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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golpe_Borghese"
Hundreds of neo-fascist militants gathered during the night. The plot was reported to have been called off at the last moment. Apparently, some militants briefly entered the Interior Ministry. Borghese denied the attempt. According to Borghese the neo-fascist gathered for a meeting to organize a protest demonstration against the upcoming visit of president Tito of Yugoslavia, that was later postponed. The meeting was called off because of the heavy rain.
Participants at the semi-clandestine rallies seem to have believed that they were to take part in the arrest of politicians and the occupation of key installations by sympathetic army units. When Borghese late that night called off the coup the presumed plotters, reportedly unarmed, improvised a late spaghetti dinner before returning home.
Inquiry
The first arrests concerning the coup attempt were made in March of 1971. First arrested on March 18 and 19 were Mario Rose, a retired army major and National Front secretary, Remo Orlandini, also a former army major, a real-estate proprietor and close associate of Borghese, and Sandro Saccucci, a young paratrooper. An arrest warrant for Borghese was also served, but he could not be found.[3] Later arrestees included businessman Giovanni De Rosa and a retired Air Force colonel, Giuseppe Lo Vecchio.[4]
The investigation into the coup attempt was largely resurrected after Giulio Andreotti became a defense minister again. He handed over a report by the secret service in September 1974 to the Rome public prosecutor, and shortly thereafter General Vito Miceli, a former head of SID, was brought into questioning before the investigating judge.[5] Miceli's interrogation led to his arrest two days later.[6] Miceli was sacked of the SID's direction, while the Italian intelligence agencies were reorganized by a 1977 law.
Trials
Three trials were put forth with the charge that several people conspired against the Italian state. In 1978, Vito Miceli was acquitted of trying to cover up a coup attempt, Saccucci, Orlandini, Rosa, and others were convicted of political conspiracy[7], which also included Stefano Delle Chiaie, whose specific role is subjected to debate. According to a 1987 UPI news cable, he had already fled Italy to Francoist Spain on July 25, 1970[8] However, according to other sources, including René Monzat (1992), he led the commando which occupied the locals of the Interior Minister.[9]
At the appeal trial in November 1984 all 46 defendants were acquitted because the "fact did not happen" ("il fatto non sussiste). The Supreme Court confirmed the appeal in March 1986.[10]
According to the journalist René Monzat, investigations lasted seven years, during which Italians learnt that the participants to the Golpe Borghese had benefitted from military accomplices, as well as from political support not only from Borghese's National Front or from MSI deputy Sandro Saccuci, but also other political personalities belonging to the Christian Democracy (DC) and to the PSDI (Italian Social-Democrat Party).[9] According to Monzat, investigations also uncovered that the military attaché at the US embassy was tightly connected with the coup organizers[9] and that, according to declarations made to the magistrates by one of the main inculpee, the US President Richard Nixon had followed the preparation operations of the coup, of which he was personally informed of by two CIA officers.[9]
According to several Mafia turncoats (pentiti) such as Tommaso Buscetta, Borghese asked the Sicilian Mafia for support for the neofascist coup. In 1970, when the Sicilian Mafia Commission was reconstituted, one of the first issue that had to be confronted was the an offer of Borghese who asked for support in return for a pardon of convicted mafiosi like Vincenzo Rimi and Luciano Leggio. The mafiosi Giuseppe Calderone and Giuseppe Di Cristina went to visit Borghese in Rome. However, other mafiosi like Gaetano Badalamenti opposed the plan and the Mafia decided not to participate.[11]
According to Mafia boss Luciano Leggio, giving evidence at the Maxi Trial against the Mafia in the mid 1980s, Tommaso Buscetta and Salvatore Greco "Ciaschiteddu" were in favour of helping Borghese. The plan was for the Mafia to carry out a series of terrorist bombings and assassinations to provide the justification for a right-wing coup. Although Leggio's version differed from Buscetta, the testimony confirmed the Borghese's request for assistance by the Mafia.[12]
According to the pentito Francesco Di Carlo, the journalist Mauro De Mauro was killed because he had learned that Borghese – one of De Mauro's childhood friends – was planning the coup.[13][14][15]
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golpe_Borghese"
The Golpe Borghese (also known as "Tora Tora") was a failed Italian coup d'état that was planned to take place in the night of 7 on 8 December, 1970. It is named after Junio Valerio Borghese, an Italian World War II commandor of the notorious Xª MAS unit, the "Black Prince," a hero in the eyes of many post-War Italian fascists. The "coup" attempt became publicly known in March 1971, when several members of the National Front (Fronte Nazionale) were arrested and a warrant was served for Borghese. Borghese himself had fled to Spain, and died there in 1974.
The alleged coupHundreds of neo-fascist militants gathered during the night. The plot was reported to have been called off at the last moment. Apparently, some militants briefly entered the Interior Ministry. Borghese denied the attempt. According to Borghese the neo-fascist gathered for a meeting to organize a protest demonstration against the upcoming visit of president Tito of Yugoslavia, that was later postponed. The meeting was called off because of the heavy rain.
Participants at the semi-clandestine rallies seem to have believed that they were to take part in the arrest of politicians and the occupation of key installations by sympathetic army units. When Borghese late that night called off the coup the presumed plotters, reportedly unarmed, improvised a late spaghetti dinner before returning home.
Inquiry
The first arrests concerning the coup attempt were made in March of 1971. First arrested on March 18 and 19 were Mario Rose, a retired army major and National Front secretary, Remo Orlandini, also a former army major, a real-estate proprietor and close associate of Borghese, and Sandro Saccucci, a young paratrooper. An arrest warrant for Borghese was also served, but he could not be found.[3] Later arrestees included businessman Giovanni De Rosa and a retired Air Force colonel, Giuseppe Lo Vecchio.[4]
The investigation into the coup attempt was largely resurrected after Giulio Andreotti became a defense minister again. He handed over a report by the secret service in September 1974 to the Rome public prosecutor, and shortly thereafter General Vito Miceli, a former head of SID, was brought into questioning before the investigating judge.[5] Miceli's interrogation led to his arrest two days later.[6] Miceli was sacked of the SID's direction, while the Italian intelligence agencies were reorganized by a 1977 law.
Trials
Three trials were put forth with the charge that several people conspired against the Italian state. In 1978, Vito Miceli was acquitted of trying to cover up a coup attempt, Saccucci, Orlandini, Rosa, and others were convicted of political conspiracy[7], which also included Stefano Delle Chiaie, whose specific role is subjected to debate. According to a 1987 UPI news cable, he had already fled Italy to Francoist Spain on July 25, 1970[8] However, according to other sources, including René Monzat (1992), he led the commando which occupied the locals of the Interior Minister.[9]
At the appeal trial in November 1984 all 46 defendants were acquitted because the "fact did not happen" ("il fatto non sussiste). The Supreme Court confirmed the appeal in March 1986.[10]
According to the journalist René Monzat, investigations lasted seven years, during which Italians learnt that the participants to the Golpe Borghese had benefitted from military accomplices, as well as from political support not only from Borghese's National Front or from MSI deputy Sandro Saccuci, but also other political personalities belonging to the Christian Democracy (DC) and to the PSDI (Italian Social-Democrat Party).[9] According to Monzat, investigations also uncovered that the military attaché at the US embassy was tightly connected with the coup organizers[9] and that, according to declarations made to the magistrates by one of the main inculpee, the US President Richard Nixon had followed the preparation operations of the coup, of which he was personally informed of by two CIA officers.[9]
According to several Mafia turncoats (pentiti) such as Tommaso Buscetta, Borghese asked the Sicilian Mafia for support for the neofascist coup. In 1970, when the Sicilian Mafia Commission was reconstituted, one of the first issue that had to be confronted was the an offer of Borghese who asked for support in return for a pardon of convicted mafiosi like Vincenzo Rimi and Luciano Leggio. The mafiosi Giuseppe Calderone and Giuseppe Di Cristina went to visit Borghese in Rome. However, other mafiosi like Gaetano Badalamenti opposed the plan and the Mafia decided not to participate.[11]
According to Mafia boss Luciano Leggio, giving evidence at the Maxi Trial against the Mafia in the mid 1980s, Tommaso Buscetta and Salvatore Greco "Ciaschiteddu" were in favour of helping Borghese. The plan was for the Mafia to carry out a series of terrorist bombings and assassinations to provide the justification for a right-wing coup. Although Leggio's version differed from Buscetta, the testimony confirmed the Borghese's request for assistance by the Mafia.[12]
According to the pentito Francesco Di Carlo, the journalist Mauro De Mauro was killed because he had learned that Borghese – one of De Mauro's childhood friends – was planning the coup.[13][14][15]
