On Wednesday, 4th December, Italian police arrested 12 people in a nationwide anti-terrorist operation targetting a white supremacist, a neo-Nazi group called ‘Werewolf Division.’
The name may have been inspired by the “werewolves” that Himmler selected from the SS to counter the advance of the Allied and Soviet forces in Germany at the end of World War II. Suspects are accused of criminal association, planning attacks against politicians and institutions, oriented to a subversive project to dismantle the democratic regime for “neo-Nazi and supremacist purposes,” maintaining relations with other “extremist and terrorist formations also operating abroad,” and even of an “Islamic matrix,” with which they shared a hatred of Jews.
The Bologna court ordered the arrest of 12 of the 25 suspects, of whom five ended up in jail. Many are being investigated but remain at large. Weapons – both blanks and active firearms, katanas, and Nazi and fascist memorabilia and busts were seized during the search.
The investigation was started in Naples, where a trial on the ‘Order of Hagal’ – of which Werewolf Division seems to be a section -concluded some days ago with four convictions and acquittals on some charges. The operation was joined by the same police office in Bologna, under the coordination of the Anti-Terrorism District, with 13 house searches in the provinces of Bologna, Bari, Brindisi, Lecco, Milan, Monza Brianza, Modena, Palermo, Pesaro Urbino, Pescara, Pordenone, Ravenna, Rome, Teramo, Trieste, Vercelli and Vicenza.
According to investigators, it seems to be an ‘organized cell,’ already in operation and capable of carrying out subversive acts, including techniques used by so-called ‘lone wolves’ both supremacists and jihadists.
Among the charges brought against the group is “preparation of serious attacks,” including against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, designated in phone conversations dated back to 2023 as a “fascist who persecutes fascists,” and World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab. Members also talked about inspections in the areas of the Parliament to scope the scene to carry out a possible attack, shooting with snipers from the hotel across the street.
The plan also consisted of a part of real training of ‘guerrillas,’ trained and educated in a violent neo-Nazi environment, with the concrete search for weapons on the web, and instigating other Nazis to prepare by purchasing weapons.
The charges include propaganda activities, proselytizing, and preparing violent actions, such as purging traitors to the movement. Through the analysis of Telegram groups – named “Werwolf Division Discussions” and “New Dawn Movement” -it was possible to reconstruct how the members of the Werwolf division carried out among themselves such ideas as denial of the Shoah, supremacy of the Aryan race, and spoke of a project of subverting the current order for the establishment of an ethical and authoritarian state. The example they were inspired by were terrorists like Pierluigi Concutelli or Giusva Fioravanti, founders of the dissolved neo-fascist organization of “Revolutionary Armed Nukes” (NAR).
The operation confirms the presence of a network of groups and organizations that no longer draw only from neo-fascism. Since the escalation of the war in Ukraine, such groups belonging to the “black galaxy” have networked—mainly via Telegram but also VKontakte—with counterparts in other countries, Ukrainians first and foremost.
The cell’s composition shows a variety of biographies, with members ranging from 17 to 76 years old, and a range of professional backgrounds that, together with the hierarchical structure, suggest worrying characters.
Daniele Trevisani was proclaimed the ‘commander,’ Andrea Ziosi ‘the editor,’ and Salvatore Nicotra ‘the instructor.’
Among those arrested is 76-year-old tenor Joe Fallisi from Puglia, who is accused of being the administrator of a Telegram group. Two minors are also among those under investigation, and the association is charged with involving and instigating the illicit activity of boys not yet 18 years old. The only woman in this terrorist conspiracy is Simonetta Cesari, 62, from Modena. In 2015 she was elected secretary of the National Front, an openly neo-fascist political party.
