[Vaandeldrager]

Over de P2-loge in Italië die zogezegd een geïsoleerd fenomeen zou zijn:

[...]The most spectacular case involving masonic subversion of Italian national institutions was the “P2” conspiracy, which came to light in 1981. The activities of Lodge P2 gave rise to Italy’s biggest post-war scandal; the conspiracy’s corruption, blackmail, murder and sheer scale rocked the Italian establishment and brought down the government.

The defenders of freemasonry – Mr [R] and I discussed this case – maintain that P2 constituted “irregular” masonry; consequently, it is improper to tarnish “mainstream” freemasonry with P2 association. However, a 1984 Italian parliamentary report, “Relazione della Commissione Parlamentare d’Inchiesta sulla Loggia Massonica P2”, reached a less sanguine assessment (reported in Martin Short’s “Inside the Brotherhood” of 1990, the follow-up to Knight’s work, p543 et seq): P2 represented a secret, elite lodge approved at the highest level by the national masonic association, the Grand Orient; which was itself recognised by other national associations, including Britain’s Grand Lodge.

P2, established in 1877 but moribund with only 14 members in the mid-1960’s, was revived and developed by former Grand Master Gamberini “as a nexus for the Italian Right to seize control of Italian society, if the need arose”; by 1980, under its Venerable Master Licio Gelli, it had over a thousand members, drawn from the highest strata of Italian society. Some members joined because of commitment to the lodge’s aims; “Others joined the Lodge because Gelli used ruthless blackmail. The ‘masonic dues’ Gelli extracted from the brethren of Lodge P2 were not primarily financial. What the Venerable Master demanded – and got – were secrets: official secrets which he could use to consolidate and extend his power, and personal secrets he could use to blackmail others into joining his Lodge. This most sensitive information from all areas of government was passed to him by his members, who seem to have obeyed him with unquestioning devotion… In 1976 [non-P2 mason] Francesco Siniscalchi, made a statement at the office of the Rome Public Prosecutor, alleging that Gelli was involved in criminal activities. He was ignored, partly because of Gelli’s already formidable reputation, which intimidated two officers responsible for processing the complaint. Soon after this, Gelli came to the attention of the police after his friend and P2 member Michele Sindona, Italy’s most influential private banker, had fled to the United States leaving financial chaos behind him. Sindona [was] widely believed to have links with the mafia… Meanwhile in Italy magistrates were still investigating Sindona’s fraudulent activities and also the events behind the murder of the liquidator of his financial empire… Milan magistrates ordered a police raid on [Gelli’s] villa outside Arezzo… Among the documents left behind at the abandoned villa were the membership files of P2. A list of members drawn up by Gelli contained the names of nearly a thousand of Italy’s most powerful men. One prosecutor’s report later stated: ‘Lodge P2 is a secret sect that has combined business and politics with the intention of destroying the country’s constitutional order.’ Among the names were three members of the cabinet including Justice Minister Adolfo Sarti; several former Prime Ministers..; 43 MPs; 54 top civil servants; 183 army, navy and air force officers including 30 generals and 8 admirals; 19 judges; lawyers; magistrates; carabiniere; police chiefs; leading bankers; newspaper proprietors, editors and journalists; 58 university professors; the leaders of several political parties; and even the directors of the three main intelligence services. All these men, according to the files, had sworn allegiance to Gelli, and held themselves ready to respond to his call. The 953 names were divided into 17 groupings, or cells, each having its own leader. P2 was so secret and so expertly run by Gelli that even its own members did not know who belonged to it. Those who knew most were the 17 cell leaders and they knew only their own grouping” (Knight, p269-278). Francesco Siniscalchi’s reward from internationally-recognised Italian freemasonry, for his attempt to expose P2 illegality, was expulsion.[...]

Freemasonry and mafia in EU institutional corruption