Thursday, October 06, 2005

You saw Godfather III, right?

(ANSA) - Rome, October 6 - Some 175 people were called to testify Thursday at the start of a trial for the murder of 'God's Banker' Roberto Calvi, found hanging from a bridge in London more than 20 years ago .

The prosecution did not release its witness list but some experts think one may be the 81-year-old former head of the Vatican Bank, Cardinal Paul Marcinkus, who retired to Arizona shortly after the death of Calvi, the former head of Italy's biggest private bank .
[...]

Prosecutors claim there are other motives for the killing .

These include a desire on the part of those who commissioned the murder to gain leverage among Calvi's extensive network of contacts with masonic lodges, Vatican bank Istituto per le Opere di Religione (IOR), political and institutional figures, and public-sector agencies .

Licio Gelli, 86, the convicted head of the subversive Propaganda Due (P2) lodge, is one of a dozen suspects in a related probe to establish who ordered the hit .
[...]

Read the complete article from ANSA.it.

Murder and mayhem surrounding on of Italy's largest banks at the time, the Vatican Bank and the elite secret lodge of Propaganda Due...

Future media mogul Silvio Berlusconi, currently Italian premier for the second time, took out membership shortly before Gelli's fall. He has claimed he thought the lodge was a sort of gentleman's club.

As you all no doubt recall from previous posts, this is also the same circle that is alleged by conspiracy theorists to have killed John Paul I because he was going to 'clean up' IOR and end the corruption.

I don't give any credence to such theories, but putting together the death of a Pope and Mafia mischief certainly makes of an interesting movie plot. I'm surprised that no one else over the years except Puzo and Coppola has tried. Given the fascination with the Mafia in the United States, it would probably do well.

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