Editing Propaganda Due (section)

==P2's influence==
P2 was implicated in numerous Italian scandals and mysteries. Opinions about the importance and reach of the P2 differ. Some see P2 as a reactionary, shadow government ready to preempt a takeover of power in case of an electoral victory of the [[Italian Communist Party]] (PCI). Among them, there were [[Massimo D'Alema]],<ref>Being a member of the P2 meant having participated in an organisation, a secret sect, plotting against the State, and this was ratified by Parliament. And I share this opinion that was formed after the investigation by the [[w:Tina Anselmi|Anselmi]] [[w:it:Commissione P2|Commission]].
**Essere stato piduista vuol dire aver partecipato a un'organizzazione, a una setta segreta, che tramava contro lo Stato, e questo è sancito dal Parlamento. E condivido quest'opinione che si è formata dopo l'inchiesta della Commissione Anselmi. 
***[[Massimo D'Alema]], from the interview to ''Radio anch'io'' (March 7, 2000); as quoted in Mario Guarino e Fedora Raugei, ''Gli anni del disonore: dal 1965 il potere occulto di Licio Gelli e della Loggia P2 tra affari, scandali e stragi'', Edizioni Dedalo, 2006, [https://books.google.it/books?id=-drX79JnUwAC&pg=PA227 p. 227]. {{ISBN|8822053605}}.</ref> President of the Bicameral Commission that aimed to reform the Italian constitution,<ref>*[About the Plan of "Democratic" Rebirth, as in the picture] My Plan of rebirth? I see that twenty years later this Bicamerale [the Massimo D'Alema Bicamerale] is copying it piece by piece, with the Boato draft. Better late than never. They should at least give me the copyright...
**Il mio [[w:it:Piano di rinascita democratica|Piano di rinascita]]? Vedo che vent'anni dopo [[w:it:Commissione parlamentare per le riforme costituzionali|questa Bicamerale]] [la Bicamerale D'Alema] lo sta copiando pezzo per pezzo, con la bozza Boato. Meglio tardi che mai. Mi dovrebbero almeno dare il copyright...
***From ''Il Borghese'', April 1997; as quoted in [[Marco Travaglio]], ''Ad personam'', Chiarelettere, Milano, 2010, pp. 119–120. {{ISBN|978-88-6190-104-9}}.</ref> and the former Italian President [[Sandro Pertini]].<ref>*No one can deny that P2 is a criminal organisation.
**Nessuno può negare che la P2 sia un'associazione a delinquere.
***[[Sandro Pertini]], former President of the Italian Republic. As quoted in M. Guarino e F. Raugei, ''Gli anni del disonore'', Dedalo, 2006, p. 7.</ref> Others think it was nothing more than a sordid association of people eager to improve their careers by making powerful and important connections<ref name="Stille p40">Stille, ''Excellent Cadavers'', p. 40.</ref> (e.g. the master [[Indro Montanelli]]).<ref>The list of P2 affiliates includes, they say, 953 names, corresponding to the highest ranks of politics, the judiciary, the armed forces, bureaucracy, industry and finance. All "brothers". It's proof that, in this country, woe betide only children.
**L'elenco degli affiliati alla P2 comprende, dicono, 953 nomi, cui corrispondono i più alti gradi della politica, della magistratura, delle forze armate, della burocrazia, dell'industria, della finanza. Tutti «fratelli». È la riprova che, in questo Paese, guai ai figli unici.
***[[w:it:Indro Montanelli|Indro Montanelli]], ''Controcorrente – rubrica'' (May 11, 1981).</ref>

===Kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro===
According to the Italian magistrate [[Gherardo Colombo]], Propaganda Due masonic lodge had a role in the [[Kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro]] because he opened the door to the PCI and [[Francesco Cossiga]] was powerless.<ref>[https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2024/03/05/news/gherardo_colombo_aldo_moro_p2-422258935/ "Gherardo Colombo: "Anche la P2 voleva la morte di Moro perché apriva al Pci. E Cossiga fu impotente'"], ''La Repubblica'' (March 6, 2024).</ref>

===''Italicus Express'' bombing===
P2 was also heavily involved in the [[Italicus Express bombing|''Italicus Express'' bombing]] (1974). One of the magistrates of the [[Arezzo]] Public Prosecutor's Office investigating the massacre, Mario Marsili, was Licio Gelli's son-in-law<ref>{{cite web|author=Gabriele Baldanzi|url=https://www.iltirreno.it/grosseto/cronaca/2015/12/17/news/la-maremma-licio-gelli-e-la-cena-a-villa-marsili-1.12636980|language=it|website=[[Il Tirreno]]|archive-url=https://archive.today/20250417125838/https://web.archive.org/web/20221013192750/https://www.iltirreno.it/grosseto/cronaca/2015/12/17/news/la-maremma-licio-gelli-e-la-cena-a-villa-marsili-1.12636980|archive-date=17 April 2025|access-date=April 17, 2025|date=December 17, 2015|location=[[Grosseto]]|title=La Maremma, Licio Gelli e la cena a Villa Marsili|trans-title=The Maremma, Licio Gelli and dinner at Villa Marsili}} Quote: "Magistrate Mario Marsili, who held prominent positions at the CSM (High Council of the Judiciary) and the Court of Cassation, whose mother was from Roccastrada and father from [[Civitella]], was a judge at the Court of Appeal in [[Perugia]] in the 1980s after practising in [[Arezzo]]. He married the Maestro's eldest daughter, and it is said that the latter, on several occasions, whenever the opportunity arose, would stop in the hills at his son-in-law's villa for a snack."</ref> and, at the time the lists were found (1980), he was found to be a "dormant" member of the P2 lodge (card n°. 506).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.parlament.mt/media/52357/2592.pdf|title=''1980'' List of the P2 members|access-date=April 17, 2025|website=[[Parliament of Malta]]|archive-url=https://archive.today/20250417125446/https://www.parlament.mt/media/52357/2592.pdf|archive-date=April 17, 2025|url-status=live}}</ref> The Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry declared:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.misteriditalia.it/lestragi/italicus/ITALICUS%20_Pellegrino_.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210517130222/http://www.misteriditalia.it/lestragi/italicus/ITALICUS%20_Pellegrino_.pdf|archive-date=May 17, 2021|url-status=live|title=Italicus: una strage un treno, tanti binari. L'analisi della Commissione Stragi (relazione Pellegrino)}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.editorialedomani.it/la-strage-dimenticata-dellitalicus-e-le-trame-piduiste-iu58yn5u|title=La strage dimenticata dell'Italicus e le trame piduiste|date=October 17, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250206134333/https://www.editorialedomani.it/la-strage-dimenticata-dellitalicus-e-le-trame-piduiste-iu58yn5u|archive-date=February 6, 2025|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{blockquote|[...] the Italicus massacre can be attributed to a neo-fascist or neo-Nazi terrorist organisation operating in [[Tuscany]]; that the P2 Masonic lodge instigated the attacks and financed extra-parliamentary right-wing groups in Tuscany; that the P2 Masonic lodge is therefore seriously involved in the Italicus massacre and can even be held responsible in historical and political terms, if not in legal terms, as an essential economic, organisational and moral backdrop.}}

==={{lang|it|Corriere della Sera}} takeover===
In 1977, P2 took control of the {{lang|it|[[Corriere della Sera]]}} newspaper, a leading paper in Italy. At the time, the paper had encountered financial trouble and was unable to raise bank loans because its then editor, Piero Ottone, was considered hostile to the ruling Christian Democrats. ''Corriere''<nowiki/>'s owners, the publishing house Rizzoli, struck a deal with Gelli, who provided the money with funds from the [[Vatican Bank]] directed by archbishop [[Paul Marcinkus]]. Ottone was fired and the paper's editorial line shifted to the right.<ref name="Ginsborg p144" /><ref name="Independent 1997-12-23" />

The paper published a long interview with Gelli in 1980. The interview was carried out by the television talk show host [[Maurizio Costanzo]], who would also be exposed as a member of P2.<ref name="Independent 1998-07-23" /> Gelli said he was in favour of rewriting the Italian constitution towards a [[Gaullism|Gaullist]] presidential system. When asked what he always wanted to be, he replied: "A puppet master".<ref name="Ginsborg p144" /><ref name="Willan p229">Willan, ''Puppetmasters'', pp. 229–230.</ref>

===Bologna massacre===
{{main|August 1980 Bologna bombing}}
P2 members Gelli and the head of the secret service [[Pietro Musumeci]] were condemned for attempting to mislead the police investigation of the [[August 1980 Bologna bombing|Bologna massacre]] on 2 August 1980, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 200.<ref name="Willan p161">Willan, ''Puppetmasters'', p. 161.</ref>

===Banco Ambrosiano scandal===
{{main|Banco Ambrosiano}}
P2 became the target of considerable attention in the wake of the collapse of {{lang|it|italic=no|[[Banco Ambrosiano]]}} (one of [[Milan]]'s principal banks, owned in part by the [[Vatican Bank]]), and the suspicious 1982 death of its president [[Roberto Calvi]] in London, initially ruled a suicide but later prosecuted as a murder. It was suspected by investigative journalists that some of the plundered funds went to P2 or to its members.{{Citation needed|date=February 2009}}

===IRI slush funds===
P2 was also involved in the {{Ill|Institute for the Italian Reconstruction|it|IRI}}'s slush funds,<ref>*[On the judicial investigations that led to his removal] I was more upset about the end of another investigation, the one into [[w:Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale|IRI]]'s slush funds. In the P2 case it was the first time, and I thought it was an accident that could happen. But the next time I was on the verge of resigning.
**[Sulle inchieste giudiziarie da cui fu allontanato] Mi ha turbato di più la fine di un'altra inchiesta, quella sui fondi neri dell'Iri. Nel caso della P2 era la prima volta, e ho creduto fosse un infortunio che potesse succedere. Ma la volta successiva ero sul punto di dimettermi.
***From an interview of Piero Colaprico to [[Gherardo Colombo]], ''[http://www.repubblica.it/cultura/2015/03/20/news/colombo_cari_ragazzi_vi_racconto_mani_pulite_-110052704/ Colombo: "Cari ragazzi vi racconto Mani pulite"]'', ''[[w:La Repubblica|Repubblica.it]]'' (March 20, 2015).</ref> about which, during the 9th legislature, it was instituted a parliamentary commission of inquiry.<ref>{{cite web |language=it|url=https://inchieste.camera.it/|title=List of the Italian parliamentary commissions}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.radioradicale.it/scheda/16615/fondi-neri-iri-istituita-la-commissione-monocamerale-dinchiesta?qt-blocco_interventi=0|language=it |title=Fondi neri Iri: istituita la commissione monocamerale d'inchiesta|date=February 11, 1987}}</ref>

==={{lang|it|italic=no|Protezione}} account===
One of the documents found in 1981 was about a numbered bank account, the so-called "{{lang|it|italic=no|Protezione}} account", at the [[Union Bank of Switzerland]] in [[Lugano]] (Switzerland). It detailed the payment of US$7 million by the president of [[Eni|ENI]], Florio Fiorini, through Roberto Calvi to the [[Italian Socialist Party]] (PSI) leader [[Claudio Martelli]] on behalf of [[Bettino Craxi]], the socialist Prime Minister from 1983 to 1987.

The full extent of the payment became clear only twelve years later, in 1993, during the {{lang|it|[[mani pulite]]}} (Italian for "clean hands") investigations into political corruption. The money was allegedly a kickback on a loan which the Socialist leaders had organised to help bail out the ailing {{lang|it|italic=no|[[Banco Ambrosiano]]}}. Rumours that the Minister of Justice, Martelli, was connected with the account had been circulating since investigations began into the P2 plot. He always flatly denied them. Learning that formal investigations were opened, he resigned as minister.<ref name="Independent 2018-02-11">[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/italian-minister-falls-victim-to-corruption-1472280.html "Italian minister falls victim to corruption"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180419000919/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/italian-minister-falls-victim-to-corruption-1472280.html |date=April 19, 2018}}. ''The Independent''. 11 February 1993.</ref>