Marco Mancini was the second-highest ranking officer of Sismi

SISMI

Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare was the military intelligence agency of Italy from 1977-2007....

, the military intelligence agency of Italy until his 5 July 2006 arrest for his participation in the kidnapping of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr

Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr

Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr , also known as Abu Omar, is an Egyptian cleric. In 2003 he was living in Milan, Italy, from where he was kidnapped and allegedly later tortured in Egypt. This "Imam rapito affair" prompted a series of investigations in Italy, culminating in the criminal convictions of...

 (the Imam Rapito

Imam Rapito affair

The Abu Omar Case refers to the abduction and transfer to Egypt of the Imam of Milan Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar...

case). He was then indicted a second time on December 13, 2006, for his role in the SISMI-Telecom scandal

SISMI-Telecom scandal

The SISMI-Telecom scandal, uncovered in Italy in 2006, refers to a surveillance scandal believed to have begun in 1996, under which more than 5,000 persons' phones were tapped.- First arrests :...

 ..

Careery synopsis

Mancini previously led the anti-terrorist division of the Italian secret service. Mancini was arrested, as well as his superior, General Gustavo Pignero, on July 5, 2006.

The investigations directed by Milan's public prosecutor, Armando Spataro, have demonstrated that Mancini proposed himself to the CIA as a "double agent

Double agent

A double agent, commonly abbreviated referral of double secret agent, is a counterintelligence term used to designate an employee of a secret service or organization, whose primary aim is to spy on the target organization, but who in fact is a member of that same target organization oneself. They...

." According to Colonel Stefano D'Ambrosio's testimony to the Italian justice, the CIA refused because they considered him too "venal." But his demand "left traces in the computer" of the US intelligence .

All SISMI testimonies concur in saying that Mancini owed his dazzling career (he was a non-commissionned officer) to his "privileged relations with the CIA." According to SISMI testimony, after the 17 February 2003 kidnapping of the Hassan Mustafa Nasr, then CIA director George Tenet

George Tenet

George John Tenet was the Director of Central Intelligence for the United States Central Intelligence Agency, and is Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University....

 sent a letter to SISMI General Nicolò Pollari

Nicolò Pollari

Nicolò Pollari is a general of the Italian Guardia di Finanza, who was the former head of Italy's national military intelligence agency, or SISMI, until his resignation on 20 November 2006.He was born in Caltanissetta, Sicily....

 in August 2003, to which he would owe, according to SISMI testimony, the real reasons of his promotion.

Further reading

• Allesandro Mantovani, reporter at Il Manifesto
  Il Manifesto
  il manifesto is an Italian newspaper. While it calls itself communist, it is not connected to any political party. It was founded as a monthly review in 1969 by a collective of left-wing journalists engaged in the wave of critical thought and activity on the Italian left in that period. Prominent...
  
  , "Du riffifi dans les services secrets, L'Humanité
  L'Humanité
  L'Humanité , formerly the daily newspaper linked to the French Communist Party , was founded in 1904 by Jean Jaurès, a leader of the French Section of the Workers' International...
  
  , August 12, 2006

See also