Propaganda Due

Propaganda Due (Italian: [propaˈɡanda ˈduːe], P2) was a Masonic lodge, founded in 1877, within the tradition of Continental Freemasonry and under the authority of Grand Orient of Italy. Its Masonic charter was withdrawn in 1976, and it was transformed by Licio Gelli into an international, illegal, clandestine, anti-communist, anti-Soviet, anti-Marxist, and radical right criminal organization and secret society operating in contravention of Article 18 of the Constitution of Italy that banned all such secret associations. Gelli continued to operate the unaffiliated lodge from 1976 to 1984. P2 was implicated in numerous Italian crimes and mysteries, including the collapse of the Holy See-affiliated Banco Ambrosiano, the contract killings of journalist Carmine Pecorelli and mobbed-up banker Roberto Calvi, and political corruption cases within the nationwide mani pulite bribery scandal. P2 came to light through the investigations into the collapse of Michele Sindona's financial empire. P2 was sometimes referred to as a "state within a state" or a "shadow government". The lodge had among its members prominent journalists, members of the Italian parliament, industrialists, and senior Italian military officers —including Silvio Berlusconi, who later became Prime Minister of Italy; the House of Savoy pretender to the Italian throne Prince Victor Emmanuel; and the heads of all three Italian foreign intelligence services (at the time SISDE, SISMI, and CESIS). When searching Gelli's villa in 1982, police found a document entitled "Plan for Democratic Rebirth", which called for the consolidation of the media, the suppression of Italian labour unions, and the rewriting of the Italian constitution, culminating in a creeping hollowing-out of the State. Outside of Italy, P2 had many active lodges in Venezuela, Uruguay, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina. Among its Argentine members were Raúl Alberto Lastiri, who was briefly interim president of the country after the end of the self-styled "Argentine Revolution" dictatorship (1966–1973);...