Esotericism and Politics: the Mattei Affair

In the end of the previous hub entitled Esotericism And Politics: The Secret Origins Of United Europe, I mentioned the Mattei Affair, which was sensational enough to merit a movie directed by Italian filmmaker Francesco Rosi. According to what is stated in the book, such affair is connected with the actions of the executory level of the “Structure”.

The American Contingent was a branch of the Structure in Europe; elitist, conservative and anti-communist, it was the first promoter of the European Union.

The executory level of the Structure was formed by the so-called "American Contingent", a kind of strategic and operational team, very well selected and disguised. It was characterized by Jewish heritage, strong Masonic connotation, conservative and anti-communist nature. Distinctly elitist, it was also called "The union of the best" or "L'école des hommes", referring to a prototype of "a cosmic Man, door opener and keeper of the keys "(cited). André Malraux in 1947 apparently used such organization to repel the attempt by the Communists to take power in France.

Allegedly the America Contingent would have given the first impulse to the European Union — covertly, as not even Maurice Schumann was aware of that —; and it would have been such organization to execute the murder of Enrico Mattei, through its "armed wing", at the time directed, in Italy, by two individuals named Nutting and Lobineau.

Incidentally, it should be noted that the name of the second one refers, quite surprisingly, to the famous Dossier Secrets de Henri Lobineau and consequently to the ambiguous personality of Pierre Plantard and his Priory of Sion, which in turn refers to the mazy affair of Rennes-le-Château. This, just to say that complex political and historical events end up intertwined with elements of esoteric, mythical and legendary nature, as we shall see in a future article.

Secret agreements established during the War constrained Italy to be energy dependent on the United States.

Let us now resume the thread of the story. What has Mattei's affair to do with the European unification?

The connection is in the agreements signed in the period 1943-'44, between the United States and the various national Resistance forces (excluding the pro-communist components). These agreements contemplated political and economic clauses, well-defined and binding: the first ones, to guarantee the future political stability of Europe as part of the Western democracies; the second ones, for the post-war reconstruction and economic recovery. Among the economic clauses there was the commitment of Italy to use, for several decades, energy resources provided by American companies or controlled by them: this was considered as an indirect and easier way to pay at least part of the present and future costs.

Thus it is precisely in this context that we should frame the murder of Enrico Mattei in 1962: the President of ENI would have been killed for attempting to untie Italy from its energy dependence on United States, contrary to the established agreements.

Enrico Mattei wanted to break the oligopoly of the "Seven Sisters" and free Italy from energy dependence on the United States.

But what exactly did Enrico Mattei? Born in 1906 from a humble family, he succeeded to make a quick career in the chemical industry. In May 1943 he met the Christian Democrat leader Giuseppe Spataro, who introduced him into anti-Fascist circles in Milan. Soon after the forced resignation of Mussolini on July 25, 1943, he joined a partisan group of the Italian Resistance movement, despite suspicion over his former membership of the Fascist Party. Because of his impressive organisational and military skills, the Christian Democrats put him in command of their partisan forces. Mattei participated in the North Italian military command of the National Liberation Committee on behalf of the Christian Democrats. After the end of the War he was decorated by the United States with the Silver Star.

In 1945, the NLC appointed Mattei to the leadership of AGIP, the national oil company created by the fascist regime. The instructions were to close it as soon as possible, but instead he worked hard to restructure the company and transform it into one of the nation's most important economic assets. Mattei's strategy was to exploit the natural gas resources of the Northern Italy, and he managed to greatly expand the activities of AGIP, thanks also to his ability to gain the support of many newspapers and of some parts of the political and business ambit.

In 1953 AGIP was merged into a newly created company, ENI, of which Mattei was initially President, then also Administrator and General Director. Soon realizing the need to secure foreign supplies, because of the insufficiency of the domestic resources, he expanded abroad and turned his attention to the international oil markets. Since the mid-1950s Mattei lined up hard against the "Seven Sisters" (a term he himself coined), and to break their oligopoly he initiated agreements with the poorest countries of the Middle East as well as countries of the former soviet bloc.

The United States had become alarmed as these personal initiatives were contrary to the agreements of 1943; moreover, the energy emancipation of Italy would have made the Italian government less dependent on the Western economy, and — it was believed — more inclined to a neutral policy that would have weakened NATO in the quadrant of Southern Europe.

Allegedly, in 1957 Mattei secretly financed the independence movement against colonialist France in the Algerian War. In 1960, after concluding the agreement with the Soviet Union and while negotiating with China, Mattei publicly declared that the American oil monopoly was over.

On October 27, 1962, on a flight from Catania to Milan, Mattei's jetplane crashed in the surroundings of a small village in Lombardy. All three men on board were killed: Mattei, his pilot and an American journalist. The first inquiries officially declared that it was an accident, but there were strong indications that the crash was caused by a bomb hidden in the airplane. Further investigations in 1990s could find irrefutable evidence of that and the episode was reclassified by the judge as homicide, but with perpetrator(s) unknown.

Paolo Rumor in L'altra Europa (2010, Hobby & Work, Varese, Italy) reports that attempts were made in order to save Mattei's life. Shortly before the tragic end, the United States contacted the Vatican through confidential channels, so that it acted to warn Mattei about the risks he was taking. On the initiative of Cardinal Spellman, Giacomo Rumor (father of the author of the book) was advised by Msgr. Montini, and was asked to use his influence and friendship with Mattei (in fact, they knew each other from the days of their militancy in Resistance).

The warning reported from the Vatican was that the "armed wing of the American Contingent" would act to eliminate the President of ENI if he did not give up his personal negotiations with the countries outside the area of influence agreed at the time of the American intervention in the War.

The operation of sabotage of the jetplane was implemented by the Roman cell of the Contingent, two of whose members were nicknamed "Socar" (a Corsican) and "Neter" (an Italian). "Socar", whose real name should be Laurenzi, allegedly was one of the two persons who physically placed the explosive device on the plane; the other one should be a certain Omar Terenski (a Slovenian).

Mattei was warned by G. Rumor; he replied that he had received a similar report from a journalist of Izvestia, but he considered this signal not so alarming. Previously there had been other attempts to sabotage, all failed. There was a further attempt by the journalist to warn Mattei, when he was sure of the sabotage, but too late: the plane was already in flight.

THIS HUB IS RELATED TO:

• ESOTERICISM AND POLITICS: THE SECRET ORIGINS OF UNITED EUROPE (READ BEFORE)

THE CONTENT OF THIS HUB IS PARTLY DERIVED FROM PAOLO RUMOR'S BOOK L'ALTRA EUROPA.

Members of the American Contingent were certain persons named (or nicknamed):

• "Lobineau", whose name refers to the matter of the Priory of Sion;

• "Neter", whose name refer to Egyptian gods (Neters);

• "Socar", whose name as well refer to an Egyptian god (Sokar).

Apparently, history and legend, myth and esotericism are inextricably intertwined in this matter.