Ordine Nero

Last updated

Logo from a 1974 flyer Ordine Nero 1974 logo.png
Logo from a 1974 flyer

The Ordine Nero (Italian : Black Order) was an Italian terrorist fascist group founded in 1974 following the dissolution of the fascist Ordine Nuovo. Between 1974 and 1978, bombings by ON led to a number of woundings and deaths, having orchestrated several deadly bombings and murders including the 1974 Italicus Express Bombing and the 1974 Brescia Bombing. [1]

Contents

History

Ordine Nero simply adopted the ideologies of Ordine Nuovo. For the members of the neo-fascist Ordine Nero, the ultimate goal was to destroy the liberal-democratic state in order to clear the way for the fascist one. The Democratic state was assailed by the neo-fascists for its weakness, its alleged tolerance of Communists in parliament, dark-skinned immigrants in the labor force, and Jews in positions of power and influence. The neo-fascists belonging to Ordine Nero believed that the nation's survival was dependent upon the exorcism of these three elements; only by becoming politically, racially, and culturally homogeneous can the state recover its strength and again work for its natural citizens and not a variegated collection of interlopers. Regardless of their ultimate goal, they did not appear to have any specific program of reform. Instead, they actively espoused fascist slogans of nationalism, racial purity, and governmental strength. Ordine Nero operated alongside like-minded groups like "Movimento Armato Rivoluzionario", "Terza Posizione", and "Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari". Many of these groups existed in name only. Like their counterparts on the left, right-wing terrorists staged different operations under different names in order to give the impression of size and strength. [2]

There is an ongoing controversy over whether the group had a role in any strategy of tension endorsed by elements of the Italian government or NATO. Bomber Vincenzo Vinciguerra alleged that the Italian security services and the "Atlantic Alliance", particularly the United States, had a role in the group's activities. [3]

Activities

Bombings

A series of bomb attacks occurred in Savona, Italy from April 1974 to May 1975. The public prosecutor reopened one of the bombing cases, it remained without a manager, which made the reopening of the case useless. The bombs resulted in injuring 18 people and caused severe damage to public and private building structures. [4]

1974 Piazza della Loggia bombing in Brescia

In May 1974 eight activists were killed in Brescia when an anti-fascist protest was taking place in the municipal square. Due to a bomb placed in a trash bin, 8 people died from the explosion, over a hundred were wounded. On May 19, 2005, the Corte di Cassazione confirmed the arrest warrant against Delfo Zorzi, a former Ordine Nuovo member, who was also suspected of being the material perpetrator of the 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing. Alongside Delfo Zorzi, his neo-fascist comrades Carlo Maria Maggi and Maurizio Tramonte, all members of Ordine Nuovo, are also suspected of having organized the Piazza della Loggia bombing in Brescia. The city of Brescia, Italy suffered from one of Ordine Nero's worst operations. On 28 May 1974, a bomb placed inside a garbage container in Piazza Della Loggia detonated. [5] Eight people were killed and one hundred and two injured. [6] A day before the attack, the city's newspapers announced that they had received a message from the Black Order. The message threatened that multiple attacks would occur against businesses in the city. Since that attack, the government has held three trials, with the third concluding in 2017. The trials included the new order official Carlo Maria Maggi, who was convicted for organizing the massacre, and the militant Maurizio Tramonte. [5]

Italicus Express bombing 1974

On 4 August 1974 a Ferrovie dello Stato train was bombed in the early morning hours killing 12 and wounding 48. The following day, Ordine Nero (The new Ordine Nuovo) claimed responsibility. [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

In a written statement they said:

We took revenge for Giancarlo Esposti. We wanted to show the nation that we can place a bomb anywhere we want, whenever and however we please. Let us see in autumn; we will drown democracy under a mountain of dead.

Giancarlo Esposti was killed on 30 May 1974. [12] On 4 August 4, a bomb planted by members of the Ordine Nero exploded on the Italicus Express, claiming 12 lives and injuring 48. The bomb went off as the train exited the San Benedetto Val di Sambro tunnel. Although former Prime Minister Aldo Moro had disembarked the train days before the bomb detonated, many scholars believe that Moro was the true target. [13] [14] The Ordine Nero claimed the bombing was retribution for the killing of the purported Brescia bomber, Giancarlo Esposti, by Italian police. [15] Following the bombing, several Ordine Nero members were detained. [16]

In February 1978, a bomb exploded on the outside of "Gazzettino di Venezia" main entrance. Gazzettino di Venezia is an editorial building of the conservative newspaper. The building is located in Venice, Italy. The explosion resulted in killing the night watchman, 49-year-old Franco Battaggliarin, who died instantly from the explosion. The police reported that they received an anonymous call claiming that the bomb was planted by Ordine Nero. [17]

On 10 August 1983, a bomb was planted on Milan-Palermo train. Train of Milan-Palermo held approximately one thousand passengers. The bomb detonator failed to operate. The failure of the detonator occurred as the train approached the proximity of Vernio. The railroads were supposed to blow up due to the explosion, but due to the failure, only two mechanics were slightly injured from flying glass. Ordine Nero claimed the attack via telephone. [18]

Arrests

Marco Pastori, a member of the Ordine Nero living in Spain, was arrested several times by Spanish police. Police say that the 38-year-old man was extremely dangerous, and he had been convicted of using and owning firearms and explosive which cost him different charges. He was first arrested in April 1974 over a bank shooting. He was accused of killing a bank clerk and a 10-year-old girl. After he escaped, he was re-arrested in 1975. After a few years later he escaped for the second time in 1978. The police said that various neo-fascist groups in South America took him in. [19]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piazza Fontana bombing</span> Terrorist attack carried out in Milan in 1969

The Piazza Fontana bombing was a terrorist attack that occurred on 12 December 1969 when a bomb exploded at the headquarters of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura in Piazza Fontana in Milan, Italy, killing 17 people and wounding 88. The same afternoon, another bomb exploded in a bank in Rome, and another was found unexploded in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The attack was carried out by the Third Position, neo-fascist paramilitary terrorist group Ordine Nuovo, and possibly undetermined collaborators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Vanguard (Italy)</span> Far-right Italian neo-fascist and neo-Nazi groups in Italy

The National Vanguard is a name that has been used for at least two neo-fascist and neo-Nazi groups in Italy.

Ordine Nuovo was an Italian far right cultural and extra-parliamentary political and paramilitary organization founded by Pino Rauti in 1956. It had been the most important extra-parliamentary neofascist organization of the post-war Italian republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bologna massacre</span> 1980 terrorist bombing of Bologna, Italy, train station

The Bologna massacre was a terrorist bombing of the Bologna Centrale railway station in Bologna, Italy, on the morning of 2 August 1980, which killed 85 people and wounded over 200. Several members of the neo-fascist terrorist organization Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari were sentenced for the bombing, although the group denied involvement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italicus Express bombing</span> 1974 terror attack in San Benedetto Val di Sambro, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

The Italicus Express massacre was a terrorist bombing in Italy on a train of the public rail network. On 4 August 1974, the bomb attack killed 12 people and wounded 48. Responsibility was claimed by the neo-fascist terrorist organization Ordine Nero.

Vincenzo Vinciguerra is an Italian neo-fascist activist, a former member of the Avanguardia Nazionale and Ordine Nuovo. He is currently serving a life-sentence for the murder of three Carabinieri by a car bomb in Peteano in 1972. The investigation in this previously unsolved affair by prosecutor Felice Casson led to the revelation of "Gladio" networks around Western Europe.

Delfo Zorzi, presently known as Roi Hagen (波元路伊), is an Italian-born Japanese neo-fascist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yves Guérin-Sérac</span> French Roman Catholic activist (1926–2022)

Yves Guérin-Sérac, born Yves Guillou was a French anti-Communist Roman Catholic activist, former officer of the French army and veteran of the First Indochina War (1945–54), the Korean War (1950–53) and the Algerian War of Independence (1955–62). He was also a member of the elite troop of the 11ème Demi-Brigade Parachutiste de Choc, which worked with the SDECE, and a founding member of the Organisation armée secrète (OAS), a French terrorist group that fought against Algerian independence in 1961-62.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piazza della Loggia bombing</span> 1974 terror attack in Brescia, Italy

The Piazza della Loggia bombing was a bombing that took place on the morning of 28 May 1974, in Brescia, Italy during an anti-fascist protest. The terrorist attack killed eight people and wounded 102. The bomb was placed inside a rubbish bin at the east end of the square. In 2015, a Court of appeal in Milan issued a final life sentence to Ordine Nuovo members Carlo Maria Maggi and Maurizio Tramonte for ordering the bombing, closing one of the longest-running cases on terrorism during Italy's years of lead.

<i>Poliziotteschi</i> Genre of Italian crime films

Poliziotteschi constitute a subgenre of crime and action films that emerged in Italy in the late 1960s and reached the height of their popularity in the 1970s. They are also known as polizieschi all'italiana, Italo-crime, spaghetti crime films, or simply Italian crime films. Influenced primarily by both 1970s French crime films and gritty 1960s and 1970s American cop films and vigilante films, poliziotteschi films were made amidst an atmosphere of socio-political turmoil in Italy known as Years of Lead and amidst increasing Italian crime rates. The films generally featured graphic and brutal violence, organized crime, car chases, vigilantism, heists, gunfights, and corruption up to the highest levels. The protagonists were generally tough working class loners, willing to act outside a corrupt or overly bureaucratic system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pietro Valpreda</span> Italian anarchist (1932–2002)

Pietro Valpreda was an Italian anarchist, poet, dancer, and novelist. He was sentenced to prison on charges of being responsible for the Piazza Fontana bombing in December 1969. In 1987, he was acquitted by Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation for lack of evidence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari</span> Italian neofascist militant organization

The Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari, abbreviated NAR, was an Italian neo-fascist armed militant organization active during the Years of Lead from 1977 to November 1981. It committed over 100 murders in four years, and had planned to assassinate the politicians Francesco Cossiga, Gianfranco Fini and Adolfo Urso. The group maintained close links with the Banda della Magliana, a Rome-based criminal organization, which provided such logistical support as lodging, false papers, weapons, and bombs to the NAR. In November 1981, it was discovered that the NAR hid weapons in the basements of the Health Ministry. The first trial against them sentenced 53 people in May 1985 on charges of terrorist activities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Years of Lead (Italy)</span> Period of social and political turmoil in Italy

In Italy, the phrase Years of Lead refers to a period of political violence and social upheaval that lasted from the late 1960s until the late 1980s, marked by a wave of both far-left and far-right incidents of political terrorism and violent clashes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franco Freda</span> Italian neo-Nazi and neo-Fascist terrorist

Franco "Giorgio" Freda is an Italian neo-fascist intellectual, author, revolutionary and political theorist. A major figure of the post-war radical right in Italy, Freda has been particularly associated with neo-fascism and revolutionary nationalism, advocating for a radical transformation of society along nationalist and revolutionary lines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Train 904 bombing</span> 1984 terrorist attack in Italy perpetrated by the Sicilian mafia

The Train 904 bombing was a terror attack which occurred on 23 December 1984, in the Apennine Base Tunnel. A bomb on the 904 express train from Naples to Milan was detonated, killing 16 and wounding 266. The bombing location was near the location of the Italicus Express bombing ten years previously.

<i>Five Moons Square</i> 2003 Italian political thriller film by Renzo Martinelli

Five Moons Square, also known as Five Moons Plaza and Piazza of the Five Moons, is a 2003 political thriller film written and directed by Renzo Martinelli, who had also directed Porzûs (1997) and Vajont (2001). It is inspired by Italian politician Aldo Moro's kidnapping and murder by the Red Brigades (BR) terrorist group; the film presents a possible reconstruction of this story within a fictive conspiracy theory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1978 Italian presidential election</span> Election of the President of the Italian Republic

The 1978 Italian presidential election was held in Italy between 29 June and 8 July 1978, following the resignation of incumbent President Giovanni Leone on 15 June 1978 because of the Lockheed bribery scandals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terrorism in Italy</span>

Terrorism in Italy is related to political and subversive terrorism activities, carried out by various groups and organizations with different and sometimes conflicting methods, motivations and interests. This article is primarily about late 20th-century and early 21st-century terrorism.

In the First Italian Republic, after the Second World War, several armed, paramilitary, far-right organizations were active, as well as far-left ones, especially during the Years of Lead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlo Digilio</span> Italian terrorist

Carlo Digilio, also known as Zio Otto, was an Italian terrorist, soldier, and self-styled secret agent. He belonged to the neo-fascist group Ordine Nuovo and later became a collaborator. At the end of the first-degree process, he was convicted for the Piazza Fontana bombing, but the reliefs of law extinguished his guilt. He was also involved in the Piazza della Loggia bombing.

References

  1. Vittorfranco S. Pisano (1987). The Dynamics of Subversion and Violence in Contemporary Italy. Hoover Press. pp. 52–. ISBN   978-0-8179-8553-0.
  2. Hoffman, Bruce (1982). "Right-Wing Terrorism in Europe". Defence Technical Information Center. RAND CORP SANTA MONICA CA. Archived from the original on 11 May 2019.
  3. Philip Willan (1 October 2002). Puppetmasters: The Political Use of Terrorism in Italy. iUniverse. pp. 249–. ISBN   978-1-4697-1084-6.
  4. "Terrorismo: Bombe Savona Anni Settana; Testi, Fu Ordine Nero" [Terrorism: Bombs Savona Seventies; Text Was Order Black]. lexisnexis.com (in Italian). ANSA News General. 5 March 2007.
  5. 1 2 "La strage di piazza della Loggia, 28 maggio 1974" [The massacre of Piazza della Loggia]. memoria.san.beniculturali.it. Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities. n.d.
  6. "Incident Summary for GTDID: 197405280001". www.start.umd.edu.
  7. Charles Richards (1 December 1990). "Gladio is still opening wounds" (PHP). Independent: 12. Retrieved 3 August 2009.
  8. Ed Vulliamy (4 March 2007). "Blood and glory" (XHTML). The Observer. Retrieved 3 August 2009.
  9. Bocca, Giorgio. Gli anni del terrorismo (in Italian). pp. 291–293.
  10. Fasanella, Giovanni; Antonella Grippo (2006). I Silenzi degli Innocenti (in Italian). BUR. p. 114.
  11. Moro, Maria Fida (2004). La Nebulosa del Caso Moro (in Italian). Milan, Italy: Selene.
  12. "30 Maggio: Giancarlo Esposti Presente!" [30 May: Giancarlo Esposti Presente!]. In memoriam (in Italian). Paris, France: Novopress. 30 May 2006. Archived from the original (XHTML) on 15 August 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2009.
    Google translation into English: 30 May: Giancarlo Esposti Presente! Archived 2001-10-20 at the Wayback Machine
  13. Giorgio, Bocco (1988). Gli anni del terrorismo. Rome: Armando Curcio Editore. pp. 291–293.
  14. "Emanuele Bartoli, Italo Bono and Gaetano Casali, members of neo-Fascist..." New York Times. 8 August 1974 via global.factiva.com.
  15. "30 Maggio: Giancarlo Esposti Presente!" (in Italian). 30 May 2006. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  16. "In Italy, two bombs have exploded on a train travelling between Florence and Bologna". global.factiva.com. TMSC.
  17. "No Headline in Original". lexisnexis.com. The Associated Press. 21 February 1978.
  18. "Subcommittee on Security & Terrorism" (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office.
  19. "Italian neo-fascist fugitive arrested in Spain". global.factiva.com. Reuters Limited.

Further reading