The
strategy of tension is an alleged theory by which world powers divide, manipulate, and control
public opinionPublic opinion is the aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs held by the adult population. Public opinion can also be defined as the complex collection of opinions of many different people and the sum of all their views...
using
fearFear is an emotional response to a threat. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of danger. Some psychologists such as John B. Watson, Robert Plutchik, and Paul Ekman have suggested that fear is one of a small set of basic or...
,
propagandaPropaganda is communication aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience...
,
disinformationDisinformation is false or inaccurate information that is spread deliberately. It is synonymous with and sometimes called Black propaganda. It may include the distribution of forged documents, manuscripts, and photographs, or spreading malicious rumors and fabricated intelligence...
,
psychological warfareThe U.S. Department of Defense defines psychological warfare as:"The planned use of propaganda and other psychological actions having the primary purpose of influencing the opinions, emotions, attitudes, and behavior of hostile foreign groups in such a way as to support the achievement of national...
,
agents provocateursTraditionally, an agent provocateur is a person employed by the police or other entity to act undercover to entice or provoke another person to commit an illegal act...
, and
false flagFalse flag operations are covert operations conducted by governments, corporations, or other organizations which are designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of...
terroristTerrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.At present, there is no internationally agreed definition of terrorism...
actions.
The theory began with allegations that the United States and the then-fascist Greek government supported far-right terrorist groups in
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
and
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
– whose democratic institutions appeared to be threatened by
CommunismCommunism is a socioeconomic structure and political ideology that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property in general. Karl Marx posited that communism would be the final stage in human...
– to spread panic among the population who would in turn demand stronger and more dictatorial governments. The theory is far from being universally accepted, as disputes continue over alleged evidence of the involvement of the U.S. government in support of terrorist activities.
Italy
The term "strategy of tension" recurred during the trials that followed in the 1970s and 1980s
years of leadIn the late 1960s, Italy endured a period of socio-political turmoil that lasted until the late 1980s. This new wave of terrorism, initially called Opposti Estremismi, and later renamed "The Years of Lead" in the film Marianne and Juliane by Margarethe von Trotta, was characterized by widespread...
( "anni di piombo"), during which terror attacks and assassinations were committed by apparently neofascist terrorists (with such names as
Ordine NuovoOrdine Nuovo , full name Centro Studi Ordine Nuovo, "New Order Scholarship Center") was an Italian far right cultural and extra-parliamentary political organization founded by Pino Rauti in 1956...
,
Avanguardia NazionaleThe National Vanguard is a name that has been used for at least two neo-fascist groups in Italy.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...
or
Fronte NazionaleFronte Nazionale is a name that has been used for several Neofascist political parties and movements in Italy.-Junio Valerio Borghese FN:...
).
Much attention has been on
Operation GladioGladio is a code name denoting the clandestine NATO "stay-behind" operation in Italy after World War II, intended to continue anti-communist resistance in the event of a Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe...
, Italy's branch of the secret pre-positioned
NATOThe North Atlantic Treaty Organization ); ), also called "the Atlantic Alliance", is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on April 4, 1949...
"
stay-behindIn 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 of Western Europe. These armies were set up to perform
resistance- Physics :* Electrical resistance, a measure of the degree to which an object opposes an electric current through it* Friction, the force that opposes motion** Drag , fluid or gas forces opposing motion and flow...
,
partisanA partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation. The term can apply to the field element of resistance movements that opposed German rule in several countries during World War II .- History :As early as the...
, and guerrilla activities in the event of Soviet invasion; equivalent units were set up by other NATO members in their states. It is claimed that Gladio units were engaged in destabilization at the behest of the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and other
WesternWestern may refer to:* Western , a category of fiction and visual art centered on the American Old West** Western fiction, the Western genre as featured in literatureIn geography:...
governments, intelligence agencies (e.g., the
CIAThe Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government.It is an independent agency responsible for providing national security intelligence to senior United States policymakers....
), the
P2 masonic lodgePropaganda 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...
, the
Order of the Solar TempleThe Order of the Solar Temple also known as Ordre du Temple Solaire in French, and the International Chivalric Organization of the Solar Tradition or simply as The Solar Temple was a secret society based upon the modern myth of the continuing existence of the Knights Templar...
, various Church-related organizations, and domestic influences such as
organized crimeOrganized crime or criminal organizations can be defined as a transnational grouping of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for the purpose of generating a monetary profit...
. The claims are backed by judicial proof which establish that European fascist dictatorships of the time (the Greek junta and the secret services of
Francisco FrancoFrancisco Franco Bahamonde, commonly known as Francisco Franco , or simply Franco, was a military general and dictator of Spain from October 1936, and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in 1975...
) were heavily involved in supporting and arming Italian neo-fascist and neo-nazi groups such as
Ordine NuovoOrdine Nuovo , full name Centro Studi Ordine Nuovo, "New Order Scholarship Center") was an Italian far right cultural and extra-parliamentary political organization founded by Pino Rauti in 1956...
and Avanguardia Nazionale.
Carlo Digilio, an Italian neofascist codenamed "Uncle Otto" coordinated CIA activities in the Italian Regions of Veneto and Friuli from the 60s to the 70s, recruiting former fascists to serve the NATO and u.s. interests in Italy. He himself had been recruited in Verona by U.S. Navy captain David Carrett.
These groups began to pursue an ostensibly extreme
right-wingIn politics, right-wing, political right, rightist and the Right are terms used to describe a number of positions and ideologies. They are most commonly used to refer to support for preserving traditional or cultural values and customs or for maintaining some form of social hierarchy or private...
anti-communist agenda using
violent meansViolence is the expression of physical or verbal force against self or other, compelling action against one's will on pain of being hurt. Variant uses of the term refer to the destruction of non-living objects . Worldwide, violence is used as a tool of manipulation and also is an area of concern...
, including false flag bombings that were then blamed on extra-parliamentary
left-wingIn politics, left-wing, political left, leftist and the Left are terms used to describe a number of positions and ideologies. They are most commonly used to refer to support for changing traditional social orders or for creating a more egalitarian distribution of wealth and privilege...
militant organizations, to discredit the political Left in general at a time in Italy when the Italian Communist Party was very close to entering government. It should be noted that the actions carried out by these extreme groups were meant primarily to agitate and control public opinion, creating fears about the Communist Party. At the time, they created massive public concern and widespread paranoia. According to the "strategia della tensione" theory, this was deliberate. Examples of such actions include the 1972 Peteano bombing, long thought to have been carried out by the
Red BrigadesThe Red Brigades were a Marxist-Leninist militant group based in Italy and active, mainly via political assassinations and bank robberies, during the "Years of Lead"....
, but for which the neofascist terrorist
Vincenzo VinciguerraVincenzo Vinciguerra is a former member of the neo-fascist 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...
has been imprisoned, the attempted assassination of former Interior Minister
Mariano RumorMariano Rumor was an Italian politician, a member of the Democrazia Cristiana and several times Prime Minister of Italy.He was born in Vicenza, Veneto...
on 17 May 1973 or the Bologna railway station bombing known as the
Bologna massacreThe Bologna massacre was a terrorist bombing at the Central Station of Bologna, Italy on the morning of 2 August 1980, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 200...
of 1980.
The Manchester Guardian, in an article published on June 24, 2000, reported that the parliamentarians of the former
Italian Communist PartyThe 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...
, the
Left DemocratsLeft Democrats can mean:*Democrats of the Left - a political party in Italy*Left Democrats - a minor political party in Sweden...
, wrote a report to a subcommittee of the Italian Parliament about what they viewed as United States support for 'anti-left terror in Italy', and the activities of Gladio. This party was previously known as the
Italian Communist PartyThe 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...
, had been funded by millions of dollars from the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
during the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
, and was reportedly the top recipient of Soviet funding for Communist parties anywhere in the world
The report by the
Left DemocratsLeft Democrats can mean:*Democrats of the Left - a political party in Italy*Left Democrats - a minor political party in Sweden...
claimed that the aim of this alleged support for Gladio was to make the public think that the bombings were committed by a
communist insurgencyA communist revolution is a proletarian revolution inspired by the ideas of Marxism that aims to replace capitalism with communism, typically with socialism as an intermediate stage...
, to promote the formation of an
authoritarian governmentAuthoritarianism describes a form of government characterized by an emphasis on the authority of state in a republic or union. It is a political system controlled by typically non-elected rulers who usually permit some degree of individual freedom....
, and to prevent the
Italian Communist PartyThe 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...
(PCI) from joining the ruling Democrazia Cristiana (DC) in a national unity government (the "
Historic CompromiseThe term Historic Compromise most commonly refers to the accommodation between the Italian Christian Democrats and the Italian Communist Party in the 1970s, after the latter embraced eurocommunism under Enrico Berlinguer...
" between
Aldo MoroAldo Moro was an Italian politician and two-time Prime Minister of Italy, from 1963 to 1968, and then from 1974 to 1976...
and
Enrico BerlinguerEnrico Berlinguer was an Italian politician; he was national secretary of the Italian Communist Party from 1972 until his death.-Early career:...
, respective leaders of the DC and of the PCI).
An astonishing observation of the terrorism in Italy that was blamed on communists is that it coincided with election victories for the communists at the polls. So as the PCI was gaining popular support, the number of civilian-targeted bombings, random knee-cappings, and high-profile kidnappings blamed on communist terrorists increased markedly. Furthermore, starting with the 1969
Piazza 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...
and the 1972 Peteano attack, several bombings carried out by the far-right were at first blamed on anarchists (for the first one) and, for the second one, on the
Red BrigadesThe Red Brigades were a Marxist-Leninist militant group based in Italy and active, mainly via political assassinations and bank robberies, during the "Years of Lead"....
(BR) — although it was later found that neofascists, such as
Vincenzo VinciguerraVincenzo Vinciguerra is a former member of the neo-fascist 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...
, had organized them. Piazza Fontana's bombing, in December 1969, marked the beginning of the
"strategia della tensione", which ended around the time of the Bologna railway station bombing in 1980.
The report from the
Left DemocratsLeft Democrats can mean:*Democrats of the Left - a political party in Italy*Left Democrats - a minor political party in Sweden...
of Italy to a subcommittee of the Italian Parliament apparently concluded that the strategy of tension followed by Gladio had been supported by the United States to "stop the PCI, and to a certain degree also the
PSIThe Italian Socialist Party was a democratic socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892....
, from reaching executive power in the country". Members of the
Democratic Party of the LeftThe Democratic Party of the Left was a post-communist, democratic socialist political party in Italy.-History:...
(PDS), part of the Commission on Terrorism headed by senator
Giovanni PellegrinoGiovanni 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...
and created in 1988, also described the Italian peninsula since the end of
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as a "country with 'limited sovereignty'" and as an "American colony" The centrist Italian Republican party described the claims as worthy of a 1970s
MaoistMaoism, variably and officially known as Mao Zedong Thought , is a variant of Marxism derived from the teachings of the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong , widely applied as the political and military guiding ideology in the Communist Party of China from Mao's ascendancy to its leadership until the...
group. Aldo Giannuli, a historian who works as a consultant to the parliamentary terrorism commission, sees the release of the Left Democrats' report as a manoeuvre dictated primarily by domestic political considerations. "Since they have been in power the Left Democrats have given us very little help in gaining access to security service archives," he said. "This is a falsely courageous report."
The existence of
US Army Field Manual 30-31BThe US Army Field Manual 30-31B is an alleged classified appendix to a US Army Field Manual that describes top-secret counter insurgency tactics. In particular, it identifies a strategy of tension involving violent attacks blamed on radical left-wing groups in order to convince allied governments...
. lends even more credibility to the accusations that the CIA tried to destabilize democratic nations to foster the u.s.' interests. Naturally the u.s. maintain that such a manual is a forgery and have found soviet defectors willing to testify that it was put together by the
KGBThe KGB was the national security agency of the USSR. From 1954 until 1991, the Committee for State Security was the Communist state's premier secret police, internal security, and espionage organization, whose coat of arms—the Shield and the Sword—illustrate a national military hierarchy...
however
Licio GelliLicio 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 ....
, grand master of the
P2P2, P02 or P-2 might refer to several subjects:-Technology:* P2 , a "Professional Plug-in" solid state data storage technology employed by Panasonic* DSC-P2, a Sony Cyber-shot P series camera model...
masonic lodge involved in all of the murkiest and bloodiest episodes of the "strategy of tension" repeated openly and bluntly (for example to BBC journalist Allan Francovich) to have received his copy directly from the hands of CIA men.
Piazza Fontana bombing
In December 1969, four bombings struck in Rome the
Monument of Vittorio Emanuele IIThe Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II or Altare della Patria or "Il Vittoriano" is a monument to honour Victor Emmanuel, the first king of a unified Italy, located in Rome, Italy. It occupies a site between the Piazza Venezia and the Capitoline Hill...
(
Altare della Patria), the
Banca Nazionale del LavoroBanca Nazionale del Lavoro SpA is an Italian banking firm. Founded in 1913 as Istituto di Credito per la Cooperazione, it was nationalized in 1929. It was re-privatized and listed on the Milan Stock Exchange in 1998, before being acquired by French banking group BNP Paribas in 2006...
, and in Milan the
Banca Commerciale and the
Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura. The later bombing, known as the
Piazza 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...
of 12 December 1969, killed 16 and injured 90, marking the beginning of this violent period.
Giuseppe PinelliGiuseppe "Pino" Pinelli was an Italian railway worker and anarchist activist, who died in the custody of Italian police in 1969 after being arrested. Pinelli was a member of the Milan Circle "Ponte della Ghisolfa". He was also the secretary of the Italian branch of the Anarchist Black Cross...
, a young
anarchist-The roots of Italian Anarchism :Italian anarchism as a movement came out of the International Revolutionary Brotherhood, a secret society formed by Mikhail Bakunin. Giuseppe Fanelli, who was later involved in the Spanish Revolution, and Giuseppe Fanelli were the earliest faces of the movement...
, was interrogated of the crime, and died in the police office. After his suspicious death, which was claimed to be
suicideSuicide is the intentional killing of one's self. Many dictionaries also note the metaphorical sense of "willful destruction of one's self-interest"...
by the authorities, investigator
Luigi CalabresiLuigi Calabresi , recipient of a gold medal of the Italian Republic for civil valor, was a commissioner of Italian police in Milan....
came under violent criticism from the left and many intellectuals, considering him the person responsible for Pinelli's death; Calabresi would be murdered two and a half years later. Only in 1997 the courts condemned Leonardo Marino and Ovidio Bompressi for carrying out the crime, and
Adriano SofriAdriano Sofri is an Italian intellectual, a journalist and a writer.Former leader of the autonomist movement Lotta Continua in the 1960s, he was arrested in 1988 and convicted to 22 years of prison, having been considered guilty of being the instigator of the murder of Luigi Calabresi, a police...
and Giorgio Pietrostefani for ordering it. At the time of the murder, all four belonged to the extreme left-wing group
Lotta ContinuaLotta Continua was a far left extra-parliamentary organization in Italy. It was founded in autumn 1969 by a split in the student-worker movement of Turin, which had started militant activity at the universities and factories such as Fiat...
.
After Pinelli, the police investigated another anarchist,
Pietro ValpredaPietro Valpreda was an Italian anarchist, dancer and novelist. He was victim of a miscarriage of justice, sentenced to prison on charges of being responsible of the December 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing, before being cleared sixteen years later.Valpreda came from a poor working-class family in...
. He quickly became a hero to the left, who perceived him to be a victim of a plot to attribute a fascist bombing to the left. The leftist environment produced an investigative book,
La strage di Stato ("The state massacre"), in which they claimed the state was attacking anarchists because they (by definition) could not have a political party to defend them, as communists would have had.
Neo-fascistNeo-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
Stefano Delle ChiaieStefano 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, headmaster of P2 masonic lodge...
was then arrested in
CaracasCaracas is the capital and largest city of Venezuela. It is located in the north of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range . The valley's temperatures are springlike. Terrain suitable for building lies between 760 and 910 m above...
,
VenezuelaVenezuela , officially titled Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It is a continental mainland with numerous islands located off its coastline in the Caribbean Sea...
in 1989 and
renderedExtradition is the official process whereby one nation or state requests and obtains from another nation or state the surrender of a suspected or convicted criminal. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
to
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
to stand trial for his role. Delle Chiaie was however acquitted by the Assise Court in
CatanzaroCatanzaro , also known as the city of the two seas, is an Italian city of 96.000 inhabitants and the capital of the Calabria region and of its province....
in 1989, along with fellow accused Massimiliano Fachini. Both were declared not guilty.
In 1998, David Carrett, officer of the U.S. Navy, was indicted by a Milanese magistrate,
Guido 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...
, on charge of political and military espionage and his participation in the 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing, among other events. Judge Guido Salvini also opened a case against Sergio Minetto, Italian official for the US-NATO intelligence network, and
pentitoPentito designates people in Italy who, formerly part of criminal or terrorist organizations, following their arrests decide to "repent" and collaborate with the judicial system to help investigations. The judicial category of the pentiti was first created to fight terrorism in the 1970s, during...
Carlo Digilio.
La Repubblicala Repubblica is, as of 2008, the second largest circulation Italian daily general-interest newspaper, behind the Corriere della Sera. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso led by Eugenio Scalfari and Carlo Caracciolo and Arnoldo Mondadori Editore...
underlined that Carlo Rocchi, the CIA's man in Milan, was surprised in 1995 searching for information concerning Operation Gladio, thus demonstrating that all was not over.
A June 20, 2001 conviction of Italian Neo-fascists Doctor Carlo Maria Maggi,
Delfo ZorziDelfo Zorzi is an Italian-born Japanese citizen accused of terrorism in his country of origin.-Biography:Delfo Zorzi/Roi Hagen was born in Arzignano, Italy, on July 3, 1947, joined neo-fascist organization Ordine Nuovo in 1966, and later became head of the cell in Mestre, the city where his family...
and Giancarlo Rognoni was overturned in March 2004. Carlo Digilio, a suspected CIA informant, received immunity from prosecution by becoming a
witnessA witness is someone who has firsthand knowledge about a crime or dramatic event through their senses , and can help certify important considerations to the crime or event. A witness who has seen the event firsthand is known as an "eye-witness"...
for the state (in agreement with the pentiti laws). All was declared not guilty.
According to extreme right-wing
Ordine NuovoOrdine Nuovo , full name Centro Studi Ordine Nuovo, "New Order Scholarship Center") was an Italian far right cultural and extra-parliamentary political organization founded by Pino Rauti in 1956...
member
Vincenzo VinciguerraVincenzo Vinciguerra is a former member of the neo-fascist 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 political and military authorities to declare a
state of emergencyA state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend certain normal functions of government, alert citizens to alter their normal behaviors, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale for suspending civil liberties...
."
Bombing of Italicus train, August 4, 1974
August 4, 1974, 12 died and 105 were injured in the bombing of the train Italicus Roma-Brennero express at San Benedetto Val di Sambro.
1974 Piazza della Loggia bombing in Brescia
The first judicial investigation concerning the 1974 Piazza della Loggia bombing led to the condemnation in 1979 of a member of the Brescian far-right movement. However, this first sentence was canceled in 1983 and the suspect absolved in 1985 by the Court of Cassation. A second investigation led to the accusation of another far-right activist, who was thereafter absolved in 1989 because of insufficient proofs. A third investigation is still in activity. On May 19, 2005, the Court of Cassation confirmed the arrest warrant against
Delfo ZorziDelfo Zorzi is an Italian-born Japanese citizen accused of terrorism in his country of origin.-Biography:Delfo Zorzi/Roi Hagen was born in Arzignano, Italy, on July 3, 1947, joined neo-fascist organization Ordine Nuovo in 1966, and later became head of the cell in Mestre, the city where his family...
, a former member of the
Ordine NuovoOrdine Nuovo , full name Centro Studi Ordine Nuovo, "New Order Scholarship Center") was an Italian far right cultural and extra-parliamentary political organization founded by Pino Rauti in 1956...
neo-fascist group, who was also suspected of being the material executor of the 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing. Alongside Delfo Zorzi, his neo-fascist comrades Carlo Maria Maggi and Maurizio Tramonte, all members of the Ordine Nuovo group founded in 1956 by Pino Rauti, are also suspected of having organized the Piazza della Loggia bombing.
Bologna railway bombing, August 2, 1980
Bologna railway bombing killed 85 persons and injured 200. A long, troubled and controversial court case and political issue ensued. The relatives of the victims formed an association (
Associazione tra i famigliari delle vittime della strage alla stazione di Bologna del 2 agosto 1980) to raise and maintain civil awareness on the Bologna massacre. On 23 November 1995 the Italian Supreme Court (
Corte di Cassazione) issued the final sentence:
- confirmation of life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious felony crime where the convicted person is to remain in prison for the rest of his or her life...
to the Neo-Fascist terrorists Valerio FioravantiGiuseppe Valerio Fioravanti is an Italian former child actor and terrorist, founder of the neo-fascist terrorist group Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari....
and Francesca Mambro — who have always pleaded innocent — as executors of the attack
- sentence for investigation diversion to 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 Propaganda 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...
- aka P2), Francesco Pazienza and to SISMIServizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare was the military intelligence agency of Italy.With the reform of the Italian Intelligence Services approved on 1 August 2007, SISMI was replaced by AISE....
officers Pietro Musumeci and Giuseppe Belmonte.
- 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, headmaster of P2 masonic lodge...
, friend of Licio Gelli and member of the Armed Revolutionary Nuclei (ARN), an off-shoot of Ordine NuovoOrdine Nuovo , full name Centro Studi Ordine Nuovo, "New Order Scholarship Center") was an Italian far right cultural and extra-parliamentary political organization founded by Pino Rauti in 1956...
, also has been accused of having taken part in it.
Role of Italian Intelligence Services
In 1974,
Vito 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 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...
member, chief of the
SIOSServizio Informazioni Operative e Situazione , was an Italian military counterintelligence service. Its main duty was safeguarding the internal security of military bases and its personnel. It was composed of three divisions: the SIOS Marina , the SIOS Aeronautica and the SIOS Esercito...
(Servizio Informazioni), Army Intelligence's Service from 1969 and SID's head from 1970 to 1974, was arrested on charges of "conspiracy against the state" concerning investigations about
Rosa dei venti, a state-infiltrated group involved in terrorist acts. In 1977, the secret services were reorganized in a democratic attempt. With law #801 of 24/10/1977, SID was divided into
SISMIServizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare was the military intelligence agency of Italy.With the reform of the Italian Intelligence Services approved on 1 August 2007, SISMI was replaced by AISE....
(
Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare),
SISDEServizio 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
CESISComitato Esecutivo per i Servizi di Informazione e Sicurezza was a 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 collected by...
(
Comitato Esecutivo per i Servizi di Informazione e Sicurezza). The CESIS had a coordination role, led by the
President of Council.
Counter-Guerrilla
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
has a history of involvement in similar plots. The Turkish branch of Gladio, known as Counter-Guerrilla, allegedly followed a similar strategy in Turkey in order to justify the 1980 military coup. Turkish secret police are also believed to have instigated the bombing of the Turkish consulate in
ThessalonikiThessaloniki , Thessalonica, or Salonica is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the Greek region of Macedonia. It is honorarily called the Συμπρωτεύουσα Symprotevousa of Greece, as it was once called the συμβασιλεύουσα symvasilevousa of the Byzantine Empire...
,
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
in 1955, leading to the
Istanbul PogromThe Istanbul Pogrom , was a pogrom directed primarily at Istanbul's Greek minority on 6–7 September 1955. The riots were orchestrated by the Turkish military's Tactical Mobilization Group, the seat of Operation Gladio's Turkish branch; the Counter-Guerrilla...
against the Greek minority of
IstanbulIstanbul is the largest city in Turkey and fifth largest city proper in the world with a population of 12.6 million. Istanbul is also a megacity, as well as the cultural and financial centre of Turkey. The city covers 39 districts of the Istanbul province...
.
Assaults on Cumhuriyet and the Council of State
In 2008 over a hundred people, including several generals, party officials, and a former
secretary generalA number of international organizations, political parties, and other bodies use the title Secretary General or Secretary-General for their chief administrative officer.-International intergovernmental organizations:...
of the
National Security CouncilThe National Security Council comprises the Chief of Staff, select members of the Council of Ministers, and the President of the Republic...
were arrested for participation in Ergenekon, an alleged clandestine,
secularSecularism is the concept that government or other entities should exist separately from religion and/or religious beliefs.In one sense, secularism may assert the right to be free from religious rule and teachings, and freedom from the government imposition of religion upon the people, within a...
ultra-nationalist organization with ties to members of the country's military and
securityLaw enforcement in Turkey is carried out by several departments and agencies, all acting under the command of the Prime Minister of Turkey or mostly the Minister of Internal Affairs....
forces. Alleged members have been indicted on charges of plotting to foment unrest, among other things by assassinating intellectuals, politicians, judges, military staff, and religious leaders, with the ultimate goal of toppling the pro-Western incumbent government in a coup that was planned to take place in 2009.
Others
Operation CondorOperation Condor , was a campaign of political repressions involving assassination and intelligence operations officially implemented in 1975 by the governments of the Southern Cone of South America. The program aimed to eradicate alleged socialist/communist influence and ideas and to control...
in South America and events in
AlgeriaAlgeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country on the Mediterranean sea, the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area.It is bordered by Tunisia in...
during the 1990s (see
Organisation of Young Free AlgeriansThe Organisation of Young Free Algerians claimed credit for various attacks against civilian Islamist sympathisers during the Algerian Civil War, claiming to be a pro-government armed group. It was active mainly in 1994 and 1995...
).
Stefano Delle ChiaieStefano 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, headmaster of P2 masonic lodge...
apparently had a hand in both what was happening in Italy and with Operation Condor, as he met with
Michael TownleyMichael Vernon Townley is an American terrorist currently living in the United States under terms of the federal witness protection program. An operative of the Chilean secret police, DINA, Townley confessed, was convicted, and served time in the United States for the 1976 Washington, D.C.,...
(a US expatriate,
DINADirección de Inteligencia Nacional or DINA was the Chilean secret police in the government of Augusto Pinochet. DINA was established in November 1973, as an Army Intelligence unit headed by General Manuel Contreras and vice-director Raúl Iturriaga, who fled from justice in 2007...
agent). It has been claimed that Delle Chiaie was involved in the murder of General
Carlos PratsGeneral Carlos Prats González was a Chilean Army officer, a political figure, minister and Vice President of Chile during President Salvador Allende's government, and General Augusto Pinochet's predecessor as Commander-in-chief of the Chilean Army...
in Buenos Aires, Argentina on September 30 1974. Delle Chiaie, along with fellow extremist
Vincenzo VinciguerraVincenzo Vinciguerra is a former member of the neo-fascist 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...
,testified in
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
in December 1995 before judge María Romilda Servini de Cubría that
Enrique Arancibia ClavelEnrique Arancibia is a former Chilean DINA agent, who resided in unofficial exile in Buenos Aires after the assassination of Chilean Army Chief of Staff René Schneider on October 25, 1970. He was arrested by Argentine intelligence officers shortly after the extradition of Michael Townley to the US,...
(a former Chilean secret police agent prosecuted for crimes against humanity in 2004) and Michael Townley were directly involved in this assassination.
Books, cinema, theater
- Dario Fo
Dario Fo is an Italian satirist, playwright, theater director, actor, and composer. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1997. In 2007 he was ranked Joint Seventh with Stephen Hawking in The Telegraphs list of 100 greatest living geniuses...
, Morte accidentale di un anarchicoAccidental Death of an Anarchist is perhaps the best-known play by the Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo.- About the play :...
, on anarchist Giuseppe PinelliGiuseppe "Pino" Pinelli was an Italian railway worker and anarchist activist, who died in the custody of Italian police in 1969 after being arrested. Pinelli was a member of the Milan Circle "Ponte della Ghisolfa". He was also the secretary of the Italian branch of the Anarchist Black Cross...
's death.
- Excellent Cadavers
Excellent Cadavers is a 1995 non-fiction book by American author Alexander Stille about the Sicilian Mafia, concentrating on magistrate Giovanni Falcone's fight against the Mafia and his 1992 assassination....
(a book and 1976 movie), a political thriller about a coup d'état by a powerful élite in Italy in the 70s.
- Mario Monicelli
Mario Monicelli is an Italian director and screenwriter, one of the masters of the Commedia all'Italiana .-Biography:...
, Un borghese piccolo piccolo (film), 1977
- Margarethe von Trotta
Margarethe von Trotta is a German film director and a member of the New German Cinema movement.The illegitimate child of Elisabeth von Trotta and painter Alfred Roloff, she relocated to Paris in the 1960s, where she worked for film collectives, collaborating on scripts and co-directing short...
, Anni di piomboYears of Lead may refer to:*The Brazilian military dictatorship , from 1964 to 1985*Years of lead , terrorism later 1960s-later 80s*Years of Lead , 1970s-80s...
, 1981
- Silvio Bandinelli, Anni di piombo, 1999
- Guido Chiesa, Lavorare con lentezza - Radio Alice 100.6 MHz, 2004
- Philip Willan, Puppetmasters: The Political Use of Terrorism in Italy, London: Constable and Company, 1991. 375 pages (ISBN 0-09-470590-9)
- Stuart Christie
Stuart Christie is a Glaswegian anarchist writer and publisher. Christie is most well-known for being arrested as an 18-year old while carrying explosives to assassinate the Spanish dictator General Franco. He was later alleged to be a member of the Angry Brigade, but was acquitted of related...
, Stefano Delle ChiaieStefano 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, headmaster of P2 masonic lodge...
: Portrait of a Black Terrorist, London: Anarchy Magazine/Refract Publications, 1984. 182 pages (ISBN 0-946222-09-6)
- Chernyavsky, V., ed. The CIA in the Dock: Soviet Journalists on International Terrorism, Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1983. 176 pages.
- Giuseppe De Lutiis: "Storia dei servizi segreti in Italia", Roma : Editori Riuniti, 1984(1994). 313 pages (ISBN 883593432X)
See also
- Operation Gladio
Gladio is a code name denoting the clandestine NATO "stay-behind" operation in Italy after World War II, intended to continue anti-communist resistance in the event of a Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe...
- Piazza della Loggia bombing
The Piazza della Loggia bombing was a bombing that took place on the morning of May 28, 1974, in Brescia, Italy during a anti-fascist protest which killed 8 people and wounded over 90. The bomb was placed inside a rubbish bin.- Overview :...
, May 28, 1974
- Enrico Mattei
Enrico Mattei was an Italian public administrator. After World War II he was given the task of dismantling the Italian Petroleum Agency Agip, a state enterprise established by the Fascist regime. Instead Mattei enlarged and reorganized it into the National Fuel Trust Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi...
's 1962 death
- Aldo Moro
Aldo Moro was an Italian politician and two-time Prime Minister of Italy, from 1963 to 1968, and then from 1974 to 1976...
's 1978 murder
- Mariano Rumor
Mariano Rumor was an Italian politician, a member of the Democrazia Cristiana and several times Prime Minister of Italy.He was born in Vicenza, Veneto...
(Christian-Democrat), Interior minister, attacked in 1973
External links