Licio Gelli (born in Pistoia, Tuscany, April 21, 1919) is an Italian financier, chiefly known for his role in the Banco Ambrosiano scandal. Pistoia is a city in the Tuscany region of Italy, the capital of a province of the same name, located about 30 km west and north of Florence Tuscany (Toscana is a region in Italy. It has an area of 22990 km² and a population of about 3 Events 753 BC - Romulus and Remus found Rome ( traditional date) Year 1919 ( MCMXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Financier (fɨˈnænsiɚ or finãˈsje in French is a term for a person who handles large sums of Money, usually involving money lending, financing He was revealed in 1981 as being the Worshipful Master of the clandestine Masonic lodge Propaganda Due (P2). Year 1981 ( MCMLXXXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 This article relates to mainstream 'Craft Freemasonry' sometimes known as 'Blue Lodge Freemasonry' Propaganda Due or P2 was a Masonic lodge operating under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient of Italy from 1877 to 1976 (when its charter was withdrawn
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During the 1930s, Licio Gelli volunteered for the "Black Shirt" expeditionary forces sent by Mussolini to Spain in support to Francisco Franco[1], and subsequently became a liaison officer between the Italian blackshirt government and the Third Reich, with contacts including Hermann Göring. For other uses and meanings see Blackshirts (disambiguation. The Blackshirts ( Italian: camicie nere, The Spanish Civil War was a major conflict in Spain that started after an attempted Coup d'état committed by parts of the army against the government of Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco y Bahamonde (born December 4, 1892 in Ferrol, died November 20, 1975 in Madrid Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers Hermann Wilhelm Göring (also spelled Goering) (12 January 1893 15 October 1946 was a German Politician, Military leader and a leading member He participated in the Italian Social Republic with Giorgio Almirante, founder of the neofascist Italian Social Movement (MSI). The Italian Social Republic ( Italian: Repubblica Sociale Italiana or RSI) was a Puppet state of Nazi Germany led by the "Duce of the Giorgio Almirante ( June 27, 1914 - May 22, 1988) was an Italian politician the founder and leader of the Italian Social Movement This page specifically pertains to fascism after World War II The Italian Social Movement, later Italian Social Movement–National Right ( Movimento Sociale Italiano–Destra Nazionale, MSI-DN was a neo-fascist [2][3].
After a sales job with the Italian mattress factory Permaflex, Gelli founded his own textile and importing company. [1][3]
Gelli collaborated with American and English intelligence agencies after World War II. The Secret Intelligence Service ( SIS) colloquially known as MI6 is the United Kingdom 's external Intelligence agency. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Gelli also joined the neofascist MSI, which gave him parliamentary immunity. In 1970, he was to arrest the President during the failed Golpe Borghese. The Golpe Borghese (also known as " Tora Tora " was allegedly a failed Italian Coup d'état that was planned to take place in the night of 7 As headmaster of Propaganda Due (P2) masonesque lodge, Gelli had ties with very high level personalities in Italy and abroad, in particular in Argentina. Propaganda Due or P2 was a Masonic lodge operating under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient of Italy from 1877 to 1976 (when its charter was withdrawn For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. The Argentine Chancellor Alberto Vignes drafted with Juan Perón, who had returned from exile in 1973, a decree granting to Gelli the Gran Cruz de la Orden del Libertador in August 1974, as well as the honorary office of economic counsellor in the embassy of Argentina in Italy [4]. Juan Domingo Perón (October 8 1895 &ndash July 1 1974 was an Argentine Colonel and Politician, elected three times as President of Argentina A decree is an order made by a Head of state or government and having the force of Law. According to a letter sent by Gelli to César de la Vega, a P2 member and Argentine ambassador to the UNESCO, Gelli commissioned P2 member Federico Carlos Barttfeld to be transferred from the consulate of Hamburg to the Argentine embassy in Rome [4]. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on November 16 Licio Gelli was also named plenipotentiary minister for cultural affairs in the Argentine embassy in Italy, thus providing him with diplomatic immunity [4]. The word plenipotentiary (from the Latin, plenus + potens, full + power has two meanings Diplomatic immunity is a form of legal immunity and a policy held between governments which ensures that Diplomats are given safe passage and are considered not He had four diplomatic passports issued by Argentina, and has been charged in Argentina of falsification of official documents [4].
As headmaster of Propaganda Due, Gelli allegedly assumed a major role in Gladio's "strategy of tension" in Italy, starting with the 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing. Gladio ( Italian, from Latin Gladius, meaning Sword) is a code name denoting the clandestine NATO " Stay-behind A strategy of tension (strategia della tensione is an alleged way used by world powers to divide manipulate and control Public opinion using Fear, Propaganda Piazza Fontana bombing (strage di Piazza Fontana identifies the massacre that was a result of a serious terrorist attack occurred on December 12 1969 when Gladio was a clandestine "stay-behind" operation sponsored by the CIA and NATO to counter communist influence in Western European countries, which has been involved in terrorist false flags operations in Italy. 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 The North Atlantic Treaty [5][6][7][8]
In 1990, a report on RAI Television alleged that the CIA had paid Licio Gelli to foment terrorist activities in Italy [9]. Rai - Radiotelevisione Italiana, known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian public service broadcaster, and is considered near as long as it used to be several months ago It has been actively summarized and split into sub-articles and there is a dynamic talk page discussion of all Following this report, which also claimed that the CIA had been involved in the assassination of the Swedish Prime minister Olaf Palme, then President Francesco Cossiga requested the opening of investigations, while the CIA itself officially denied these allegations [10] Critics have dismissed the RAI report as a fraud because of the inclusion of testimonies from controversial Richard Brenneke, who had claimed to be a former CIA agent and made several declarations concerning the October surprise conspiracy. Sven Olof Joachim Palme ( ( 30 January 1927 – 28 February 1986) was a Swedish politician Francesco Cossiga (born July 26, 1928) is an Italian politician and former President of the Italian Republic. The October Surprise conspiracy was an alleged plot that claimed representatives of the 1980 Ronald Reagan presidential campaign had conspired with Islamic Republic Brenneke's background was also investigated by a U. S. Senate subcommittee, which dismissed Brenneke's claims of CIA employment. [11] On November 23, 1995, the Court of Cassation (Corte di Cassazione) issued a sentence for investigation diversion to Licio Gelli (headmaster of P2), Francesco Pazienza and to SISMI officers Pietro Musumeci and Giuseppe Belmonte. in relation to the Bologna Massacre. The Bologna massacre (Strage di Bologna was a terrorist bombing at the Central Station of Bologna, Italy on the morning of August
Licio Gelli's downfall started with the Banco Ambrosiano scandal, which led to a 1981 police raid on his villa and the discovery of the P2 covert lodge. Banco Ambrosiano was an Italian bank which collapsed in 1982 At the centre of the bank's failure was its chairman Roberto Calvi and his membership in the illegal Propaganda Due or P2 was a Masonic lodge operating under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient of Italy from 1877 to 1976 (when its charter was withdrawn On March 17, 1981, a police raid on his villa in Arezzo, led to the discovery of a famous list of 962 persons, composed of Italian military officers and civil servants involved in Propaganda Due (aka "P2"), a clandestine lodge expelled from the Grande Oriente d'Italia Masonic organization [12]. Events 45 BC - In his last victory Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger Year 1981 ( MCMLXXXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Police are agents or agencies usually of the executive, empowered to enforce the law and to effect public and social order through the legitimatized use of force A villa was originally an Upper-class Country house, though since its origins in Roman times the idea and function of a villa has evolved considerably Arezzo ( Latin Arretium) is a city in central Italy, capital of the province of the same name, located in Propaganda Due or P2 was a Masonic lodge operating under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient of Italy from 1877 to 1976 (when its charter was withdrawn The Grande Oriente d'Italia or Grand Orient of Italy (GOI is a Masonic organization based at Palazzo Giustiniani Rome. The list also included all the heads of all three secret intelligence services, 48 MPs, industrialists, journalists and wealthy people such as the former premier Silvio Berlusconi (at the time not yet in politics) and Vittorio Emanuele, the Savoy pretender to the Italian throne. (born 29 September 1936 is an Italian politician, Entrepreneur, Real estate and Insurance Tycoon, Bank and Media proprietor Vittorio Emanuele Prince of Naples ( Vittorio Emanuele Alberto Carlo Teodoro Umberto Bonifacio Amedeo Damiano Bernardino Gennaro Maria di Savoia) (born February 12 For the two French départements of the region of Savoy see Savoie and Haute-Savoie Savoy ( French Police also discovered a "piano di rinascita democratica" ("plan of democratic rebirth"), which detailed a strategy to install an authoritarian government in Italy.
The national scandal that ensued was quite thrilling, given that most of the most delicate charges of the Republic were ruled by Gelli's affiliates. A Parliamentary Commission, directed by Tina Anselmi (of the Christian Democratic party), found no evidence of crimes, but in 1981, the Parliament issued a law banning secret associations in Italy. Tina Anselmi, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (born 25 March 1927) is an Italian politician and a notable member of the Italian resistance Christian Democracy ( Democrazia Cristiana, DC the Christian democratic party of Italy, dominated government for nearly half a century until its demise Gelli was expelled from the GOI freemasonry in October 31, 1981, while the P2 scandal provoked the fall of Arnaldo Forlani's cabinet in June 1981 [13]
The P2 lodge did undoubtedly have a certain power in Italy, given the public prominence of its members, and many observers still now consider it to be extremely strong. Events 445 BC – Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the Israelites in Jerusalem (see Nehemiah 91 NLTse Year 1981 ( MCMLXXXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Arnaldo Forlani (born December 8, 1925) is an Italian politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy from October 18 Many people today famous in Italy (starting from the top TV anchor-man Maurizio Costanzo) come from P2. Maurizio Costanzo (born August 28, 1938, Pescara) is an Italian television personality. One of those associated with P2 was presumed to be Michele Sindona, a banker with quite clear connections to the Mafia. Michele Sindona ( May 8 1920 - March 22 1986) was an Italian Banker and convicted Felon. The Mafia (also known as Cosa Nostra) is a Sicilian Criminal Secret society which is believed to have first developed in the mid-19th century In 1972, Sindona purchased controlling interest in Long Island's Franklin National Bank. Long Island is an island located in southeastern New York, USA, its western shores directly across from Manhattan, from which the island stretches Franklin National Bank, based in Franklin Square in Long Island, New York was once the United States ' 20th largest bank Two years later, the bank collapsed. [14] Convicted in 1980 in the US, "mysterious Michele" was extradited to Italy. Two years later, he was poisoned in his cell while serving a life sentence. [15][16] The P2 membership list was authenticated, with a few exceptions, by a 1984 Parliamentary Report [17].
On the run, Licio Gelli escaped to Switzerland, where he was arrested on September 13, 1982, trying to withdraw tens of millions of dollars in Geneva [13]. Detained in the modern Champ-Dollon Prison near Geneva, he managed to escape[18] and then fled to South America for four years. Geneva (Genève is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and is the most populous city of Romandy (the French -speaking In 1984, Jorge Vargas, the secretary general of the Union Nacionalista de Chile (UNACH, Nationalist Union of Chile, a short-lived National Socialist party [19]) and former member of the Movimiento Revolucionario Nacional Sindicalista (National-Syndicalist Revolutionary Movement [19]) declared to La Tercera de la Hora that Gelli was then in Chile [20]. Jorge Vargas may refer to Jorge B Vargas, Filipino lawyer and youth advocate Jorge Vargas González, Chilean politic mayor of Pichilemu Falangism in Latin America has been a feature of political life since the 1930s as movements have looked to the General Augusto Pinochet, one of the most controversial figures in recent Chilean history was head of the military junta that ruled Chile from
Finally, he rendered himself in 1987 in Switzerland to investigative judge Jean-Pierre Trembley [21]. Year 1987 ( MCMLXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar) He was wanted in connection with the 1982 collapse of the Banco Ambrosiano [22], and on charges of subversive association in connection with the 1980 Bologna railway station bombing, which killed 85 people [22][23]. Banco Ambrosiano was an Italian bank which collapsed in 1982 At the centre of the bank's failure was its chairman Roberto Calvi and his membership in the illegal The Bologna massacre (Strage di Bologna was a terrorist bombing at the Central Station of Bologna, Italy on the morning of August
He was sentenced to two months in prison in Switzerland [24], while an Italian court in Florence sentenced him on December 15, 1987, in absentia, to 8 years in prison on charges of financing right-wing terrorist activity in Tuscany in the 1970s [25]. Florence ( Italian: Firenze Florentia and Fiorenza) is the Capital City of the Italian region of Tuscany In absentia is Latin for "in the absence" In legal use it usually pertains to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings Gelli had already been sentenced in absentia to 14 months in jail by a court in San Remo for illegally exporting money from Italy [25].
Switzerland eventually agreed to extradite him to Italy, but only on financial charges stemming from the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano. Gelli's extradition in February 1988 requested a high-level security apparatus, including 100 sharpshooters, decoy cars, a train, roadblocks and two armored cars to transfer him to Italy [26]. Extradition is the official process by which one nation or state requests and obtains from another nation or state the surrender of a suspected or convicted criminal Civilian armored cars are either (in only a few cases factory produced such as the Audi A6 and A8, Lincoln Town Car BPS the Mercedes-Benz S-Class In July 1988, he was absolved by a Bologna court on charges of subversive association, but was presented with a 5-year prison term for slander, having side-tracked the investigation into the 1980 bombing of the Bologna train station. The Bologna massacre (Strage di Bologna was a terrorist bombing at the Central Station of Bologna, Italy on the morning of August Stipulations from his extradition prevented him from serving time however. [27][28] Two years later, an appeals court threw out Gelli's slander conviction. [29] A retrial was ordered in October 1993. [30]
Licio Gelli was sentenced in 1992 to 18 years and 6 months of prison after being found guilty of fraud concerning the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano in 1982 (a "black hole" of $1. Year 1992 ( MCMXCII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar) Banco Ambrosiano was an Italian bank which collapsed in 1982 At the centre of the bank's failure was its chairman Roberto Calvi and his membership in the illegal 4 billion was found). Vatican's bank, the Istituto per le Opere di Religione, main share-holder of the Banco Ambrosiano, had in return a "black hole" of $250 million. This sentence was reduced by the Court of Appeal to 12 years. Court of Appeal, Court of Appeals, and Appellate Division redirect here for a list of specific courts using those titles see Court of Appeal
1992 also saw the beginning of the trial against 16 members of the P2 Masonic Lodge, which included charges of conspiracy against the state, espionage, and the revelation of state secrets. [31] In April of 1994, Gelli received a 17-year sentence for divulging state secrets and slandering the investigation, while the court threw out that charge that P2 members conspired against the state[32]; Gelli's sentence was reduced, and he was placed under house arrest two years later. [33]
In April 1998, the Court of Cassation confirmed a 12 year sentence for the Ambrosiano crash [34]. The Supreme Court of Cassation (Corte Suprema di Cassazione is the major Court of last resort in Italy. He then disappeared on the eve of being imprisoned, in May 1998, while being under house arrest in his mansion near Arezzo [34]. In Justice and Law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or electronic monitoring) is a measure by which Arezzo ( Latin Arretium) is a city in central Italy, capital of the province of the same name, located in His disappearance was strongly suspected to be the result of being forewarned. Then, finally he was arrested at the French Riviera in Cannes. Cannes (kan in Occitan Canas) is a city in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Two motions of no confidence were deposed by the right-wing opposition (the Northern League and the ex-Christian Democratic splinter groups CDU-CDR), against the Justice Minister, Giovanni Maria Flick, and the Interior Minister, Giorgio Napolitano, stating that Gelli had benefited from accomplices helping him in his escape. A motion of no confidence (also vote of no confidence, censure motion, no-confidence motion, or confidence motion) is a Parliamentary motion Lega Nord (Northern League LN whose complete name is Lega Nord per l'Indipendenza della Padania (Northern League for Independence of Padania) is an Italian The United Christian Democrats ( Cristiani Democratici Uniti, CDU was a christian-democratic party in Italy. The Christian Democrats for the Republic ( Cristiani Democratici per la Repubblica, CDR was a christian-democratic Italian political party. Giovanni Maria Flick (born November 7, 1940) is an Italian, journalist politician and Jurist. Giorgio Napolitano (born June 29 1925) is an Italian Politician and former lifetime senator, the eleventh and current President of the Italian It also made references to secret negotiations which would have allowed him to reappear without going to prison. But the two ministers won the confidence vote [35]
Police found in his villa $2M worth in gold ingots. [36][37]
A few years after the Ambrosiano scandal, many suspects pointed toward Gelli with reference to his possible involvement in the murder of the Milanese banker Roberto Calvi, aka "God's banker", who had been jailed in the wake of the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano. Roberto Calvi (Milan 13 April 1920 – London 17 June 1982 was an Italian Banker dubbed by the press as "God's Banker" On July 19, 2005, Gelli was formally indicted by Roman Magistrates for the murder of Roberto Calvi, along with former Mafia boss Giuseppe Calò (aka "Pippo Calò"), businessmen Ernesto Diotallevi and Flavio Carboni, and the latter's girlfriend, Manuela Kleinszig. Events 711 - Muslim forces under Tariq ibn Ziyad defeat the Visigoths led by their king Roderic. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. In the Common law legal system an indictment (ɪnˈdaɪtmənt (in-DITE-mint is a formal accusation of having committed a criminal offense A magistrate is a judicial officer In Common law systems a magistrate usually has limited authority to administer and enforce the Law. Giuseppe 'Pippo' Calò (born September 30, 1931 in Palermo is a member of the Sicilian Mafia. Gelli, in his statement before the court, blamed figures connected with Calvi's work financing the Polish Solidarity movement, allegedly on behalf of the Vatican. Vatican City, officially the State of the Vatican City (Stato della Città del Vaticano is a Landlocked sovereign City-state whose territory He is accused of having provoked Calvi's death in order to punish him for having embezzled money owed to him and the Mafia. The Mafia also wanted to prevent Calvi from revealing how the bank had been used for money laundering. Money laundering is the practice of engaging in financial Transactions in order to conceal the Identity, source and/or destination of Money,
Gelli has been implicated in Aldo Moro's murder, since the Italian chief of intelligence, accused of negligence, was a piduista (P2 member). Aldo Moro ( September 23, 1916 &ndash May 9, 1978) was an Italian Politician and two-time Prime Minister of Italy
A fugitive to Argentina for various years, Licio Gelli publicly declared, on repeated occasions, that he was a close friend of Argentina's leader Juan Peron; although no confirmation ever came from South America; and often affirmed, without ever explicitly explaining why, that this friendship was of real importance for Italy. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. Juan Domingo Perón (October 8 1895 &ndash July 1 1974 was an Argentine Colonel and Politician, elected three times as President of Argentina Several members of the Argentine military junta have been found to be P2 members, such as Raúl Alberto Lastiri, Argentina's interim president from July 13, 1973 until October 12, 1973, Emilio Massera, part of Jorge Videla's military junta from 1976 to 1978, or José López Rega, the infamous founder of the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance ("Triple A"). Raúl Alberto Lastiri (1915-1978 was an Argentine politician who was interim president of Argentina from July 13 1973 until October 12 Emilio Eduardo Massera (born October 19, 1925, Paraná, Entre Ríos) is a former Argentine military officer and part of the 1976 Jorge Rafael Videla Redondo (born August 21, 1925 in Mercedes Buenos Aires) was the dictator and President of Argentina from 1976 to 1981 José López Rega ( 17 October 1916  &ndash 9 June 1989) was Argentina 's Minister of Social Welfare during the Peronist The Argentine Anticommunist Alliance ( Alianza Anticomunista Argentina, usually known as Triple A or AAA was a Far-right Death squad active in In the year 2007, authors David Cox and Damian Nabot published a book called Peron's Second Death in which they investigated Gelli's links to the Argentine military dictatorship. The book published by Planeta established that Gelli was involved in the cutting of Peron's hands. The book uncovers sophisticated masonic codes which were reportedly used by Gelli, and ritual practiced on the embalmed body of Juan Peron.
In 2003, Gelli declared to La Repubblica, in reference to the P2 "democratic rebirth plan", that it seemed it was being implemented by Silvio Berlusconi:
| “ | Every morning I speak to my conscience and the dialogue calms me down. la Repubblica (meaning "the Republic" is as of 2006 the largest circulation Italian daily general-interest newspaper. (born 29 September 1936 is an Italian politician, Entrepreneur, Real estate and Insurance Tycoon, Bank and Media proprietor I look at the country, read the newspaper, and think:
"All is becoming a reality little by little, piece by piece. To be truthful, I should have had the copyright to it. Justice, TV, public order. I wrote about this thirty years ago. . . Berlusconi is an extraordinary man, a man of action. This is what Italy needs: not a man of words, but a man of action. |
” |
He talked of many Italian politicians, among whom Fabrizio Cicchitto ("I know him well: è bravo, preparato"); the "program of reform of justice? that was my plan!"; the reorganization of the TV network, "that's good". Fabrizio Cicchitto ( Rome, October 26, 1940) is an Italian politician . . [2]
In December 2007 Licio Gelli signed a life rights agreement with New York based producer Gabor Harrach. The movie (working title 'Conspirator') is in development.
In 1996, Gelli was nominated as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Nobel Prize in Literature (Nobelpriset i litteratur is awarded annually since 1901 to an author from any country who has in the words from the will of Alfred [2]