Assassination of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme: Tied to CIA and P2?
July 4, 2000, 72nd sesion of the Italian Parliament, 'Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry on terrorism in Italy and on the causes of the failure to identify those responsible for massacres', testimony of journalist Ennio Remondino (translated from Italian):
It was still quite "hot" the P2 story. The news more or less said that Gelli knew about the murder of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme for a few days in advance. There was no talk of involvement, but ... of foreknowledge... Gelli sent a telegram from South America [through Umberto Ortolani] to his friend Philip Guarino (which you will surely remember as a member of the American Republican Party, a character already known in Italy as one of those who signed an affidavit for [Vatican and Gambino mafia money launderer Michele] Sindona). That telegram said: "the Swedish tree will be felled." The news agency ANSA had broken this news, which was taken from "La Repubblica" and I think it was the subject of two articles in "Epoca" or some other weekly. In essence, the source of the news was the Swedish press and a mysterious CIA agent, an agent called "Y". ...
I was assigned by the director of TG1 to handle it and it took me over a month to try to get to agent "Y"... Speaking with Swedish journalist who had conducted the first investigation (a character of major importance to the Swedish press), I was able to figure out where this agent "Y" more or less could operate: Frankfurt, a collaborator of a magazine of Jewish culture. The character called himself [Ibrahim] Razin. ...
Yes. Among the many names that the supranational structure had assumed, there was also that of P7. Also described is the P2 ... as a coordinating and funding body for illegal covert CIA operations to keep those operations outside the control of Congress. ...
I moved to the United States and interviewed among others Gary Sick, the security adviser to President Carter, who gave me confirmation that there had been a series of suspicious situations. Also, I heard Philip Guarino in Washington and talked to the FBI spokesman and Barbara Honegger, who had been the first to pull out of this affair. At that stage of my research in the United States it was reported that one Richard Brenneke was acquitted by the court in Portland. Richard Brenneke described himself as a former CIA agent and in turn, but separately, had reported that the CIA had used the drug trade to finance operations of destabilization, or otherwise covert operations, in different parts of the world. Brenneke was denounced by the government of the United States and brought to trial in Portland. The court of Portland acquitted him with full formula... I went to Portland and convinced Brenneke to meet. At that point I discovered that Brenneke was not the last piece of evidence, but one who knew more. In fact, he claimed to know Gelli, meeting him regularly in Italy and to have operated for years in Italy. At the end of the trial, I found myself with revelations that exceeded those of departure. This is the story of how the contacts occurred. What occurred with Brenneke, for example, was totally random. If there had not been the ruling [at that time I had never heard of him]...
July 1990, Richard Brenneke to Ennio Remondino for the TG1 special on Italian television (Youtube; many words of Brenneke can't be heard due to the Italian voice overs):
I've known the P2 since 1969. ... The U.S. government funneled/channeled money to the P2. At one time the amount of money reached $10 million a month. ... We're talking about the P2 of Mr. Gelli. And Mr. Gelli was not the head of the P2. He was the man that... [inaudible]... To the best of my knowledge the P2 exists today under different names [with] the same people...
[The P2's purpose was] to create terrorist situations in Italy and other places in Europe in the early 1970s. ... liberal [governments] ... were brought down in this fashion.
I was in another meeting with Mr. Gelli in Argentina during the Falklands War. Just prior to the Falklands War actually. ... There were two subjects to this meeting: First, an ongoing supply of money for [inaudible] and this organization, so that they could continue to function; and a supply of weapons to a variety of people at that time. And also present with Mr. Gelli at that time was Mr. Barbie. Yeah, the Nazi, Mr. Barbie, Klaus Barbie.
*****
Brenneke's story is tied to Mena, Arkansas and apparently the murder of Kevin Ives and Don Henry.