'Bringing to mind the "stay-behind" Gladio NATO secret armies, involved in "terrorismo nero" during the 1970-80s'

Wikipedia entry for Department of Anti-terrorism Strategic Studies

 

The Department of Anti-terrorism Strategic Studies (Italian: Dipartimento Studi Strategici Antiterrorismo, DSSA) is an Italian organization reported to have been set up in 2004 and under investigation since July 2005

 

The DSSA became the subject of investigation by Italian police in July 2005 for composing a "parallel police", bringing to mind the "stay-behind" Gladio NATO secret armies, involved in "terrorismo nero" during the 1970-80s. The "parallel police" had been created by far-right members Gaetano Saya and Riccardo Sindoca, two leaders of the National Union of the Police Forces (Unpf), a trade-union present in all the state security forces. Both claimed they were former members of Gladio, while far-right Nuovo Movimento Sociale Italiano - Destra Nazionale website described Gaetano Saya as a founding member and president of the party, while Riccardo Sindoca was described as an "expert in criminology" and Destra Nazionale 's Cabinet chief. Destra Nazionale was founded in 2000 as a successor to Giorgio Almirante's will and the Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI) neofascist party.

The group allegedly conducted police-like operations, surveilling supects, writing reports and running background checks by illegally accessing the Interior Ministry's protected datafiles. They also allegedly falsified law enforcement badges. Moreover, among the false information the DSSA allegedly provided, were details of planned al-Qaeda attacks against Milan's Linate international airport and the city's landmark Duomo cathedral. The alleged aim was to benefit from funding that became available nationally and internationally after the 11 March, 2004 Madrid blasts, as part of the global "war on terror". DSSA allegedly tried to obtain such funds from NATO, the United States and Israel.

Some 25 people were being investigated, but the group was thought to be composed of about 200 persons. Roughly half of the 25 suspects are Italian law enforcement, including Carabinieri, prison guards and financial police. According to the DSSA website - closed after the Italian medias' revelations -, Fabrizio Quattrocchi, murdered in Iraq after being taken hostage, was there "for the DSSA". DSSA founder Gaetano Saya subsequently denied these allegations, indicating in 150 the number of people involved.Furthermore, according to juridical sources, the DSSA was trying to obtain international and national recognition by intelligence agencies, in order to obtain financement for its parallel activities. Il Messaggero, quoting juridical sources, also declared that wiretaps suggested that DSSA members had been planning to kidnap Cesare Battisti, a former communist activist wanted by the Italian justice. "We were seeing the genesis of something similar to the death squads in Argentina" the magistrate is reported to have said. Italian press talked about "another Gladio", referring to NATO's "stay-behind" clandestine paramilitary groups during the Cold War.

 

From: Italy probes 'parallel police'

Italian police have launched a big inquiry into a "parallel" intelligence agency, say Italian news reports.

The Department of Anti-terrorism Strategic Studies (DSSA) was reportedly created after the 2004 Madrid bombings to combat Islamic extremism.

Genoa-based investigators carrying out a probe into the DSSA have arrested two people and placed more than two dozen others under investigation.

[ ... ]

Italian state radio Rai later reported that the two arrested men may have had links with Gladio, the Italian branch of a secret paramilitary network set up in post-war Europe with the backing of the CIA.

There are also reports of a possible connection with a far-right political group.

The investigation that uncovered the alleged parallel structure is an offspring of a previous inquiry into the death of Fabrizio Quattrocchi, one of four Italians kidnapped in Iraq in April 2004.