During the Fascist Ventennio

In the months and years following the Matteotti murder, Mussolini put great effort into protecting the perpetrators and providing them with extensive benefits, another indication of his direct involvement in the affair. It is now possible to reconstruct the extraordinary logistical, financial, and legal assistance he provided for them. This assistance was also extended to the families of the prisoners and to the two fugitives, Panzeri and Malacria. It continued even longer for those who maintained their silence and entrusted their fate entirely to the goodwill of the regime. New documents, among those that Mussolini had with him when he fled (referred to as “the documents in the van”), help to shed light on the conspicuous flow of money that reached prisoners and fugitives, and that ultimately served to buy their silence.