Propaganda Due
Propaganda Due (P2) was a masonic lodge run by Licio Gelli for many years. It was described as "a state within a state"[1] and may have been the central hub of the Italian deep state. It emerged as an integral part of Operation Gladio. Oswald LeWinter describes it as a "wholly owned subsidiary of the company [i.e. the CIA] in Italy". Vincenzo Vinciguerra stated that "It didn't have a military role, but rather a role in internal subversion".[2]
Contents
Members
The official list of 959 members of the Propaganda Due lodge,[3] found in the safe of Licio Gelli in 1982. Gelli himself, in an interview of 10 July 1976 released to the weekly L'Espresso, had spoken about two thousand four hundred members, including foreigners.[4]
Exposure
During the years that the lodge was headed by Licio Gelli, P2 was implicated in numerous Italian crimes and mysteries, including the collapse of the Vatican-affiliated Banco Ambrosiano, the murders of journalist Mino Pecorelli and banker Roberto Calvi, and corruption cases within the nationwide bribe scandal Tangentopoli. P2 came to light through the investigations into the collapse of Michele Sindona's financial empire.[5]
When searching Licio Gelli's villa in 1982,[1] the police found a document called the Plan for Democratic Rebirth, which called for a consolidation of the media, suppression of trade unions, and the rewriting of the Italian Constitution.[6]
Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry
The Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry, headed by Anselmi, concluded that the P2 lodge was a secret criminal organization. Allegations of surreptitious international relationships, mainly with Argentina (Gelli repeatedly suggested that he was a close friend of Juan Perón) and with some people suspected of affiliation with the CIA were also partly confirmed; but soon a political debate overtook the legal level of the analysis.[7] The majority report said that P2 action resulted in "... the pollution of the public life of a nation. It aimed to alter, often in decisive fashion, the correct functioning of the institutions of the country, according to a project which ... intended to undermine our democracy." A minority report by Massimo Teodori concluded that P2 was not just an abnormal outgrowth from an essentially healthy system, as upheld by the majority report, but an inherent part of the system itself.[8]
CIA Support
In mid-1990 Richard Brenneke provided documents to Italian journalists indicating that the CIA supprted the activities of Licio Gelli and Propaganda Due).[9] Brenneke told Rai 1 that he had been involved in CIA payments to P2 of $1–$10m per month or more, with the money used to finance "terrorism" and drug trafficking.
Outside Italy
The lodge was also active outside Italy, specifically in Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina, with Raúl Alberto Lastiri, Argentina's interim president (between 13 July 1973 and 12 October 1973) during the height of the "Dirty War" among its members.
Possible link to eighteenth century Illuminati
In his 1793 Proofs of a Conspiracy senior Scottish Freemason John Robison mentions a Masonic "Propaganda Lodge" created by the Illuminati as follows:
“It appears that a club has taken the name of Propaganda, and meets once a-week at least, in the form of a Mason Lodge. It consists of persons of all nations, and is under the direction of the Grand Master, the Duke of Orleans. De Leutre is one of the Wardens. They have divided Europe into colonies, to which they give revolutionary names, such as the Cap, the Pike, the Lantern, &c. They have ministers in these colonies. (One is pointed out in Saxony, by marks which I presume are well understood.)”
John Robison [10]
An event carried out
| Event | Description |
|---|---|
| Operation Demagnetize | "The institutional hardening of Gladio", an expansion of Gladio in the late 1940s, early 1950s. |
Related Quotation
| Page | Quote | Author | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Ring (Italy) | “I had the P2, Cossiga Gladio and Andreotti the Ring.” | Licio Gelli | 2011 |
Known members
13 of the 965 of the members already have pages here:
| Member | Description |
|---|---|
| Giovanni Allavena | Head of Italian intelligence service SIFAR, connected to "some the darkest events that took place in Italy after the war". Removed after files scandal in 1966. Member of P2. |
| Silvio Berlusconi | Italian media magnate, three time Prime Minister of Italy, bunga bunga parties ... |
| Roberto Calvi | An Italian banker dubbed "God's Banker" (Italian: Banchiere di Dio) by the press because of his close association with the Holy See. Found death, hanging from a bridge in London. |
| Federico Umberto D'Amato | Italian spook who claimed to have founded the Club de Berne. In 2020, indicated him as one of the 4 principal organizers or financiers of the 1980 Bologna train station massacre. |
| Licio Gelli | Fascist deep politician who ran Propaganda Due |
| Vito Miceli | Head of Italian Military intelligence |
| Umberto Ortolani | “The great Vatican door opener” |
| Mino Pecorelli | "Maverick journalist with excellent secret service contacts" shot dead in Rome a year after former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro's 1978 kidnapping and subsequent killing. |
| Mario Pedini | Italian politician. Member of Propaganda Due. Several Bilderbergs in the 1960s. |
| Lopez Rega | |
| Giuseppe Santovito | SISMI/Director, P2 |
| Michele Sindona | A financier and member of the Italian deep state |
| Giancarlo Valori | "The current leaders of the 'contemporary Freemasonry'" in Italy. |
Related Document
| Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document:Gladio - The Secret U.S. War To Subvert Italian Democracy | essay | 23 February 1996 | Arthur Rowse |
References
- ↑ a b http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/26/newsid_4396000/4396893.stm
- ↑ Operation Gladio (film), ~77 minutes
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20150325011119/http://www.amnistia.net/news/gelli/lesnoms.htm
- ↑ www.strano.net/stragi/tstragi/relmp2/rel06p2.htm
- ↑ "Masonic lodge affair leaves Italy shocked". The Times. May 23, 1981.
- ↑ Jones, The Dark Heart of Italy, p. 186
- ↑ Willan, Puppetmasters, p. 50
- ↑ Ginsborg, Italy and Its Discontent, pp.144-148
- ↑ La Repubblica, 4 July 1990, GELLI E L' AGENTE DELLA CIA LA PAROLA E' AI MAGISTRATI
- ↑ https://www.sacred-texts.com/sro/pc/pc07.htm CHAP. IV. The French Revolution