Carmine "Mino" Pecorelli (Italian pronunciation:[ˈkarmineˈmiːnopekoˈrɛlli]; 14 September 1928 – 20 March 1979) was an Italian journalist, shot dead inRome a year after former prime ministerAldo Moro's1978 kidnapping and subsequent killing. He was described as a "maverick journalist with excellent secret service contacts".[1] According to Pecorelli, Aldo Moro's kidnapping had been organized by a "lucid superpower" and was inspired by the "logic of Yalta". Pecorelli's name was onLicio Gelli's list ofPropaganda Due (P2) masonic members, discovered in 1980 by theItalian police.[2]
Pecorelli was killed in Rome'sPrati district, with four gunshots, on 20 March 1979. Former prime ministerGiulio Andreotti was tried on charges of complicity in the murder of Pecorelli but was acquitted along with his co-defendants includingGaetano Badalamenti andMassimo Carminati, in 1999. Local prosecutors successfully appealed the acquittal and there was a retrial, which in 2002 convicted Andreotti and sentenced him to 24 years imprisonment. Italy'sSupreme Court of Cassation definitively acquitted Andreotti of the murder in 2003.
Pecorelli was born inSessano del Molise, a small municipality in theprovince of Isernia. During the German occupation of Italy inWorld War II he briefly enrolled inJunio Valerio Borghese's private fascist militiaDecima Flottiglia MAS, forging contacts which would later come in handy during his career as a journalist. Later, in 1944, he joined thePolish II Corps atOratino, nearCampobasso, where he was the youngest native volunteer (barely 16 years old) in the 111th Bridge Security Company.[3] With the Company he fought against the Germans on several occasions, most notably at theBattle of Monte Cassino in May of that year.[4]
After graduating in law, Pecorelli began practising as a bankruptcylawyer. Described byLa Repubblica as an "anti-communist but not a fascist", he soon gravitated towards the rulingChristian Democrats (Democrazia Cristiana; DC), becoming associated in particular with the party's administrative secretary, Egidio Carenini.[4] In the early 1960s Pecorelli became Minister Fiorentino Sullo's head of press service, thereby starting his career as a journalist. Initially writing forNuovo Mondo d'Oggi, a political journal with such a reputation for muckraking that it was closed down by theMinistry of the Interior, in 1968 Pecorelli founded his ownpress agency,Osservatore Politico (OP).OP later became a weekly magazine specializing inpolitical scandals, and by the late 1970s, it had published many first-hand stories that Pecorelli was able to obtain through his numerous contacts in the government, including those in the secret services. Pecorelli publicly acknowledged that his best pieces were often those which had not been published due to agreements with the subjects involved, most of whom preferred to pay hefty sums of money to ensure his silence.
Pecorelli was able to describe with ease complex situations, often protecting facts and characters behind pseudonyms. For example, he usually referred to GeneralCarlo Alberto dalla Chiesa in the pages ofOP as 'General Amen', explaining that it was he who, in the weeks followingAldo Moro's kidnapping by theRed Brigades (Brigate Rosse; BR) in March 1978, had informed Interior MinisterFrancesco Cossiga of the location of the hideout where Moro was being detained. Pecorelli wrote that Dalla Chiesa was in danger and would be assassinated. Dalla Chiesa was murdered four years later, in September 1982.
Pecorelli published many confidential documents relating to theMoro Affair throughout 1978 and early 1979, such as the letters Moro wrote to his family while in captivity (known as his 'testimonial'). In a cryptic article published in May 1978, Pecorelli drew a connection betweenOperation Gladio (NATO's 'stay-behind' anti-communist organization, whose existence was publicly acknowledged by Prime MinisterGiulio Andreotti in October 1990) and Moro's death. It has since been established that, while being interrogated by the BR, Moro made several references to "NATO's anti-guerrilla activities".[1]
Moreover, at the end of September 1978, as recounted by his sister Rosita, Pecorelli handed over a dossier with names of several "unfaithful" prelates toPope John Paul I a few hours before his mysterious death. According to Rosita Pecorelli, the Pope was planning to take action against the names provided.[5] A list had been published inOsservatore Politico of 12 September 1978.[6]
Pecorelli was killed in Rome's Prati district with four gunshots, on 20 March 1979. The bullets used to kill him were of theGevelot brand, a peculiarly rare type of bullet not easily found in gun markets, either legal or clandestine. The same type of bullet was later found in theBanda della Magliana's weapon stock, concealed in the Health Ministry's basement. Investigations targetedMassimo Carminati, a member of the far-right organizationNuclei Armati Rivoluzionari (NAR) and of theBanda della Magliana, the head of Propaganda Due,Licio Gelli, Antonio Viezzer, Cristiano Fioravanti andValerio Fioravanti.
Contemporaneously with his trial for Mafia association,Giulio Andreotti was tried inPerugia with Sicilian Mafia bossGaetano Badalamenti,Massimo Carminati, and others on charges of complicity in the murder of journalist Mino Pecorelli.[7] The case was circumstantial and based on the word of Mafia turncoatTommaso Buscetta, who had not originally mentioned the allegation about Andreotti when interviewed byGiovanni Falcone and had recanted it by the time of the trial.[8][9]
On 6 April 1993, Mafiaturncoat Tommaso Buscetta told Palermo prosecutors that he had learnt from his bossGaetano Badalamenti that Pecorelli's murder had been carried out in the interest of Andreotti. TheSalvo cousins, two powerful Sicilian politicians with deep ties to local Mafia families, were also involved in the murder. Buscetta testified that Gaetano Badalamenti told him that the murder had been commissioned by the Salvo cousins as a favour to Andreotti. Andreotti was allegedly afraid that Pecorelli was about to publish information that could have destroyed his political career. Among the information was the complete memorial ofAldo Moro, which would be published only in 1990 and which Pecorelli had shown to GeneralCarlo Alberto dalla Chiesa before his death.[10]
Andreotti was acquitted along with his co-defendants in 1999.[11] Local prosecutors successfully appealed the acquittal and there was a retrial, which in 2002 convicted Andreotti and sentenced him to 24 years imprisonment. Italians of all political allegiances denounced the conviction.[12][13] Many failed to understand how the court could convict Andreotti of orchestrating the killing, yet acquit his co-accused, who supposedly had carried out his orders by setting up and committing the murder.[14] The Italian supreme court definitively acquitted Andreotti of the murder in 2003.[15]
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