Editing Licio Gelli (section)

== 1981 raid and the P2 list ==
[[File:Andreotti gelli.jpg|thumb|[[Giulio Andreotti]] (right) with Licio Gelli (center)]]
Gelli's downfall started with the [[Banco Ambrosiano]] scandal, which led to a 1981 police raid on his villa and the discovery of the [[Propaganda Due|P2]] covert lodge. On 17 March 1981 a police raid on his villa in [[Arezzo]] led to the discovery of a list of 962 persons composed of Italian military officers and civil servants, including the heads of the three Italian secret services, involved in [[Propaganda Due]] (also known as "P2"), a clandestine lodge expelled from the [[Grande Oriente d'Italia]] Masonic organization.<ref>[[Boston Globe]], June 14, 1981</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-03-17|title=17 marzo 1981 - quando l'Italia scoprì la P2|url=https://www.mn24.it/17-marzo-1981-quando-litalia-scopri-la-p2/|access-date=2020-08-26|website=Media News 24|language=it-IT}}</ref><ref name="ginsborg144">Ginsborg, ''Italy and Its Discontent'', pp. 144-48</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-12-16|title=P2, da Silvio Berlusconi a Maurizio Costanzo, alcuni dei nomi più noti della lista Gelli|url=https://www.repubblica.it/politica/2015/12/16/news/p2_i_nomi_piu_importanti_della_lista_gelli-129591682/|access-date=2020-08-26|website=la Repubblica|language=it}}</ref> Future Italian prime minister [[Silvio Berlusconi]] was on the list, although he had not yet entered politics. He was then known as the founder and owner of "Canale 5" TV channel, and was listed as a member of P2.<ref name=vf0706>{{cite web|url=http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/07/yellowcake200607?printable=true&currentPage=all|title=The War They Wanted, the Lies They Needed|work=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]|date=July 2006}}</ref>

A Parliamentary Commission, directed by [[Tina Anselmi]] (of the [[Democrazia Cristiana|Christian Democratic party]]), found no evidence of crimes, but in 1981 the Italian parliament passed a law banning secret associations in Italy. Gelli was expelled from ''GOI'' freemasonry on 31 October 1981, and the P2 scandal provoked the fall of [[Arnaldo Forlani]]'s cabinet in June 1981 <ref name=1982arrest>"Leader of Italian Scandal Arrested Trying to Get Cash in Swiss Bank," ''[[The Miami Herald]]'', September 15, 1982</ref>

The P2 lodge had some form of power in Italy, given the public prominence of its members, and many observers still consider it to be extremely strong. Several famous people in Italy today (starting with the top TV anchor-man [[Maurizio Costanzo]]) were affiliated with P2. Among these [[Michele Sindona]], a banker with clear connections to [[Sicilian Mafia|the Mafia]], has been clearly associated with P2. In 1972, Sindona purchased a controlling interest in [[Long Island]]'s [[Franklin National Bank]]. Two years later, the bank collapsed.<ref>{{cite magazine | title=Sindona guilty of bank fraud | magazine=[[Time magazine]] | date=April 7, 1980 | url=http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,921970,00.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050221094132/http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,921970,00.html| url-status=dead| archive-date=February 21, 2005}}</ref> Convicted in 1980 in the US, "mysterious Michele" was extradited to Italy. Two years later, he was poisoned in his cell while serving a life sentence.<ref>{{cite news | title=Who killed Calvi? | newspaper=[[The Guardian]] | date=December 9, 2003 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/print/0,3858,4813656-111093,00.html | location=London | first=Nick | last=Mathiason | access-date=May 7, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title=El poder en el mundo después de la "tangente" | newspaper=[[Clarín (Argentine newspaper)|Clarín]] | date=May 23, 1996 | url=http://www.clarin.com/diario/96/05/23/turr.html | language=es | access-date=October 23, 2005 | archive-date=June 12, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612062836/http://www.clarin.com/diario/96/05/23/turr.html | url-status=dead }}</ref> The P2 membership list was authenticated, with a few exceptions, by a 1984 parliamentary report.<ref name=Report>"Italian Panel Reports on Secret Lodge," ''[[The Boston Globe]]'', July 4, 1984</ref>

On the run, Gelli escaped to Switzerland where he was arrested on 13 September 1982 while trying to withdraw tens of millions of dollars in Geneva.<ref name=1982arrest /> Detained in the modern Champ-Dollon Prison near [[Geneva]], he managed to escape<ref>{{cite news | title = Scandal Figure Fled With Help of Warden | newspaper = [[The Miami Herald]] | date = 1983-08-13}}</ref> and then fled to South America for four years. In 1984 Jorge Vargas, the secretary general of the ''Unión Nacionalista de Chile'' (UNACH, Nationalist Union of Chile, a short-lived [[National Socialist]] party <ref name=Vargas>Franz Pfeiifer R., [http://libreopinion.com/members/nuestravoz/memas2.html Memorias de treinta años II.] (written by a former MNRS member) {{in lang|es}}</ref>) and a former member of the ''[[Movimiento Revolucionario Nacional Sindicalista]]'' (National-Syndicalist Revolutionary Movement <ref name=Vargas />), declared to ''La Tercera de la Hora'' that Gelli was then in [[Chile under Pinochet|Pinochet's Chile]].<ref>"''Gelli en Chile, dice diario''", ''[[El Nuevo Herald]]'' (Miami), July 30, 1984 {{in lang|es}}</ref>

Finally, in 1987, Gelli secretly came back to Switzerland in the car of his lawyer [[Marc Bonnant]]<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2023-06-30|author=Marie Maurisse and François Pilet|date=2023-06-01|language=fr|publisher=[[Swissinfo]]|title=À jamais 10h25 [podcast]|url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/fre/economie/-dangereux-millions---un-podcast-in%C3%A9dit-sur-l-argent-sale-du-crime-organis%C3%A9/48539978|website=swissinfo.ch}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> and surrendered in Geneva to investigative judge Jean-Pierre Trembley.<ref>"Ex-head of Secret Masonic Lodge, Licio Gelli, Surrenders to Judge", [[The Seattle Times]], 21 September 1987</ref> He was wanted in connection with the 1982 collapse of the [[Banco Ambrosiano]]<ref name=Philadelphia>"Italian Bank Scam Fugitive Surrenders in Switzerland", ''[[Philadelphia Daily News]]'', September 21, 1987</ref> and on charges of subversive association in connection with the 1980 [[Bologna railway station bombing]], which killed 85 people.<ref name=Philadelphia /><ref>"Gelli, Fugitive Italian Financier, Gives Himself Up in Switzerland," ''[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]'', September 22, 1987</ref> He was sentenced to two months in prison in Switzerland,<ref>"Swiss Court Jails Italian Financier", ''[[The Washington Post]]'', December 23, 1987</ref> while an Italian court in [[Florence]] sentenced him on 15 December 1987, ''[[trial in absentia|in absentia]]'', to eight years in prison on charges of financing right-wing terrorist activity in Tuscany in the 1970s.<ref name=December87>"Terrorism Conviction," ''[[Newsday]]'' ([[Melville, New York|Melville]], NY), December 16, 1987</ref> Gelli had already been sentenced ''in absentia'' to 14 months in jail by a court in [[Sanremo|San Remo]] for illegally exporting money from Italy.<ref name=December87 />