Chapter 1 : Introductory Notes

Introductory notes

The career of Stefano Delle Chiaie spans two continents and two decades. The history of Delle Chiaie is the history of nazism in our world today. Through it we see neofascist terrorist organizations in their true role: agents of an inner, oligarchic power sphere which sets itself above all law and morality.

On 2 August 1980 a bomb hidden in a suitcase exploded at Bologna railway station in Italy, claiming the lives of 85 innocent people and injuring over 200. The outrage at Bologna was just one more episode in what has become known as the ‘Strategy of Tension’ — a campaign of terror, infiltration, provocation murder (including that of anarchist Giuseppe Pinelli) that stretches back to the beginning of the 1960s and has its roots in the Cold War. But what exactly are the aims of this seemingly senseless campaign, and who are the people behind it?

Of the five people named as suspects by the Italian judge investigating the outrage at Bologna, one stands out from all the rest: Stefano Delle Chiaie. Master organizer of neofascist terror, or someone who has been deliberately set up as such by other more shadowy figures, the name of Delle Chiaie is inextricably linked with just about every major rightwing scandal and terrorist outrage to have rocked Italy during the past two decades. The history of Delle Chiaie is the history of Nazism in our world today. Through it we see neofascist terrorist organizations in their true role: that of “plausibly deniable” agents of an inner oligarchic power sphere which sets itself above all law and morality.

In 1943 the Allies landed in Sicily flying Mafia colors, and the following year James Angleton headed the OSS special ops section in Rome. In 1945 Angleton rescued Valerio Borghese (The Black Prince) from the death sentence he was given by the Italian Resistance for war crimes, and in 1948 he helped orchestrate the CIA’s successful intervention in the Italian elections to keep the Communists from winning. With this sort of legacy, it’s no wonder that black politics has been dominant in Italy ever since.

Organized crime, corrupt Italian secret services, and unrepentant fascists have been working together through powerful Masonic societies such as Propaganda Due (P2 Lodge). In the 1960s some of them began a campaign of terror and murder that was known as the Strategy of Tension. A favorite tactic was to blame their acts on the Left so as to legitimize more power for their friends on the Right. The most outrageous crime was the Bologna railway station bombing in 1980 that killed 85 innocent people; one of the five named as suspects by the investigating judge was Stefano Delle Chiaie. This book examines what is known and speculated about the career of Delle Chiaie, who also moved among ex-Nazi and junta circles in Latin America, Spain, and Greece.

Princes should devolve all matters of responsibility upon others, take upon themselves only those of grace.

(The Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli)

I am against democracy; I am a fascist. Or rather a nazi-fascist. Men like me work towards a coup d’Čtat in Italy, or a civil war situation.

(Guido Giannettini, Paris 1974)