Franco Freda

Franco "Giorgio" Freda (born 11 February 1941) is a prominent neo-Fascist figure in post-war Italy. His views have been described as neo-Nazi, Nazi-Maoist and anti-Semitic. He founded a publishing house dedicated to far-right extremism and described himself as an admirer of Hitler. In 1981, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for "subversive association" in connection with a series of bomb attacks. Although initially convicted of involvement in the 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing, he was later acquitted due to lack of evidence. In 2005 the Court of Cassation found him responsible for the Piazza Fontana bombing, but he could not be prosecuted due to his previous acquittal. In 1990 he founded the Fronte Nazionale, which was disbanded by the Italian government in 2000 when Freda and forty-eight other members were found guilty of attempting to re-establish the National Fascist Party.