An asset worth hundreds of millions of euros to manage. The “purges” but also the internal persecutions and the sensational leaks. There is a lot at stake in the “war” that is taking place at a national level between the lists that want to govern the largest Italian Masonic body for the next few years, the Grand Orient of Italy.
And the complaint presented to the Prosecutor’s Office in Messina by the Messina notary Silverio Magno, who in a Telegram chat was addressed in a derogatory sense by other “brothers” such as the “Black Knight”, and who hypothesizes stalking, defamation and violation of correspondence against other “brothers”, has triggered a series of investigative investigations and provides us with a very clear picture of the situation.
The professional from Messina reported that he was at the center of a real public and private attack: he was subjected to four “charges” by the Goi, then expulsion, and a series of intimidating messages via email. This is because – he wrote – it has long posed the serious problem of mafia infiltration within Italian Freemasonry, with the no longer deferrable need to draw a clear border line between the two “worlds”.
Meanwhile, the matter is once again at a standstill on the next Goi national government. Because if it is true that the elections had been called for the renewal of the national leaders, at the end of February, after the appeal before the civil judge in Rome, presented by the number 1 list in the running, of which the notary Magno is one of the main exponents, the judge suspended the voting procedure and reserved the decision (the Goi for its part has already set another election date in March).
But this is the general scenario that emerged after the last elections, those of March 2024, which also ended up before the Roman judge after accusations of forcing by the exponents of list no. 1, which emerges in the complaint. «The diversity of opinions and proposals on the topic of infiltration by subjects unrelated to the association’s purposes, however – writes the notary Magno – does not seem to be a sufficient reason to explain what determined the consequences on the exponents». This is because “… the conduct carried out towards the undersigned representatives, indeed, appears more understandable in light of the economic interest underlying the elections in question”.
And it is explained in the complaint that there is, for example, «a perk for the Grand Master of approximately 130,000 euros per year for the term of office of five years, for a total of approximately 650,000 euros»; or that the Grand Master always has a say in the Urbs srl company, the Goi’s real estate company, which already in 2014 owned almost 40% of the premises where members of the Grand Orient meet; and also that through the Urbs company and the Foundation the Goi leaders administer “a real estate asset which is estimated to have a value of approximately 200 million euros”.
«Therefore – claims the notary Magno in the complaint -, with the significant interest connected to the electoral affair… the numerous disciplinary initiatives are explained» which «… exclusively affected the supporters of List no. 1″, ultimately “a unitary plan of “exclusion” from the Goi, through violence and threats, of those who were able, due to seniority in the association and merits, to participate in the elections of the Grand Master, undermining the position of the “continuously” candidate”.
Meanwhile, the notary Magno spoke to the Gazzetta last night, after the uproar caused by the article we published on Monday: «Yes, the article aroused various reactions, I received dozens and dozens of phone calls, I saw that there were different reactions from different groups that contacted me. In reality, I would like to point out, the situation fundamentally concerns the faults of individuals and above all derives from some anonymous messages that at a certain point I received from senders untraceable by the Postal Police and which determined the need to proceed with the complaint, also because a defamation campaign was implemented also using emails from my colleagues, putting my work in a bad light and with absolutely unsustainable allegations. Here, above all, this has determined this action, an action which is also accompanied by what I have already done civilly before the Court of Rome, challenging the expulsions that have been issued. And therefore, even in a situation in which I now feel absolutely comfortable outside the Grand Orient of Italy, with a measure and dimension of Freemasonry that in my opinion is much closer to what it should actually be, these actions continue, and I understand the scandal that all this may cause.”
Have there been institutional reactions from the Goi?
«You see, I haven’t had any kind of relationship with the Grand Orient of Italy for months, so I don’t know if the Goi has had any reactions, in any case I haven’t received them and I haven’t heard anything about them. What I want to underline once again is that the faults are not to be found in the Goi, which is an institution that has a centuries-old history, which has done so much for human and above all national history, the faults are to be found in the attitudes of individuals who have completely abandoned what should be the true path of Freemasonry”.
