As a young man, he joined the Fascist Blackshirts and was also involved in supporting Franco’s fight in Spain. During the Second World War, following Italy’s 1943 armistice with the Allies, Gelli joined Mussolini’s Nazi-backed Repubblica Sociale Italiana (Republic of Salò), serving as a liaison officer. Much later in life he would insist, “I am a fascist and will die a fascist.”
In 1981, investigators uncovered a list of nearly one thousand P2 members, triggering a political crisis. Gelli fled to Switzerland, was arrested, escaped from prison, and fled again to South America before surrendering to Swiss authorities in 1987. He was later convicted of obstructing justice during the investigation into the 1980 Bologna train station bombing, which killed eighty-five people, one of Italy’s deadliest post-war attacks. Many have long believed he ordered the bombing, though conclusive proof never emerged. Through P2, Gelli had important connections worldwide, he was also the only Italian to be invited to President Reagan’s inauguration, just a few months after the Bologna attack.
