P2

Stuart Christie in his book Stefano Delle Chiaie writes:
"Freemasonry is, perhaps, the most large-scale political organizaion of the middle-class in every western nation. The Grand Orient of Italy, a particularly powerful institution, is no exception. One important difference between the Grand Orient of Italy and the Grand Lodge of England -- the mother lodge- is the existence in Italy of covered or secret lodges whose membership is unknown even to the council members of the Grand Orient."

As we now know in Italy there were two secret lodges under the Grand Orient of Italy, the P1 and P2. The P2 was controlled by Licio Gelli. As Christie explains Licio Gelli is an old guard fascist from the Mussolini era who fled to Argentina following disclosures that he had been involved in the murder of Italian partisans.