Sort of a conspiracy theory trifecta in the headline.
From the BBC, June 16:
Forty-three years ago this week, the BBC reported on the death of Roberto Calvi, an Italian banker whose body was found in strange circumstances in the centre of London. His bank was linked to the Vatican, a masonic group and the Mafia – and his murder left many unanswered questions.
Roberto Calvi was the chairman of the prestigious Banco Ambrosiano, the largest private bank in Italy. He was so closely connected to the Roman Catholic Church that he was known as "God's Banker".
Warning: This article contains references to suicide and murder
But in June 1982, the 62-year-old Calvi went missing. And on the morning of 18 June, his body was discovered hanging beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London.
"Calvi was at the centre of an incredibly complex web of international fraud and intrigue," reported the BBC's Hugh Scully. "It involved the Italian banking world, the underworld, the Mafia, Freemasonry and, most startling of all, the Vatican." The banker's death would trigger a wide-ranging political and financial scandal in Italy. It would involve the disappearance of millions of dollars, and leave behind an enduring mystery.
Calvi had been missing for nine days before he was discovered hanging from scaffolding beneath the bridge. But it was the strange circumstances of his death that puzzled UK police. His pockets were stuffed with bricks, and with some £10,000 ($14,000) in cash in multiple currencies. He also had a fake passport bearing the name Gian Roberto Calvini. Despite this, the initial coroner's report in July 1982 found no evidence of foul play on his body, so ruled that the banker had taken his own life. But even at the time there was suspicion that something far darker was afoot.
The banker had shaved off his moustache to avoid being recognised before disguising his route out of Italy by going through other countries first"Calvi's last journey was hardly that of a man contemplating suicide," said Scully. "Indeed, he had made the most elaborate plans to get out of Italy secretly." The banker had shaved off his moustache to avoid being recognised before disguising his route out of Italy by going through other countries first and hiring a private plane to spirit him to London. "He had taken a one-month lease on a flat in Chelsea and then there was a false passport and an airline ticket," Scully continued. "Inside the passport was a current visa for Brazil and the airline ticket was for a one-way ticket to Rio de Janeiro. Why, you might ask, go to all those lengths simply to finish up on the end of a rope under Blackfriars Bridge?"....
....MUCH MORE
Over the years we've had a few posts on Mr. Calvi and/or the Vatican Bank. One that came to mind reading the BBC story was October 2011's:
Pope Joins #OccupyWallStreet: "Vatican calls for global financial authority"
From Foreign Policy's Passport blog:
Has the Pope joined #OWS?
The Vatican called on Monday for the establishment of a "global public authority" and a "central world bank" to rule over financial institutions that have become outdated and often ineffective in dealing fairly with crises. The document from the Vatican's Justice and Peace department should please the "Occupy Wall Street" demonstrators and similar movements around the world who have protested against the economic downturn.From Wikipedia:
"Towards Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems in the Context of a Global Public Authority," was at times very specific, calling, for example, for taxation measures on financial transactions....MORE
Banco Ambrosiano was an Italian bank which collapsed in 1982. At the centre of the bank's failure was its chairman, Roberto Calvi and his membership in the illegal Masonic Lodge Propaganda Due (aka P2). Vatican Bank was Banco Ambrosiano's main shareholder, and the death of Pope John Paul I in 1978 is rumored to be linked to the Ambrosiano scandal, giving one of the subplots of The Godfather Part III. Vatican Bank was also accused of funneling covert United States funds to Solidarity and the Contras through Banco Ambrosiano....MOREOn June 19, 1982 the BBC reported on 'God's Banker'
The body of a top Italian banker has been found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in London.The Guardian updated the story in 2003's "Who Killed Calvi".
Prior to that the Institute for Works of Religion (aka The Vatican Bank) laundered Gambino Family heroin profits.
More recently we had this Dec. 2010 headline "Vatican Bank hit by financial scandal... again"
So the Pope, Queen Elizabeth and Lloyd Blankfein walk into a bar...
