Senior figures in the mob, or political personages? As for the 50's, it seems like a lot of Italy wouldn't mind turning back to those times. People are very conservative at heart here, in love with their traditions, and conscious of the Vatican breathing down their necks, so pretty averse to change.

When you see a group of neofascists congregate, about a quarter are in their forties or older, but the great majority are in their early to mid twenties, being led by the older ones who organise them, as I mentioned upthread.

I know that many here at ET are devout sports fans so I want to go easy here, but the culture of rooting for team, and the adrenalin rush of being in huge crowds with permission to act out (it's just love, you know, so what can be wrong with that?), screaming, dressing up and jumping up and down like kids, well that provides the perfect cover for neofascism to infiltrate and recruit, taking advantage of the dire economy and general aimlessness of so many young people whose energies have no channel, and whose future seems pre-shrunk from any dreams. This leads to massive frustration (historically bled off in regular warring) which has nowhere to go in times of prolonged peace.

I have no facts on this, but I suspect that the fascist ideology does not come from being over-mothered, (which does lead to emotional codependency and narcissism), but rather from having very little happiness in their childhoods leading to a very bleak outlook in general. This couple with the wildness of youth is what makes them so vulnerable.

The political establishment has been briefly embarrassed by this one event, (as it has in the past) but I get the feeling no-one wants to grab those bull-horns, especially when all are in election mode right now.

The old school mob would mostly keep a lower profile, and if that's what you mean, I agree. The mob factor is obviously very important in his upbringing, being the milieu of street culture, to the unemployed in the slums, the mob offers instant employment and a chance at the brass ring of wealth and notoriety.

This is more about the horrible marriage of sports and fascism than the mob, though they all intersect. The psychology of the mafia and how it is woven into culture here is very opaque, and I still struggle to fathom its complexity. Its entanglement with politics does go right to the top, that much is clear by now, probably it is fingering the pie of the enormous amounts of cash in the sports world. That's about money purely though.

What's going on in a young neo-fascists head is a deep love of violence for the sake of it, and a nigh-complete disaffection with the present socio-economic set up. A willingness to be the beast no-one hopes you'll be, (except your fellow militants!) is the current that is most worrying.

....And lots of tattoos.

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty