Italy/France: Fugitive P2 "Venerable Master" rearrested
01 September 1998
The former head of the "Propaganda 2" (P2) masonic lodge, Licio Gelli, who was sentenced to a 12-year prison sentence for his involvement in the fraudulent bankruptcy of Italy's largest bank, the Banco Ambriosiano, was arrested in the French resort of Cannes in September. Gelli's prison sentence was upheld in April and he had been on the run for five months before he was caught in possession of false papers.
During the 1970s Gelli established himself as the "Venerable Master" of the P2 masonic lodge which counted among its members senior figures from all branches of the military and secret services, parliamentarians, civil servants, prominent members of the judiciary and key players in finance and industry. At the height of its power the lodge formed a "state within a state" or "parallel power", influencing appointments and advancing the careers, influence and wealth of its right-wing members.
The extent of the influence of P2 was revealed in 1981 when magistrates ordered a search of Gelli's home that yielded a membership list with 962 names, including four cabinet ministers, three under-secretaries and 38 parliamentarians; the politicians were recruited from every political party except the Radical and Communist parties. Senior police officers, including 52 from the carabinieri paramilitary police, and members of the armed forces were also named.
Most importantly the heads of the domestic intelligence service (SISDE) and military intelligence (SISMI) were uncovered as affiliates. The right-wing credentials of Gelli, and other key players, such as the head of military intelligence General Vito Miceli who was arrested in 1974 on charges of subversion and conspiracy, played an important role in bankrolling, through the debt-ridden Banco Ambrosiano, fascist terror campaigns during the "years of lead". Following Gelli's arrest, and a subsequent prison suicide attempt, police discovered more than 300lb of gold ingots at his villa which are estimated to be worth about £1 million.
In June an Italian judge ordered the exhumation of the former chairman of the Banco Ambrosiano, Roberto Calvi, who was known as "God's banker" because of his corrupt money laundering links with the Vatican Bank. Calvi, also a member of the P2 lodge, was found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in London in 1982 following the collapse of the bank. His suspicious death - Calvi's pockets were stuffed with bricks - has already been the subject of three inquests. The latest is intended to clarify whether he was murdered. Calvi's killing has been linked to P2, important Italian financial interests and former prime minister Giulio Andreotti; testimony from a former Mafiosi has indicated that he was murdered after mishandling money entrusted to him by the Cosa Nostra. However, the dendritic relationship of the various facets of the Italian state, legal and illegal, make it unlikely that there will be any final answers to the many outstanding questions.
Times 12 & 14.9.98; Philip Willan "Puppet Masters" (Constable, London) 1991