian government, revealed to the Chamber of deputies the existence of "Operazione Gladio" on 24 October 1990, insisting that Italy has not been the only country with secret "stay-behind
Stay-behind
In a stay-behind operation, a country places secret operatives or organisations in its own territory, for use in the event that the territory is overrun by an enemy. If this occurs, the operatives would then form the basis of a resistance movement, or would act as spies from behind enemy lines...
" armies. He made clear that "each chief of government had been informed of the existence of Gladio". Former Socialist Prime Minister Bettino Craxi
Bettino Craxi
Benedetto Craxi was an Italian politician, head of the Italian Socialist Party from 1976 to 1993, the first socialist President of the Council of Ministers of Italy from 1983 to 1987.-Political career:...
claimed that he had not been informed until he was confronted with a document on Gladio signed by himself while he was Prime Minister. Former Prime Minister Giovanni Spadolini
Giovanni Spadolini
Giovanni Spadolini was a liberal Italian politician, the 45th Prime Minister of Italy, newspaper editor, journalist and a noted historian.-Biography:Spadolini was born in Florence....
(Republican Party), at the time President of the Senate, and former Prime Minister Arnaldo Forlani
Arnaldo Forlani
This article is about the Italian legislator. For the similar name used as an alias by terrorist Ramzi Yousef for Philippine Airlines Flight 434, see Ramzi Yousef....
, at the time secretary of the ruling Christian Democratic Party claimed they remembered nothing. Spadolini stressed that there was a difference between what he knew as former Defence Secretary and what he knew as former Prime Minister. Only former Prime Minister Francesco Cossiga
Francesco Cossiga
Francesco Cossiga was an Italian politician, the 43rd Prime Minister and the eighth President of the Italian Republic. He was also a professor of constitutional law at the University of Sassari....
(DC) confirmed Andreotti's revelations, explaining that he was even "proud and happy" for his part in setting up Gladio as junior Defence Minister of the Christian Democratic Party. This lit up a political storm, requests were made for Cossiga's (Italian President since 1985) resignation or impeachment for high treason. He refused testifying to the investigating Senate committee. Cossiga narrowly escaped his impeachment by stepping down on April 1992, three months before his term expired.
In addition to preparing for a Soviet invasion, the stay-behind also was to act in case of a communist government being elected in Italy. Since Italy was the country most likely to vote into power a communist government (with the communist party
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party . Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played...
receiving up to 36% of the popular vote, being at times the strongest party in parliament), the Italian branch of Gladio also became the largest NATO "stay-behind" organization.
Gladio's subversion
- In 1964, Gladio was involved in a silent coup d'état when General Giovanni de Lorenzo in Operation Solo forced the Italian SocialistsItalian Socialist PartyThe Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...
Ministers to leave the government.
- In 1974, an attack committed by Ordine NuovoOrdine NuovoOrdine Nuovo , full name Centro Studi Ordine Nuovo, "New Order Scholarship Center") was an Italian far right cultural and extra-parliamentary political and terrorist organization founded by Pino Rauti in 1956...
during an anti-fascist demonstration in BresciaBresciaBrescia is a city and comune in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, between the Mella and the Naviglio, with a population of around 197,000. It is the second largest city in Lombardy, after the capital, Milan...
, kills eight and injures 102 (Piazza della Loggia bombingPiazza della Loggia bombingThe Piazza della Loggia bombing was a bombing that took place on the morning of 28 May 1974, in Brescia, Italy during an anti-fascist protest which killed eight people and wounded over 90...
). The same year, a bomb in the Rome to Munich train "Italicus Express" kills 12 and injures 48. Also in 1974, Vito MiceliVito MiceliVito Miceli was an Italian general and politician. He was chief of the SIOS , Italian Army Intelligence's Service from 1969 and SID's head from October 18, 1970 to 1974...
, P2Propaganda DuePropaganda Due , or P2, was a Masonic lodge operating under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient of Italy from 1945 to 1976 , and a pseudo-Masonic or "black" or "covert" lodge operating illegally from 1976 to...
member, chief of the SIOS (Servizio Informazioni), Army Intelligence's Service from 1969 and SID's head from 1970 to 1974, got arrested on charges of "conspiration against the state" concerning investigations about Rosa dei venti, a state-infiltrated group involved in terrorist acts. During his trial, he reveals the NATO stay-behind secret army. In 1977, the secret services were reorganized in a democratic attempt. With law #801 of 24/10/1977, SID was divided into SISMISISMIServizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare was the military intelligence agency of Italy from 1977-2007....
(Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare), SISDESISDEServizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Democratica , was the domestic intelligence agency of Italy.With the reform of the Italian Intelligence Services approved on 1 August 2007, SISDE was replaced by AISI....
(Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Democratica) and CESISCESISComitato Esecutivo per i Servizi di Informazione e Sicurezza was an Italian government committee whose mission was the coordination of all the intelligence sector, and specifically between the two civilian and military intelligence agencies , with the aim to report all the relevant information...
(Comitato Esecutivo per i Servizi di Informazione e Sicurezza). The CESIS has a coordination role, led by the President of Council. General Carlo Alberto Dalla ChiesaCarlo Alberto Dalla ChiesaCarlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa was a general of the Italian carabinieri notable for campaigning against terrorism during the 1970s in Italy, and later assassinated by the Mafia in Palermo.-Biography:...
's murder, in 1982, by the mafiaMafiaThe Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
in PalermoPalermoPalermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
is allegedly part of the strategy of tensionStrategy of tensionThe strategy of tension is a theory that describes how to divide, manipulate, and control public opinion using fear, propaganda, disinformation, psychological warfare, agents provocateurs, and false flag terrorist actions....
. Alberto Dalla Chiesa had arrested Red BrigadesRed BrigadesThe Red Brigades was a Marxist-Leninist terrorist organisation, based in Italy, which was responsible for numerous violent incidents, assassinations, and robberies during the so-called "Years of Lead"...
founders Renato Curcio and Alberto Franceschini in September 1974, and was later charged of investigation concerning Aldo MoroAldo MoroAldo Moro was an Italian politician and the 39th Prime Minister of Italy, from 1963 to 1968, and then from 1974 to 1976. He was one of Italy's longest-serving post-war Prime Ministers, holding power for a combined total of more than six years....
, assassinated in 1978.
1969 Piazza Fontana bombing and others massacres
1969 Piazza Fontana bombingPiazza Fontana bombing
The Piazza Fontana Bombing was a terrorist attack that occurred on December 12, 1969 at 16:37, when a bomb exploded at the headquarters of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura in Piazza Fontana in Milan, Italy, killing 17 people and wounding 88...
, which started Italy's anni di piombo, and the 1974 "Italicus Expressen" train bombing were also attributed to Gladio operatives. In 1975, Stefano Delle Chiaie
Stefano Delle Chiaie
Stefano Delle Chiaie is a neofascist Italian activist . He went on to become a wanted man worldwide, suspect to be involved in Italy's strategy of tension, but was acquitted. He was a friend of Licio Gelli, grandmaster of P2 masonic lodge...
met with Pinochet
Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...
during Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
's funeral in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, and would participate afterward in operation Condor
Operation Condor
Operation Condor , was a campaign of political repression involving assassination and intelligence operations officially implemented in 1975 by the right-wing dictatorships of the Southern Cone of South America...
, preparing for example the attempted murder of Bernardo Leighton
Bernardo Leighton
Bernardo Leighton Guzmán was a Chilean Christian Democrat who was targeted by Operation Condor.In 1937, President Arturo Alessandri Palma appointed him as Employment minister....
, a Chilean Christian Democrat
Christian Democrat Party of Chile
The Christian Democratic Party is a political party in Chile and governs as part of the Coalition of Parties for Democracy coalition. In the 2009 election it won 19 congress seats and 9 senate seats....
or participating in the 1980 'Cocaine Coup' of Luis García Meza Tejada
Luis García Meza Tejada
Luis García Meza Tejada is a former Bolivian dictator. A native of La Paz, he was a career military officer who rose to the rank of general during the reign of dictator Hugo Banzer...
in Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
. In 1989, he was arrested in Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
, Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
and extradited to Italy to stand trial for his role in the Piazza Fontana bombing. Despite his reputation, Delle Chiaie was acquitted by the Assize Court in Catanzaro in 1989, along with fellow accused Massimiliano Fachini (as yet no convictions have been made for the attack). According to Avanguardia Nazionale
National Vanguard (Italy)
The National Vanguard is a name that has been used for at least two neo-fascist groups in Italy.-Original group:The original National Vanguard was an extra-parliamentary movement formed as a breakaway group from the Italian Social Movement by Stefano Delle Chiaie in 1960, initially based around a...
member Vincenzo Vinciguerra
Vincenzo Vinciguerra
Vincenzo Vinciguerra is an Italian neo-fascist activist, a former member of the Avanguardia Nazionale and Ordine Nuovo . He is currently serving a life-sentence for the murder of three policemen by a car bomb in Peteano in 1972...
: "The December 1969 explosion was supposed to be the detonator which would have convinced the politic and military authorities to declare a state of emergency
State of emergency
A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend some normal functions of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, alert citizens to change their normal behaviours, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale...
".
1972 Peteano massacre and the strategy of tension
Avanguardia NazionaleNational Vanguard (Italy)
The National Vanguard is a name that has been used for at least two neo-fascist groups in Italy.-Original group:The original National Vanguard was an extra-parliamentary movement formed as a breakaway group from the Italian Social Movement by Stefano Delle Chiaie in 1960, initially based around a...
member Vincenzo Vinciguerra
Vincenzo Vinciguerra
Vincenzo Vinciguerra is an Italian neo-fascist activist, a former member of the Avanguardia Nazionale and Ordine Nuovo . He is currently serving a life-sentence for the murder of three policemen by a car bomb in Peteano in 1972...
confessed in 1984 to judge Felice Casson
Felice Casson
Felice Casson is an Italian magistrate and politician, who discovered the existence of Operation Gladio, a "stay-behind" NATO anti-communist army during the Cold War, while investigating an attack on three Carabinieri in 1972, for which two neo-fascists were convicted; the explosives used in the...
of having carried out the 31 May 1972 Peteano terrorist act, in which three policemen died. Until Vinciguerra's trial, the Red Brigades
Red Brigades
The Red Brigades was a Marxist-Leninist terrorist organisation, based in Italy, which was responsible for numerous violent incidents, assassinations, and robberies during the so-called "Years of Lead"...
were accused of having carried it out. Vinciguerra explained during his trial how he had been helped by Italian secret services and fled away to Francoist Spain after the Peteano massacre. He was abandoned by Gladio as soon as he started talking about it, declaring for example during his 1984 trial:
With the massacre of Peteano and with all those that have followed, the knowledge should now be clear that there existed a real live structure, occult and hidden, with the capacity of giving a strategic direction to the outrages. [This structure] lies within the states itself. There exists in Italy a secret force parallel to the armed forces, composed of civilians and military men, in an anti-Soviet capacity, that is, to organise a resistance on Italian soil against a Russian army.
1980 Bologna massacre
The Bologna massacre was a terroristTerrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
bombing of the Central Station
Bologna Central Station
Bologna Centrale is a railway station in Bologna, Italy. It is at the southern end of the Milan-Bologna high-speed line, which opened on 13 December 2008 and the northern end of the Bologna–Florence Direttissima, opened on 22 April 1934...
at Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
, Italy, on the morning of 2 August 1980, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 200. The attack has been attributed to the neo-fascist
Neo-Fascism
Neo-fascism is a post–World War II ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. The term neo-fascist may apply to groups that express a specific admiration for Benito Mussolini and Italian Fascism or any other fascist leader/state...
terrorist organization, Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari
Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari
The Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari was an Italian neofascist terrorist organization active from 1977 to November 1981. It committed 33 murders in four years, and had planned to assassinate Francesco Cossiga, Gianfranco Fini and Adolfo Urso...
, and connected to Operation Gladio
Operation Gladio
Operation Gladio is the codename for a clandestine NATO "stay-behind" operation in Italy after World War II. Its purpose was to continue anti-communist actions in the event of a shift to a Communist party led government...
, which has been investigated by the EU.
In November 1995, Neo-Fascist terrorists Valerio Fioravanti and Francesca Mambro were convicted to life imprisonment as executors of the massacre. Licio Gelli
Licio Gelli
Licio Gelli is an Italian financier, chiefly known for his role in the Banco Ambrosiano scandal. He was revealed in 1981 as being the Venerable Master of the clandestine Masonic lodge Propaganda Due...
, headmaster of P2
Propaganda Due
Propaganda Due , or P2, was a Masonic lodge operating under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient of Italy from 1945 to 1976 , and a pseudo-Masonic or "black" or "covert" lodge operating illegally from 1976 to...
and former OSS
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
/CIA operative, received a sentence for diversion of the investigation, as well as Francesco Pazienza and SISMI
SISMI
Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare was the military intelligence agency of Italy from 1977-2007....
officers Pietro Musumeci and Giuseppe Belmonte. Avanguardia Nazionale
National Vanguard (Italy)
The National Vanguard is a name that has been used for at least two neo-fascist groups in Italy.-Original group:The original National Vanguard was an extra-parliamentary movement formed as a breakaway group from the Italian Social Movement by Stefano Delle Chiaie in 1960, initially based around a...
founder Stefano Delle Chiaie
Stefano Delle Chiaie
Stefano Delle Chiaie is a neofascist Italian activist . He went on to become a wanted man worldwide, suspect to be involved in Italy's strategy of tension, but was acquitted. He was a friend of Licio Gelli, grandmaster of P2 masonic lodge...
, who was involved in the Golpe Borghese
Golpe Borghese
The Golpe Borghese was a failed Italian coup d'état allegedly planned for the night of 7 or 8 December 1970. It was named after Junio Valerio Borghese, an Italian World War II commander of the notorious Xª MAS unit, the "Black Prince", convicted of war crimes, but still a hero in the eyes of many...
in 1970, was also accused of involvement in the Bologna massacre.
Aldo Moro's 1978 assassination
In May 1978, investigative journalist Mino Pecorelli thought that Prime Minister Aldo MoroAldo Moro
Aldo Moro was an Italian politician and the 39th Prime Minister of Italy, from 1963 to 1968, and then from 1974 to 1976. He was one of Italy's longest-serving post-war Prime Ministers, holding power for a combined total of more than six years....
's kidnapping and assassination by the Red Brigades
Red Brigades
The Red Brigades was a Marxist-Leninist terrorist organisation, based in Italy, which was responsible for numerous violent incidents, assassinations, and robberies during the so-called "Years of Lead"...
had actually been masterminded by a "lucid superpower" and was inspired by the "logic of Yalta
Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, held February 4–11, 1945, was the wartime meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, represented by President Franklin D...
". Christian-Democrat Aldo Moro was negotiating the "historic compromise
Historic Compromise
In Italian history, the Historic Compromise was an accommodation between the Christian Democrats and the Italian Communist Party in the 1970s, after the latter embraced eurocommunism under Enrico Berlinguer. The 1978 assassination of DC leader Aldo Moro put an end to the Compromesso storico...
" which would have allowed the Communist Party
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party . Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played...
to enter into government for the first time since the May 1947 expulsion (which had also taken place in France
History of France
The history of France goes back to the arrival of the earliest human being in what is now France. Members of the genus Homo entered the area hundreds of thousands years ago, while the first modern Homo sapiens, the Cro-Magnons, arrived around 40,000 years ago...
).
Pecorelli painted the figure of General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa
Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa
Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa was a general of the Italian carabinieri notable for campaigning against terrorism during the 1970s in Italy, and later assassinated by the Mafia in Palermo.-Biography:...
as "general Amen", explaining that it was him that, during Aldo Moro's kidnapping, had informed Interior Minister Francesco Cossiga
Francesco Cossiga
Francesco Cossiga was an Italian politician, the 43rd Prime Minister and the eighth President of the Italian Republic. He was also a professor of constitutional law at the University of Sassari....
of the location of the cave where Moro was detained. In 1978, Pecorelli wrote that Dalla Chiesa was in danger and would be assassinated (Dalla Chiesa was murdered four years later). After Aldo Moro's assassination, Mino Pecorelli published some confidential documents, mainly Moro's letters to his family. In a cryptic article published in May 1978, wrote The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
in May 2003, Pecorelli drew a connection between Gladio and Moro's death. During his interrogation, Aldo Moro had referred to "NATO's anti-guerrilla activities." Mino Pecorelli, who was on Licio Gelli
Licio Gelli
Licio Gelli is an Italian financier, chiefly known for his role in the Banco Ambrosiano scandal. He was revealed in 1981 as being the Venerable Master of the clandestine Masonic lodge Propaganda Due...
's list of P2 members
Propaganda Due
Propaganda Due , or P2, was a Masonic lodge operating under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient of Italy from 1945 to 1976 , and a pseudo-Masonic or "black" or "covert" lodge operating illegally from 1976 to...
discovered in 1980, was assassinated on 20 March 1979. The ammunitions used, a very rare type, where the same as discovered in the Banda della Magliana
Banda della Magliana
The Banda della Magliana was an Italian criminal organization based in Rome, particularly active throughout the late 1970s until the early 1990s. Given by the media, the name refers to the original neighborhood, the Magliana, of most of its members....
's weapons stock hidden in the Health Minister's basement. Pecorelli's assassination has been thought to be directly related to Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, who was condemned to 20 years of prison for it in 2002 before having the sentence cancelled by the Supreme Court of Cassation
Court of Cassation (Italy)
The Supreme Court of Cassation is the major court of last resort in Italy. It has its seat in the Rome Hall of Justice.The Court of Cassation exists also to “ensure the observation and the correct interpretation of law” by ensuring the same application of law in the inferior and appeal courts...
in 2003 due to the statute of limitations.
See also
- Guido SalviniGuido SalviniGuido Salvini is an Italian judge, based in Milan. He issued European arrest warrants in 2005 against approximatively 20 CIA agents accused of having taken part in the abduction of Abu Omar, the Egyptian cleric in Milan in 2003. The case is known in Italy as the Imam Rapito affair...
, another magistrate who investigated on the strategy of tension and the 1969 Piazza Fontana bombingPiazza Fontana bombingThe Piazza Fontana Bombing was a terrorist attack that occurred on December 12, 1969 at 16:37, when a bomb exploded at the headquarters of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura in Piazza Fontana in Milan, Italy, killing 17 people and wounding 88...
Further reading
- Philip Willan, Puppetmasters: The Political Use of Terrorism in Italy, Author's Choice Press, 1991, ISBN: 0-595-24697-4.