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"He resigned", Il Riformista headlines ironcially after the death of Francesco Cossiga. A former premier, president, interior and defence minister, Cossiga has been one of postwar Italy's central figures, and perhaps its most controversial. A hardcore atlantist, he was part of Nato's secret Gladio "Stay Behind" anti-communist network, a good friend of Margaret Thatcher, but also a promoter of cooperation between Christian Democrats and the Italian Communist Party. In his last year as president, after corruption scandals surfaced, he gained the nickname the "Pickaxe Man" for his all-out accusations that contributed to the fall of the government and the end of the "first republic".
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