Man arrested in Nazi party probe

(ANSA) - Rome, November 28 - A 57-year-old man from Monza was arrested Friday for weapons possession in a probe into a group trying to set up a new Nazi party in Italy.
    Police found a rifle, a hunting rifle and two revolvers in the home of Maurizio Aschieri.
    Aschieri is suspected of being in contact with a former Calabrian 'Ndrangheta mafia member turned informant who allegedly trained the movemen's 'soldiers'.
    Police on Thursday staged a major operation to gather evidence for a probe into a group of far-right extremists who allegedly wanted to found a new Nazi party in Italy.
    The homes of 19 alleged right-wing extremists, featuring women in leadership positions, in various parts of Italy were searched.
    The suspects allegedly wanted to create an openly pro-Nazi, xenophobic, anti-Semitic group called the "Partito Nazionalsocialista Italiano dei Lavoratori" - the Italian National Socialist Workers' Party. The party's programme talks of "the defence of national identity and the race".
    Some of the suspects allegedly had access to arms and explosives and conducted recruitment activities on social media.
    Among the people implicated in the probe is an ex-con who is thought to be a senior figure in the Calabria-based 'Ndrangheta mafia.
    This person is a former State witness and a former member of the Forza Nuova far-right group, sources said. A married wife and mother aged around 50, who is based in Padua, works in administration and has no criminal record, was allegedly a senior member of the group.
    She allegedly went by the name of "Hitler's Sergeant Major" and investigators found swastikas, Nazi flags and anti-Semitic material at her home.
    Another suspect is a 26-year-old woman from Sicily who won an online beauty contest called 'Miss Hitler' and spoke at a far-right conference in Lisbon in August. The suspects are accused of forming and participating in a subversive association and instigation to commit criminal acts.
    The suspects allegedly set up a chat group for the military-style training of militants and made contact with other neo-Nazi groups outside Italy, including the 'Aryan White Machine - C18' and Portugal's 'Nova Ordem Social'.
    "I would only marry a Jew to be able to torture him day after day," read one of the comments.
    "Just talking about Jews makes me itch," read another.
    "These foul beasts should be exterminated".
    Pamphlets insulting Emanuele Fiano and Laura Boldrini, MPs for the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), were among the seized material.
    Fiano, who is Jewish, and Boldrini received messages of solidarity from the PD and other parties.