ITALY INDICTS EX-AIDE IN 1980 BOMBING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100550003-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 5, 2012
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: December 13, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ST Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/05: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100550003-1
Y
ARTICLE APP4R&p ON PAGE ~ NEW YORK TIMES
13 December 1985
'Italy Indicts Ex-Ai?de in 1980
By RALPH BLUMENTHAL
A former Italian intelligence offiicci _al
being held in ail in New York C'
been indicted with others in Italy
new c rge o "masterminding" the
198U bomb e o o train
tion that killed 85 eo le.
The former official, Francesco Pa- .
zienza, denied the charge in a tele-',
phone call yesterday from the Federal
Metropolitan Correctional Center. He Morrison, a former New York City
attributed the accusation to "disinfor- Deputy Mayor who was also present
mation" that he said enemies had during the questioning, supported his
spread to discredit him. clients account. Judge Martella made
The new indictment, announced
Wednesday in Bologna, follows an
earlier charge, which Dr. Pazienza has
also denied, that he and others con-
spired to cover up responsibility for the
bombing by right-wing terrorists by
blaming the attack on leftists.
Charged along with Dr. Pazienza in
the latest indictment were seven
others, including Licio Gelli, the fugi-
tive former head of a secretive rightist
Masonic lodge, and Stefano delle
Chiaie, one of Italy's most wanted neo-
Fascist terrorists.
But Dr. Pazienza said Wednesday
that Judge Martella had cleared him of
any involvement in the case.
In a statement issued through his
lawyer, the prisoner said: "Judge Mar-
tella fully recognized my total inno-
cence with regard to the charge that I
was involved directly or indirectly with
All Agca. My documentation on this
i no comment.
David W. Denton, an assistant
United States Attorney who brought the
extradition case against Dr. Pazienza
and who sat in on the questioning in his
Justice Department office in Manhat-
tan, also declined to comment on the
case.
Departure Reportedly Delayed
Judge Martella had been scheduled
to return to Italy yesterday, but Dr. Pa-
zienza said he found out that the judge
had delayed his departure in order to
talk to one of the United States Cus-
toms Service agents who arrested Dr.
Pazienza in New York last March 4.
Dr. Pazienza said the judge was also
seeking to talk to writers for the Vil-
lage Voice about an article, scheduled
to appear next week, on Dr. Pazienza
and Italian rightists. The writers,
reached by telephone, said they could
Charged With Embezzlement
Dr. Pazienza, a 39-year-old nonprac-
ticing physician who headed a special
section of the Italian Information and
Military Security Service in 1980 and
1981, has been in jail here since March
on an Italian warrant charging him
with embezzling $200,000 from the
bankrupt ? Banco Ambrosiano. He has
called the payment a legitimate fee. A
Federal District Court Judge, Charles
L. Brieant Jr., ruled in September that
Dr. Pazienza could be sent to Italy for
trial, but the extradition has been
stayed pending appeal.
The new indictment was the latest
twist in the convoluted case of the mys-
terious intelligence man, whose name
has repeatedly come up in some of
Italy's gravest postwar scandals and
investigations.
The day before the latest indictment,
for example, Dr. Pazienza was ques-
tioned here by a visiting Italian judge
investigating the attempted assassina-
tion of Pope John Paul II in Rome in
1981. The judge, Ilario Martella, came
to New York to take Dr. Pazienza's
testimony on an allegation by the con-
victed gunman, Mehmet Ali Agca, and
another witness that Dr. Pazienza had
sought to get Mr. Agca to implicate-
Bulgarian agents in the shooting.
Contradictory Testimony
In contradictory testimony in the
continuing shooting conspiracy trial in
Rome, Mr. Agca and an admitted rack-
eteer, Giovanni Pandico, asserted that
intelligence officials including Dr. Pa-
zienza had visited Mr. Agca in prison
and had offered him favors if he would
implicate the Bulgarians.
not discuss the matter.
Dr. Pazienza has previously said that
Customs Service agents had once ques-
tioned him about a reported sighting of
Mr. delle Chiaie and an unidentified
Turk in Miami. Dr. Pazienza has also
charged that Customs Service agents
were seeking to "cover up" awareness
of the fugitive's presence in the United
States. A Customs Service spokesman
in New York, Dennis Fagan, did not re-
turn a telephone call.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/05: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100550003-1