Fascism, police blitz against ‘Last Legion’

Fascism, anti-Semitism and racism. Blitz of the State Police which today carried out 25 search decrees in 18 Italian provinces against people belonging to the political movement Ultima Legion. The investigations were directed by the L’Aquila District Prosecutor’s Office and coordinated centrally by the National Anti-Mafia and Counter-terrorism Directorate and by the Central Directorate of the Prevention Police – Service for countering extremism and internal terrorism. The investigations in the field were conducted by the Digos policemen of the Police Headquarters of L’Aquila and finalized in collaboration with the Digos of Milan, Como, Chieti, Verona, La Spezia, Genoa, Pescara, Terni, Macerata, Piacenza, Modena, Vicenza, Lecce, Fermo, Rome, Cosenza, Venice. The investigations of an IT nature, still in progress, are carried out with the coordination of the Central Service of the Postal and Communications Police. The members of the Ultima Legion are challenged with the pursuit of anti-democratic purposes of the fascist party, with instigation to the use of violence such as method of political struggle and online dissemination of material that incites hatred and discrimination for racial, ethnic, religious reasons, in order to have, with several executive actions of the same criminal design and in competition with each other, promoted, organized, directed or participated in ‘organization called “ULTIMA LEGIONE”. The investigations began in 2019 on some associates residing in the Abruzzo Region and then developed with regard to the conduct also held by other subjects, accused of being part of the same organization, throughout the national territory. The disputed facts originate from declarations and documents disseminated online and through the digital messaging platforms WhatsApp and Telegram of the Ultima Legion and similar, as well as on the social networks Facebook and VKontakte (Russian social network known for the absence of internal censorship). Organizational and propaganda meetings promoted by the Ultima Legion were also analyzed on the occasion of the commemorations of Benito Mussolini which periodically took place in Predappio, documented by photographs and statements published in the communities of the Ultima Legion and / or on public and freely accessible profiles as well as on the movement’s web page. From the investigative activity it emerged that some members, openly defining themselves as “fascists”, explicitly denigrate the values ​​of the Resistance and the Constitution with derogatory epithets. Violence is on several occasions exalted as a method of political struggle, with the open purpose of riding the dissent, even advocating, in various circumstances, the use of arms, with phrases published in chat such as: “The weapons are … they are. “I always have rings on my fingers and a truncheon behind me now I also have a machete.” , of statements and memes marked, in particular, by the denial of the Shoah and the exaltation of racial laws. The hatred was directed, as well as against the Jewish people, also against people of different ethnic origin, against the Muslims, and also in a homophobic sense.The high symbolic value of the language used and the references to Nazi-Fascism, are often aimed at the parallelism between the imperial era, which highlights national greatness, and the current context, of which the negative aspects that would have led to the economic recession, unemployment and violence are highlighted, mainly due to migratory processes and, from last, also to the Covid-19 pandemic emergency, seen in a conspiracy and denial key. Significant is the statement of a member of the movement who comments on the videos depicting the vehicles by the Italian Army used in Brescia for the transport of the coffins of the deceased to cause of the Coronavirus to be cremated. With cynicism, the use of crematoria has been associated with a fair means, with clear reference to Hitler, Nazism and the Holocaust. The chat: “Traini had to leave them all on the ground” He failed in his intent “because he did not eliminated anyone “and” would certainly have done better leaving them all on the ground “. It is one of the phrases unearthed by the investigators in the neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic chat “Executioner who gives up” connected with the extremist association “Ultima legione”, which has roots in Milan and is widespread in many regions. Organization, with members with clear neo-fascist and racist ideas and against whom from this morning at dawn, in various Italian regions, an operation, complete with searches, of the State Police – Antiterrorism, Digos and Postal – was initiated of L’Aquila. Investigators are also on the hunt for any weapons. The sentence in question belongs to one of the leading exponents of the “Ultima Legion”, who lives in Liguria and moderates, among other things, the Whatsapp groups of Liguria, Tuscany and Emilia Romagna. The man refers to the racist massacre carried out by Luca Traini who on 3 February 2018 in Macerata exploded numerous gunshots in the city center from a moving car, a black Alfa Romeo 147, injuring six immigrants with a Glock 17, pistol 9-gauge semiautomatic at the front. In the attack, for which he was definitively convicted, six immigrants of sub-Saharan origin aged between 20 and 32 were injured. of the Republic of the Tuscan capital and as part of the operation conducted today by the Central Directorate of the Prevention Police, with the National Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Directorate, carried out house searches against three people residing in Florence (a 61-year-old man), Prato (a 30-year-old man) and Grosseto (a 45-year-old man), turned out to be connected to the chats ‘Boia chi Molla’ and ‘Ultima Legione’. The investigations, conducted by the agents of the Digos of Florence, with the support of the Digos of Prato and Grosseto, made it possible to trace the connection of the three suspects with a group of right-wing extremists. The three Tuscans reportedly shared photographs, videos and symbols praising Nazi-fascism in the chats, extolling supremacist massacres.The aim of the chat animators, the investigators explain, was to recruit militants to set up a political structure of fascist inspiration but not it is excluded that they also wanted to carry out violent actions.