Licio Gelli

Licio Gelli b. 1919, masonic Grand Master of the powerful fascist Italian lodge P2, and continued in this role after the expulsion of P2 from organised freemasonry in 1976. Gelli was also a member of the Knights of Malta.

Gelli volunteered for the "Black Shirt" expeditionary forces sent by Mussolini to Spain, and subsequently became a liaison officer between the Italian blackshirt government and the Third Reich, with contacts including Hermann Goering.

After the Second World War, Gelli joined the CIA, on the recommendation of the Italian secret service. Gelli assumed an influential role in Operation Gladio, a clandestine operation sponsored by the CIA and NATO to counter communist influence in Italy.

In 1981, a police raid on his apartment led to the discovery of documents relating to his involvement with the imprisoned banker, Roberto Calvi, who had been jailed in the wake of the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano. One of Gelli's associates was discovered to be Michele Sindona, a banker with known connections to the Mafia.