Who was the chairman of the Banco Ambrosiano, found hanged under Blackfriars Bridge, London in 1982?
"Banco Ambrosiano Banco Ambrosiano was an Italian bank that collapsed in 1982. At the center of the bank's failure was its chairman, Roberto Calvi, and his membership in the illegal former Masonic Lodge Propaganda Due (aka P2). The Institute for the Works of Religion, commonly known as the Vatican Bank, was Banco Ambrosiano's main shareholder. The Vatican Bank was also accused of funneling covert United States funds to the Polish trade union Solidarity and to the Contras through Banco Ambrosiano. The Banco Ambrosiano was founded in Milan in 1896 by Giuseppe Tovini, a Catholic advocate in Valle Camonica, and was"
"country on a false passport, and Rosone arranged for the Bank of Italy to take over. Calvi's personal secretary, Graziella Corrocher, left a note denouncing Calvi before leaping to her death from her office window. Calvi's body was found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in London on June 18 (see Roberto Calvi#Death). During July 1982, funds to the off-shore interests were cut off, leading to their collapse, and in August the bank was replaced by the Nuovo Banco Ambrosiano under Giovanni Bazoli. Pope John Paul II pledged full transparency regarding the bank's links to the Vatican and brought in lay bankers"
"Paul II in 1978, Marcinkus was promoted within the Vatican bank and remained in office for several years before the scandal widened, after the body of Calvi, whose Banco Ambrosiano had dealt with Marcinkus, was found hanging under London's Blackfriars Bridge in June 1982. The death of Calvi was seen by some as symbolic because Propaganda Due referred to themselves as the Black Friars. Adding to the troubles, journalist Mino Pecorelli, who had been investigating Marcinkus, the Vatican Bank and ties to organized crime, was murdered in 1979. Marcinkus himself was never charged with a crime. He stepped aside as"
"a postal clerk was crossing Blackfriars Bridge and noticed Calvi's body hanging from the scaffolding beneath. Calvi's clothing was stuffed with bricks, and he was carrying around US$15,000 worth of cash in three different currencies. Calvi was a member of Licio Gelli's illegal masonic lodge, Propaganda Due (P2), who referred to themselves as ""frati neri"" or ""black friars"". This led to a suggestion in some quarters that Calvi was murdered as a masonic warning because of the symbolism associated with the word ""Blackfriars"". The day before his body was found, Calvi was stripped of his post at Banco Ambrosiano by"
"of the Banco Ambrosiano. Marcinkus, at the time head of the Vatican Bank, was indicted in Italy in 1982 as an accessory in the $3.5 billion collapse of Banco Ambrosiano. Calvi was a member of P2, an illegal Italian Masonic lodge. He was found dead in London in 1982, after disappearing just before the corruption became public. His death was initially ruled suicide and a second inquest – ordered by his family – then returned an open verdict. Upon publication of his book, Yallop agreed to donate every penny he made from sales to a charity of the Vatican's choice"
"that such a forthcoming event would ""provoke a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions in which the Church will suffer the gravest damage"". On 18 June 1982 Calvi's body was found hanging from scaffolding beneath Blackfriars Bridge in the financial district of London. Calvi's clothing was stuffed with bricks, and contained cash valued at US$14,000, in three different currencies. In addition to all the criticism from those demanding modernisation, traditionalist Catholics sometimes denounced him as well. These issues included demanding a return to the Tridentine Mass and repudiation of the reforms instituted after the Second Vatican Council, such as the use of"
"and four months in prison, but the sentence was overturned in April 1998 by the Court of Cassation. In 1994, former Socialist Prime Minister Bettino Craxi was indicted in the Banco Ambrosiano case, along with Licio Gelli, head of Propaganda Due, and former Justice minister Claudio Martelli. In April 1998, the Court of Cassation confirmed a 12-year sentence for Licio Gelli for the Ambrosiano crash. Just before the media revealed the Ambrosiano scandal, Gérard Soisson, manager of the transaction clearing company Clearstream, was found dead in Corsica, two months after Ernest Backes' dismissal from Clearstream in May 1983. Banco Ambrosiano"
"Giuseppe Misso, and revealed specific details regarding the murder of the Vatican's banker Roberto Calvi, who was found hanging from scaffolding beneath Blackfriars Bridge in the financial district of London in 1982. Luigi Giuliano's collaboration with the Italian authorities was preceded by that of his two brothers, Guglielmo and Raffaele. In retaliation for the defection of the three Giuliano brothers, Nunzio Giuliano was killed by the Camorra during an ambush at the Via Tasso in Naples in 2005, followed by Luigi Giuliano's son Giovanni on December 7, 2006. Giovanni had previously refused to join the Witness Protection program. Luigi Giuliano"
"from heroin sales by the Mafia through the Vatican Bank to his Amincor Bank in Switzerland. Ten days after the killing of Ambrosoli, Giuliano was shot and killed by the Mafia on July 21, 1979. Ambrosoli was posthumously awarded with a medal for civic heroism. In 1995 a film about him was made, entitled ""A Middle-Class Hero"", directed by Michele Placido. Giorgio Ambrosoli Giorgio Ambrosoli (October 17, 1933 – July 11, 1979) was an Italian lawyer who was gunned down while investigating the malpractice of banker Michele Sindona. Appointed by the court as liquidator of the Banca Privata Italiana, one"
"and charged with the murder. Franco Ambrosio Francesco Vittorio 'Franco' Ambrosio (18 September 1932 – 15 April 2009) was a businessman from Italy who financed Formula One racing teams Arrows and Shadow in the late 1970s. He became a multi-millionaire through wheat trading, primarily for pasta production, and built up a large business empire. He was involved in financial scandals and served jail terms. He was murdered in a robbery at his home near Naples in 2009. Francesco Vittorio Ambrosio was born on 18 September 1932 in San Gennarello, a neighbourhood close to Mount Vesuvius in the Ottaviano ""frazione"" of"
"Ambrosiano echoed a previous scandal in 1974, when the Holy See lost an estimated US$30 million upon the collapse of the Franklin National Bank, owned by the Sicilian-born financier Michele Sindona. Bad loans and foreign currency transactions led to the collapse of the bank. Sindona later died in prison after drinking coffee laced with cyanide. On 5 June 1982, two weeks before the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano, Calvi wrote a letter of warning to Pope John Paul II, stating that such a forthcoming event would ""provoke a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions in which the Church will suffer the gravest damage."""
"Licio Gelli Licio Gelli (; April 21, 1919 – December 15, 2015) was an Italian financier, liaison officer between the Italian government and Nazi Germany, chiefly known for his role in the Banco Ambrosiano scandal. He was revealed in 1981 as being the Venerable Master of the clandestine lodge Propaganda Due (P2). Gelli was born in Pistoia, Tuscany. During the 1930s, Gelli volunteered for the Blackshirts expeditionary forces sent by Mussolini in support of Francisco Franco's rebellion in the Spanish Civil War. He participated in the Italian Social Republic with Giorgio Almirante, founder of the neofascist Italian Social Movement (MSI)."
"Franco Ambrosio Francesco Vittorio 'Franco' Ambrosio (18 September 1932 – 15 April 2009) was a businessman from Italy who financed Formula One racing teams Arrows and Shadow in the late 1970s. He became a multi-millionaire through wheat trading, primarily for pasta production, and built up a large business empire. He was involved in financial scandals and served jail terms. He was murdered in a robbery at his home near Naples in 2009. Francesco Vittorio Ambrosio was born on 18 September 1932 in San Gennarello, a neighbourhood close to Mount Vesuvius in the Ottaviano ""frazione"" of Naples. At the age of"
"Italian sources confirmed that it concerned Paul Marcinkus, of the Vatican Bank, and Roberto Calvi, President of Banco Ambrosiano. On July 11, 1979, only hours after talking to US authorities, he was shot dead by three Mafia hitmen commissioned by Michele Sindona. Sindona feared that Ambrosoli would expose his manipulations in the Banca Privata Italiana case. Shortly before he was killed, the American Mafia hitman William Arico, a convicted bank robber, invoked the name of Giulio Andreotti – the influential Christian Democrat politician close to Sindona – in a threatening phone call taped by Ambrosoli . Arico fell to his"
"that Di Carlo had killed Roberto Calvi – nicknamed ""God's banker"" because he was in charge of Banco Ambrosiano, in which the Vatican Bank was the main share-holder. Calvi had been killed because he had lost Mafia funds when Banco Ambrosiano collapsed. The order to kill Calvi had come from Mafia boss Giuseppe Calò. When Di Carlo became state witness in June 1996, he denied that he was the killer, but admitted that he had been approached by Calò to do the job. However, Di Carlo could not be reached in time, and when he later called Calò, the latter"
"The correspondence essentially confirmed an understanding that illegal transactions were common knowledge among the top affiliates of the bank and the Vatican. Banco Ambrosiano collapsed in June 1982 following the discovery of debts of between US$700 million and US$1.5 billion. Much of the money had been siphoned off through the Vatican Bank, which owned 10% of Banco Ambrosiano and was their main shareholder. In 1984, the Vatican Bank agreed to pay US$224 million to 120 of Banco Ambrosiano's creditors as a ""recognition of moral involvement"" in the bank's collapse. Whether the Vatican Bank was directly involved in the scandal cannot"
"who sold and disclosed information to the Soviet Union and also indecently assaulted young girls. Prime was sentenced to 38 years in prison. In 1983, he represented the family of banker Roberto Calvi, whose body—weighted down with bricks and stones—had been found hanging under London's Blackfriars Bridge in June 1982. Carman asserted that Calvi was murdered, and convinced the High Court to reverse the original verdict of suicide and order a new inquest. Also in 1983, he successfully defended ""Coronation Street"" actor Peter Adamson, who was acquitted of indecently assaulting two eight-year-old girls in a public swimming pool in Haslingden."
"the Italian constitution towards a Gaullist presidential system. When asked what he always wanted to be, he replied: ""A puppet master"". P2 members Gelli and the head of the secret service Pietro Musumeci were condemned for attempting to mislead the police investigation of the Bologna massacre on 2 August 1980, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 200. P2 became the target of considerable attention in the wake of the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano (one of Milan's principal banks, owned in part by the Vatican Bank), and the suspicious 1982 death of its president Roberto Calvi in London, initially"
"Giorgio Ambrosoli Giorgio Ambrosoli (October 17, 1933 – July 11, 1979) was an Italian lawyer who was gunned down while investigating the malpractice of banker Michele Sindona. Appointed by the court as liquidator of the Banca Privata Italiana, one of the Italian banks controlled by Sicilian banker Michele Sindona, which was forced into liquidation, he found evidences of criminal manipulations. He provided the US Justice Department with evidence to convict Sindona for his role in the collapse of the Franklin National Bank. According to Ambrosoli, Sindona paid a US$5.6 million commission to ""an American bishop and a Milanese banker."" Official"
"said that everything had been taken care of already. According to Di Carlo, the killers were Vincenzo Casillo and Sergio Vaccari, who belonged to the Camorra from Naples and have been killed since. Francesco Di Carlo Francesco Di Carlo (born February 18, 1941 in Altofonte) is a member of the Mafia who turned state witness (pentito - a mafioso turned informer) in 1996. He has been accused of being the killer of the Roberto Calvi – nicknamed ""God's banker"" because he was in charge of Banco Ambrosiano and his close association with the Vatican Bank. Di Carlo was initiated in"
"establish Calvi's cause of death. In July 1991, the Mafia ""pentito"" Francesco Marino Mannoia claimed that Calvi had been killed because he had lost Mafia funds when Banco Ambrosiano collapsed. According to Mannoia, the killer was Francesco Di Carlo, a ""mafioso"" living in London at the time, on the orders of boss Giuseppe Calò and Licio Gelli. When Di Carlo became an informer in June 1996, he denied he was the killer, but admitted he had been approached by Calò to do the job. However, Di Carlo could not be reached in time. When he later called Calò, the latter"
"prevent the banker ""from using blackmail power against his political and institutional sponsors from the world of Masonry, belonging to the P2 lodge, or to the Institute for Religious Works (the Vatican Bank) with whom he had managed investments and financing with conspicuous sums of money, some of it coming from Cosa Nostra and public agencies"". Gelli was accused of provoking Calvi's death to punish him for embezzling money from Banco Ambrosiano that was owed to him and the Mafia. The Mafia allegedly wanted to prevent Calvi from revealing that Banco Ambrosiano was used for money laundering. Gelli denied involvement,"
"in London some days after he went missing from Milan. The Istituto per le Opere di Religione, then a 10% shareholder of Banco Ambrosiano, denied legal responsibility for the Banco Ambrosiano's downfall but acknowledged ""moral involvement"", and paid US$224 million to creditors. Several books published during the 1980s and 1990s were highly critical of the Institute for the Works of Religion's historical relations with anti-communist governments. Tony Abse, writing in ""The Weekly Worker"", an organ of the Communist Party of Great Britain, has said that the CIA used the Institute for the Works of Religion to funnel funds to the"
"minister Aldo Moro, also leader of the Christian Democracy who was negotiating the historic compromise with the Italian Communist Party (PCI); the 1982 assassination attempt against Roberto Rosone, vice-president of Banco Ambrosiano; ""banker of God"" Roberto Calvi's 1982 murder; and also the 1980 Bologna massacre. Finally, the mysterious disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi, a case peripherally linked to former Grey Wolves member Mehmet Ali Ağca's 1981 Pope John Paul II assassination attempt, has also been related to the gang. Though the Emanuela Orlandi case may not be connected to the ""Grey Wolves"", but may have been one of the ""run-of-the-mill"" Banda"
"close to Bishop Paul Marcinkus, the bank's chairman. Ambrosiano also provided funds for political parties in Italy, and for both the Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua and its Sandinista opposition. There are also rumours that it provided money for Solidarity in Poland (it has been widely alleged that the Vatican Bank funded Solidarity). Calvi used his complex network of overseas banks and companies to move money out of Italy, to inflate share prices, and to secure massive unsecured loans. In 1978, the Banca d'Italia (Bank of Italy) produced a report on Ambrosiano that predicted future disaster and led to criminal investigations."
"including German financial expert Hermann Abs, a move that was publicly criticized by Simon Wiesenthal, due to Abs' role as top banker to the Third Reich from 1938 to 1945. There was much argument over who should take responsibility for losses incurred by the Old Ambrosiano's off-shore companies, and the Holy See (Vatican) eventually agreed to pay out a substantial sum without accepting liability. In April 1992, Carlo De Benedetti, former deputy chairman of Banco Ambrosiano, and 32 other people were convicted of fraud by a Milan court in connection with the bank's collapse. Benedetti was sentenced to six years"
"found the body; what he had been reading; when, where, and whether an autopsy could be carried out – produced a number of conspiracy theories, many associated with the Vatican Bank, which owned many shares in Banco Ambrosiano. Some conspiracy theorists connect the death of John Paul in September 1978 with the image of the ""bishop dressed in white"" said to have been seen by Lucia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto during the visitations of Our Lady of Fátima in 1917. In a letter to a colleague, John Paul had said he was deeply moved by having"
"Francesco Di Carlo Francesco Di Carlo (born February 18, 1941 in Altofonte) is a member of the Mafia who turned state witness (pentito - a mafioso turned informer) in 1996. He has been accused of being the killer of the Roberto Calvi – nicknamed ""God's banker"" because he was in charge of Banco Ambrosiano and his close association with the Vatican Bank. Di Carlo was initiated in the Altofonte Mafia family in 1966 by the boss at the time, Salvatore La Barbera (not to be confused with the Palermo Centro boss who was killed in 1963). He became ""capo famiglia"""
"was found near Parma on July 21, 2006. Police suspect the murder may be related to a business deal and three suspects have been arrested. Gianmario Roveraro Gianmario Roveraro (24 May 1936 - 5 July 2006) was an Italian high jumper, who was the first Italian athlete over 2 metres barrier, than banker, who founded Akros Finanziaria. As a young man he was a brilliant sportsman. He was national champion in high jump on three occasions (1954, 1955, 1956), improving to three times the record of Italian specialties, the first Italian over 2.00 m, he participated in the 1956 Summer"
"train station. Stipulations connected to his extradition, however, prevented him from serving time. Two years later, an appeal court threw out Gelli's slander conviction. A retrial was ordered in October 1993. In 1992 Gelli was sentenced to 18 years and six months of prison after being found guilty of fraud concerning the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano in 1982 (a ""black hole"" of $1.4 billion was found). The Vatican bank, ""Istituto per le Opere di Religione"", main share-holder of the Banco Ambrosiano, consequently had a ""black hole"" of $250 million. This sentence was reduced by the Court of Appeal to 12"
"reconstruct events and plots. The film ends with the death of Calvi under the Blackfriars Bridge, in London, openly supporting the murder-hypothesis. The film had a very long and troubled gestation. According to the director Giuseppe Ferrara, he started the project in 1986, soon after""The Moro Affair"", and wanted Gian Maria Volontè in the main role of Roberto Calvi. After a final rejection of the project in 1991 by producers Silvio Berlusconi and Vittorio Cecchi Gori, and with Ferrara's intention of throwing in the towel, the interest of Rai Cinema finally made the project possible 15 years later, in 2001."
"as those used in the Swiss army. On May 4, 1998, the Swiss Guard experienced one of its greatest scandals for over 100 years when the commander of the Guard, Alois Estermann, was murdered in unclear circumstances in Vatican City. According to the official Vatican version, Estermann and his wife, Gladys Meza Romero, were killed by the young Swiss Guard Cédric Tornay, who later committed suicide. Estermann had been named commander of the Swiss Guard the same day. The Vatican Bank was Banco Ambrosiano's main share-holder. Father Paul Marcinkus, head of the Institute for Religious Works from 1971 to 1989,"
"However, soon afterward the investigating Milanese magistrate, Alessandrini, was killed by a left-wing terrorist group, while the Bank of Italy official who superintended the inspection, Mario Sarcinelli, found himself imprisoned on charges that were later dismissed. In 1981, police raided the office of Propaganda Due Masonic lodge to apprehend the Worshipful Master Licio Gelli and uncover further evidence against Roberto Calvi. Calvi was arrested, put on trial, and sentenced to four years in prison. However, he was released pending an appeal and retained his position at the bank. Other alarming developments followed: Carlo de Benedetti of Olivetti bought into the"