Five Fascists

Fascismo's onetime bosses did not give up easily. Around five of them swirled report and rumor:

Dead Fascist. Handsome, bemedaled Ettore Muti had been the "incarnation of Fascismo's warlike spirit," according to Notizie di Roma. Lieutenant colonel and "ace" of the air force, he had served in Ethiopia, Spain, Albania, Greece. He had been Party secretary when Italy entered World War II. Now the Badoglio Government, pressing its purge of blackshirts, charged him with graft. Reported the Rome radio: Ettore Muti, whipping out a revolver, resisted arrest by the carabinieri. In a wood on Rome's outskirts a fusillade crackled. Ettore Muti fell dead.

Die-Hard Fascist. Swarthy, vituperative Roberto Farinacci had been Fascismo's hellion. He had ranted against the democracies, baited Israel and the Church, flayed Fascist weaklings. Ex-Party secretary and ex-minister of state, he had escaped to Germany after Benito Mussolini's fall. Now, in exile, he was apparently building a Fascist Iron Guard. A Swiss rumor said that Roberto Farinacci had clandestine Nazi help, that he plotted a coup to restore blackshirt power, that he would become pezzo grosso (big shot) of northern Italy once the Germans openly took hold of the Po Valley.

Craven Fascist. Tough, demagogic Carlo Scorza had been Fascismo's No. 1 purger. Up & down his Tuscan territory, his ghenga (corruption of "gang") had bullied and blackmailed. He had amassed wealth, yet had denounced the wartime "fat and rich." Now, said a Bern report, Carlo Scorza wrote from prison to Vittorio Emanuele, offering his services to the crown.

Turncoat Fascist. Suave, calculating Count Dino Grandi had been Fascismo's favorite son. In the castor-oil days he had been the Duce's trusted lieutenant. His ample reward: the Ambassadorship to Britain, the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Justice, a title and knighthood. When Benito Mussolini fell, Dino Grandi stood. Rumor said that the Count had led Party rebels against the Duce. Now, rumor continued, Dino Grandi was in Lisbon, ready to help a Badoglio Government mission negotiate with the Allies.

Refugee Fascist. Sensual, flabby Count Galeazzo Ciano had been Fascismo's playboy. Son-in-law of Benito Mussolini, he had once been the Duce's heir-apparent. As Foreign Minister he helped to forge the Axis and helped himself to a fortune, supposedly salted away in foreign banks. Now German sources reported that Count Ciano and wife Edda had escaped from house arrest in Rome and slipped into Germany.

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