Stefano delle Chiaie. Portrait of a black terrorist

by Stuart Christie

Exposure of a fascist terrorist responsible for many outrages. A superb piece of investigative research into the whole fascist terror network, involved everywhere from the Italian bombings during the 'strategy of tension' to South America.

Genres: History, Conspiracy Theories, Biography, Nonfiction, Terrorism

Paperback

First published March 1, 1984

About the author

Stuart Christie was a Scottish anarchist writer and publisher. As an 18-year-old Christie was arrested while carrying explosives to assassinate the Spanish caudillo General Franco. He was later alleged to be a member of the Angry Brigade, but was acquitted of related charges. He went on to found the Cienfuegos Press publishing house and in 2008 the online Anarchist Film Channel which hosts films and documentaries with anarchist and libertarian themes.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the more useful short sources on Gladio. Christie lays out a rather dizzying array of individuals, organizations, and associations but largely tracks with the various other sources I've read on Gladio and the other associated fascist stay behind operations controlled by the US. Not just a biography of Delle Chiaie, this discusses as many neo fascist terror events in Italy and associated ones in Latin America as Christie could fit in just barely 75 pages. It suffers from the same problem any work on Gladio does: that inevitably it must use some of the individuals involved as sources, since necessarily any plausibly deniable operation keeps official paperwork to a minimum. And since those involved with these operations are masters of dissembling, it can be very hard to know what they are saying truthfully and what is invention and what is intentional misleading. To his credit Christie is open and acknowledges that, making sure the reader knows that many details can be very difficult to verify. Gladio is such a murky web of fractally tangled organizations and names, and this is one of the better sources out there to use as a guide to try and map it out.

Available for download, of all places, on libcom.

[Kersplebedeb · Rating 4 out of 5]

No real analysis here, but this book deserves its four stars for the way in which it exposed the relationship between Italian secret services, neo-fascists, and elements in the the western establishment, all before the Gladio scandal hit the fan as the Cold War ended.

[Michael Schmidt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess the best compliment I can pay this little volume is that I used parts of it that relate to neo-fascist links in white Rhodesia and apartheid South Africa as references in my new book Drinking with Ghosts: the Aftermath of Apartheid's Dirty War (BestRed, Cape Town, 2014). But the reader has to be impressed at how veteran Scottish hardcore anarchist Stuart Christie tracked his quarry, the nasty little Italian neo-Fascist terrorist Sefano Delle Chiaie and his blackshirt network in Europe, Latin America and further abroad, using only the documentary evidence and personal anti-fascist intelligence networks of the pre-Internet era. Not overarchingly analytical, but an important contribution to our understanding of the NATO-groomed Gladio stay-behind networks in Italy including the failed 1970 Prince Valerio Borghese coup d'etat, and, as a surprising gem, details on the plotters behind the barely-known stillborn British coup d'etat of 1974.

[Bouwulf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Held back from being the full 5 stars only by the author’s decision to effectively abandon referencing, likely as side-effect of its initial publication through ‘Anarchy.’ Whilst every fact should be taken with a grain of salt, further investigation seems only to vindicate Christie and verify his claims. A masterfully informative book, especially considering its publication before much of this was exposed to the mainstream with evidence.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

investigative journalism by a British anarchist of an
vicious Italian neo-fascist terrorist

[Eric Arnold · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but thorough document of the Italian Years of Lead/Gladio written by a man who tried to kill Francisco Franco. Recommended.

[R. Reddebrek · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enlightening and at times chilling look a very sophisticated and well funded and connected far right terror network. At times the lists of names and organisations read like a facebook conspiracy, only every group cited (the Mafia, CIA, NATO, Vatican, Libya, Lebanese Falange, West Germany, Greek Fascists, even the Free Masons) have at least a half dozen reports and witness testimonies to prove they're credible.

[Aaron Schuschu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too many appendices but otherwise everything I’ve been saying about the Right’s relationship with the drug trade and plausible deniability about assassinations and even supporting more totalitarian left regimes abroad (though is Libya even leftist but anyway).

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was alright, not amazing, but a good account of Stefano Delle Chiaie, offering details I didn't know, and were important for learning about Gladio, especially in Italy.