A Twitter feed from @obitsman (Steven Miller, obituary writer) led its followers to the U.K.'s Telegraph obituary of someone who had to be the most manipulative and successful financial manipulator of all time. (That we know of. The one who is yet to be caught could be the greatest.)
His resume makes Whitey Bulger look like a low-level numbers runner. Of course, that might be comparing apples to oranges, since Licio Gelli's actions were not entirely of the cruelly violent, but more of the criminally diplomatic.
A read of his life reveals more plots than a Russian novel. In fact, if something can be described as an "enigma wrapped in a mystery," then Gelli's life can described as more entwined than a bowl of spaghetti.
If anyone watched what was a short-lived series called 'Zen,' starring Rufus Sewell, then you might have seen the episode 'The Cabal.' There's no doubt the episode was written by someone with a firm grasp of Italian politics, the Mafia, and the Vatican. The Cabal would have easily been based on the P2.
And what a great obit The Telgraph's is. It is doubtful Mr. Gelli's life will get promoted to a NYT obit since Mr. Gelli's misdeeds were strictly European. But I'm sure if there is a slow day in the obit pages, the Times editors will at least consider giving Mr. Gelli American attention. I don't think he'd mind.
Not that more details about Mr. Gelli's life are needed to fully absorb what a true badass this guy was, and who lived to be 96, passing away in his own villa that was seized by the state in 2013 for tax reasons, but with provisions that he still be allowed to live there.
Ninety-six is a long life, and when your association with Blackshirt fascist starts when you are 17, you develop enough story lines to create a life and an obituary that could easily be turned into a 10
episode miniseries.
The P2 was not a type of aircraft used by the Allies to bomb Germany, but was instead a Freemason Lodge that was thrown out of the society after Mr. Gelli took it private, so to speak. All sorts of politicos and power brokers could be counted as members of the P2. Their influence was vast.
Of course Mr. Gelli was tried and incarcerated, but some people are hard to pin down. He escaped, and spent some free time like Willie Sutton and Whitey Bulger. But Licio's exploits easily exceeded those of our own bank robber Willie, and even Whitey Bulger, who when found after 16 years on the run, had over $800,000 stashed away in the walls of his condo. Mr. Celli's villa was once searched and 160 kilograms of gold bars were found hidden in crockery.
The obituary doesn't translate the worth of that gold, but it was said to have come from a transport train from Yugoslavia during WWII. Thus, this guy had gold that would easily have had an estimated value of $2.8 million at the time, along with reproductive organs made of granite.
(A WWII gold-laden transport train is featured in the 2013 miniseries 'The Spies of Warsaw,' starring David Tennant, but without Licio Gelli in the script.)
During a period of unapprehension, Mr. Gelli obviously enjoyed celebrity status in Italy. Seen below is a striking photo of him promoting a book. On a quick glance, he could easily be mistaken for Cary Grant.
Crime can pay.
http://www.onofframp.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment