Gregorio Jesús Gil y Gil (12 March 1933 – 14 May 2004) was a Spanish businessman and politician. He served as Mayor of

Marbella Marbella ( , , ) is a city and municipality in southern Spain, belonging to the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is part of the Costa del Sol and is the headquarters of the Association of Municipalities of the re ...

between 1991 and 2002, and presided for a 16-year tenure as president of the football club

Atlético de Madrid Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

. The Marbella city council had to be dissolved soon after his death, a legal but unprecedented movement in Spanish politics, to put an end to extreme

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

and dealings with international

mafia "Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...

s, among other crimes.

Career

Business

In the 1960s Gil ran a construction firm building gated communities. A complex he had built in San Rafael, near

Segovia Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is located in the Meseta central, Inner Pl ...

, collapsed in 1969, killing 58 people and injuring many others. A subsequent investigation showed that the cement in the new building had not yet set, and the whole project had been completed without use of

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

surveyors Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually on the ...

, or plans. Gil was sentenced to five years in prison, but was pardoned after 18 months by General

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

Football

In 1987, Gil was elected president at

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

side

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

(his first signing was that of 21-year-old Portuguese winger

Paulo Futre Paulo Jorge dos Santos Futre (; born 28 February 1966) is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a left winger. Widely considered as one of the best players of his generation, after starting his professional career with Sport ...

), where he initiated a volatile relationship with fans, reporters, players and head coaches. In 1992, he shut down Atlético's youth academy, which saw talented 15-year-old Raúl switch to crosstown rivals

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

. Most of Marbella's local police were recruited indirectly by Gil among

legionnaires The French Foreign Legion (, also known simply as , "the Legion") is a corps of the French Army created to allow List of militaries that recruit foreigners, foreign nationals into French service. The Legion was founded in 1831 and today consis ...

and members of other elite military forces throughout southern Spain and Northern Africa during the 1980s / 1990s, and some of these officers comprised Gil's own private ''garde de corps''. In a March 1997 incident, as the two teams met in the 1996–97 Champions League quarter-finals, Gil referred to

Ajax Amsterdam Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or commonly Ajax, is a Dutch professional Association football, football Football team, club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. ...

, due to its many players of Surinamese origin, as ''FC Congo''. The English band

Prolapse In medicine, prolapse is a condition in which organ (anatomy), organs fall down or slip out of place. It is used for organs protruding through the vagina, rectum, or for the misalignment of the valves of the heart. A spinal disc herniation is al ...

released a song called "Surreal Madrid" on their album '' Pointless Walks to Dismal Places'', which lyrics detailing Gil's controversial tenure as Atlético Madrid's president.

Politics

In 1991, he founded and led the '' Grupo Independiente Liberal'' (GIL) as his political vehicle, and was elected as mayor of

the same year. He installed a bust of

in the town hall and was known for walking the streets of the town shouting abuse at prostitutes and

homeless people Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...

. His mayorship was popular enough for him to be re-elected three times. In April 2002, he was banned for 28 years from holding public office, forced to stand down as mayor and briefly imprisoned. In early 2008, a full, two-episode documentary appeared in ''

Tele 5 TELE 5 is a German free-to-air television channel that primarily broadcasts classic American films, science fiction series and anime. It is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA, which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery International. ...

'' explaining the highlights of his life and career.

Death

On 9 May 2004, he suffered a

cerebral venous sinus thrombosis Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), cerebral venous and sinus thrombosis or cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT), is the presence of a blood clot in the dural venous sinuses (which drain blood from the brain), the cerebral veins, or both. S ...

in his finca in Valdeolivas. He died in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

on 14 May at the age of 71. The funeral was attended by 20,000 people. He was cremated and his ashes were interred in the family mausoleum at the

Cementerio de la Almudena The ''Cementerio de Nuestra Señora de La Almudena'' (), former ''Necrópolis del Este'' (East cemetery) is a cemetery in Madrid, Spain. It is the largest in Western Europe. The number of bodies buried is estimated at five million since it was th ...

Political reputation

Gil was infamous and controversial for his extreme social and political views, summed up in a unique brand of foulmouthed, low-brow

populism Populism is a essentially contested concept, contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the "common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently a ...

punctuated by self-aggrandizing,

homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...

, racist,

xenophobic Xenophobia (from (), 'strange, foreign, or alien', and (), 'fear') is the fear or dislike of anything that is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression that is based on the perception that a conflict exists between an in-gr ...

and otherwise derogatory remarks and, occasionally, by pre-democratic nostalgia. He publicly referred to former

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

(PSOE) town councilor Isabel García Marcos as a "

whore Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...

" during town council meetings and, on one occasion, dubbed journalist Carmen Rigalt as "''la jinetera del periodismo''" ('prostitute of journalism'). The Málaga coastline, effectively under the area of economic and political influence of the Gil family, became a popular residence for British, Italian, and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

gangsters while he was mayor, as well as a haven for former

national socialists Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

either awaiting or shirking extradition, such as Otto Remer and

Léon Degrelle Léon Joseph Marie Ignace Degrelle (; 15 June 1906 – 31 March 1994) was a Belgian Walloon politician and Nazi collaborator. He rose to prominence in Belgium in the 1930s as the leader of the Rexist Party (Rex). During the German occupatio ...

. At the same time, however, Gil instigated several crackdowns on drug users and prostitutes. He was involved in several criminal cases, including the so-called ''Caso de las camisetas'' and ''Caso Atlético''. Crime rates and open manifestations of poverty decreased dramatically during the first years of his administration. The improvements included the beatings of delinquents and prostitutes, relocation of foreigners with low incomes, and handouts of money to

in exchange for leaving town. The subsequent improvement in the lifestyle of a segment of the population was cited as a major reason for his re-election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gil, Jesus 1933 births 2004 deaths People from the Province of Soria Atlético Madrid presidents Liberal Independent Group politicians Mayors of places in Andalusia Spanish politicians convicted of crimes Scandals in Spain Municipal councillors in the province of Málaga Neurological disease deaths in Spain Deaths from cerebral thrombosis Spanish political party founders