Operation Gladio

by Paul L. Williams

  “APPALLING EFFRONTERY”

  John Paul II neglected to give the shareholders the dignity of a response. Instead, in a gesture of cold indifference to their pleas, the pope elevated Marcinkus to the position of president of the Pontifical Commission for the State of Vatican City. This position made “the Gorilla” the governor of Vatican City, in addition to head of the IOR. The promotion was made on September 28, 1981, the third anniversary of the death of John Paul I. Regarding this “appalling effrontery,” author David Yallop wrote:

  Through his Lithuanian origins, his continual espousal, in fiscal terms, of Poland's needs, and his close proximity to the pope because of his role as personal bodyguard and overseer of all security on foreign trips, Marcinkus had discovered in the person of Karol Wojtyła the most powerful protector a Vatican employee could have. Sindona, Calvi, and others like them are, according to the Vatican, wicked men who have deceived naïve, trusting priests. Either Marcinkus has misled, lied to, and suppressed the truth from Pope John Paul II since October 1978, or the present pope also stands indicted.44

  The elevation of Marcinkus was made despite the warnings from Italy's treasury minister, the Bank of Italy audit, the worsening financial condition of the shell companies, and the circulation of the P2 list, which showed that “the Gorilla” remained a Freemason in violation of canon law. Why John Paul would make such a promotion at this stage in his pontificate defies all rules of logic, let alone moral rectitude. One must realize that the pope—not less than common laymen—was aware that Marcinkus was a principal player in the $1 billion counterfeit securities scam, the collapse of Banca Privata, P2 and the strategy of tension, the Aldo Moro affair, and the mysterious death of his predecessor. The real postmortem miracle of John Paul II remains the continual concealment of his complicity in high crimes from the legion of men and women of good faith who have proclaimed him a saint.

  NO EXIT

  In late January 1981, the Italian government, at the urging of the Bank of Italy, established new regulations governing foreign interests held by Italian banks. Tight restrictions were now in place for foreign holding companies of financial institutions that were not banks. Such companies would only be allowed if their activities could be scrutinized by the Bank of Italy and if they operated in countries with a proper system of transparency. No names were mentioned in the new regulations, but the references to Ambrosiano couldn't be clearer.45

  Within the Vatican, the pope had responded to his plight with a demand for increased aid to Solidarity. Within P2, Gelli's reply was a request for $80 million from the shell game to purchase more Exocet missiles for the Argentines. Within the US intelligence community, the CIA's answer was a call to Calvi for an increase in cash and munitions to combat the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.46 The Ambrosiano banker stood on the brink of personal and financial ruin. The game had persisted too long and the stakes had become too high. The total debt for Ambrosiano hovered at $1.75 billion.47 It was a debt that no one, including the Vicar of Christ, opted to acknowledge, let alone pay.

  It was understandable that this most energetic of popes [John Paul II] had prevaricated about taking on the Curia. There were so many aspects to the problem. Careerism and promotion were all-important with every seminarian determined to become a bishop. To move up the ladder required finding a protector, it also required embracing “the five dont's”: “Don't think. If you think, don't speak. If you speak, don't write. If you think, and if you speak, and if you write, don't sign your name. If you think, and if you speak, and if you write, and if you sign your name, don't be surprised.” Moving up the ladder with the help of a protector also frequently required participating in an active homosexual relationship. Estimates of practicing homosexuals in the Vatican ranged from twenty to over fifty per cent. The village also housed factions including sects of Opus Dei members, and Freemasons, and fascists. The latter could be found particularly among priests, bishops and cardinals from Latin America.

  David Yallop, The Power and the Glory

  As soon as the noose began to tighten around Calvi's neck, Michele Sindona left his suite at the Hotel Pierre and walked to the Tudor Hotel on the corner of Forty-Second Street and Second Avenue, where he met Rosario Spatola. The two men drove to the Conca d'Oro Motel on Staten Island, where Sindona donned a white wig, glued yellow chicken skin to his nose, and changed into a garish yellow suit. He packed a shoulder bag, containing files and a list of five hundred names of P2 members in prominent positions, and headed off to Kennedy Airport, where he boarded a plane for Vienna with a passport bearing the name Joseph Bonamico. The passport had been provided to him by Johnny and Rosario Gambino.1 The date was August 2, 1979.

  It was time for the don to get out of town. His fight to stay out of prison had failed. He was on $3 million bail and was obliged to report daily to the US Marshal's office at 500 Pearl Street. His appeals for help to David Kennedy, Richard Nixon, US ambassador John Volpe, and CIA officials had gone unanswered.2 Sindona knew he had to return to Italy in order to gather support for his forthcoming trial in Manhattan. But there was a problem. He already had been sentenced to three and a half years imprisonment in Italy and was wanted on a host of new charges, including the murder of Giorgio Ambrosoli.3 He had no option except to stage his own kidnapping.

  Upon arriving in Vienna, Sindona was met by several of his P2 brothers and escorted to Palermo, where he came under the care of Joseph Miceli Crimi, the mysterious American Italian plastic surgeon.4 Johnny Gambino, Rosario Spatola, and Vincenzo Spatola soon joined the former Vatican banker in Sicily. For the duration of their stay, Johnny never left his don's side. Day after day, he would whisk Sindona away in a black Mercedes for conversations lasting seven or eight hours and then take him to the Charlestown in downtown Palermo for dinner.5

  THE RANSOM NOTE

  On August 9, 1979, the press got word that Sindona had been kidnapped by the “Proletarian Committee for the Eversion (sic) of an Improved Justice.”6 The ransom note followed with a demand of 30 billion lire for his release. If the money was not provided, the kidnappers were set to release the list of five hundred names and assorted papers they had removed from the don's shoulder bag. News of the list struck terror in the hearts of the Italian and American political leaders, industrialists, and military officials who had been engaged in heroin dealing, arms trafficking, money laundering, and a host of other nefarious activities with the man “who had saved the lira.”7 But the note was far more jarring to the CIA since the assorted papers contained confidential memoranda outlining the celebrated Mafiosi's long association with the Agency.8

  THE DON'S DELUSIONS

  The don had become delusional. He believed that this threat would serve to restore him to his former position of power within the Vatican, the CIA, and the Italian financial community. The prison sentence, he believed, would be quashed; all outstanding charges against him would be dropped. His Italian holdings would be returned to him and US officials would come forth to say that he was a noble figure, who had spent his career fighting the advancement of the godless forces of communism.9

  Sindona also remained delusional in his belief that US military and intelligence officials, including Rear Admiral Max K. Morris and CIA Director Stansfield Turner, would come to his aid by telling the world that he had been engaged in an effort to make Sicily the fifty-first state and that all legal action against him by the US Department of Justice must come to an immediate end.10

  THE MASTER CALLS

  As soon as he learned of Sindona's demands, Gelli summoned Dr. Miceli Crimi and Sindona to his villa in Arezzo, where he warned the fugitive don of the dire consequences awaiting him if he broke his solemn vow to P2 by revealing anything about his Masonic brothers or violated the code of omertà that bound him to the Sicilian Men of Respect.11 He would suffer an ignoble death, his image would be burned to ashes by his compatriots, and his family would not be spared from the wrath of his enemies. Sindona must return to the United States and face trial. Gelli w
ould gain the intervention of the Holy Father on his behalf and testimony would be provided that he had acted in accordance with the will of Holy Mother Church and the forces of democracy.12 Duly chastised, Sindona acquiesced to the Worshipful Master's directives.

  SINDONA'S RETURN

  It was just as well. The kidnapping ruse was rapidly unraveling. Vincenzo Spatola, Rosario's younger brother, was arrested in Rome on October 9, when he delivered a letter to Rodolfo Guzzi, Sindona's lawyer. The letter contained a request from Sindona for a passport and “a large amount of money.” After interrogating Vincenzo, the Roman police realized that the celebrated don had not been kidnapped by the Proletarian Committee for Eversion or any other fanciful chapter of the Red Brigades. Instead, Sindona was safe and secure with the members of the Gambino crime family.13

  Sindona, however, had to save face. For this reason, on September 25, he allowed Dr. Miceli Crimi to shoot him in the left thigh on an examining table within the physician's office in Palermo. The wound was treated, and, on October 13, Sindona, again donning the wig and the chicken skin, boarded an airplane and returned to New York.14 Upon arriving on Sunday morning, he called Marvin Frankel, his US attorney, with the good news: The Vatican was about to come to his rescue. He soon would be recognized as a great champion in the war against the godless forces of communism.

  What's more, the attempt at blackmail was a partial success. Calvi had coughed up the 300 billion lire in black funds for his silence. The staged kidnapping, resulting in the wound in his thigh, kept Sindona from an immediate prison sentence for violating the terms of his bail.15

  PROMISE RENEGED

  Back in the loving arms of his wife, children, and mistress, Sindona made preparations for his trial, which was set to begin on February 6, 1980, before Judge Thomas Poole Griesa. The judge was very impressed that three holy men from the Vatican—Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, Cardinal Giuseppe Caprio, and Cardinal Sergio Guerri—would be testifying on Sindona's behalf.16 As it would be impossible under Vatican policy for such esteemed dignitaries to appear personally in a New York courtroom, the judge decreed that their testimony should be taken in Rome at the US Embassy, where they also could be questioned by Frankel and Assistant US Attorney John Kenney.17

  One day before the taping was to take place, Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, who remained the secretary of state for the Holy See, intervened to inform Sindona's defense team and the federal prosecutors that the Vatican officials would not be providing their statements. “They would create a disruptive precedent,” Casaroli said. “There has been so much unfortunate publicity about these depositions. We are very unhappy about the fact that the American government does not give diplomatic recognition to the Vatican.”18

  The Vatican had betrayed Sindona.

  A NOTE FROM PHIL

  On February 11, 1980, after learning that the Vatican had reneged on its promises to Sindona, Phil Guarino, a former Roman Catholic priest and a director of the Republican National Committee, wrote the following in a letter to Gelli: “Caro, carissimo Gelli, how I'd like to see you. Things are getting worse for our friend. Even the Church has abandoned him. Two weeks ago, everything looked good, when the cardinals said they would testify in Michele's favor. Then suddenly the Vatican secretary of state, S. E. Casaroli, forbade S. E. Caprio and Guerri to testify for him.”19 Guarino allegedly had strong ties to the Sicilian Mafia and the US intelligence community. He resided in Washington, DC, where he operated an upscale restaurant.20

  Gelli provided the following reply on April 8: “My experience tells me that for certain classes of humanity it is a natural law to help the strongest and wound the weakest. Thus not even the Church could keep from denying the man it once called ‘the one sent by God.’”21

  SENTENCING AND ATTEMPTED SUICIDE

  On March 27, 1980, Sindona was convicted of sixty-eight counts of fraud, misappropriation of bank funds, and perjury. While awaiting sentencing, he was incarcerated at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. On May 13, 1980, two days before he was to be sentenced, Sindona attempted suicide by slitting his wrist, ingesting digitalis, and swallowing an unknown quantity of Darvon and Librium (a painkiller and an antianxiety drug, respectively). He survived despite his refusal to cooperate with the attending physicians. On June 13, the man who was known as “St. Peter's banker” was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison and fined $207,000.22

  GELLI TRIUMPHANT

  While Sindona remained at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, Licio Gelli made trips to Langley to meet with George H. W. Bush, the director of the CIA; William Casey, the manager of the Reagan-Bush campaign, who later became the CIA director; and CIA special agent Donald Gregg. The Worshipful Master was involved in planning the October Surprise—a covert effort to delay the release of the fifty-two American hostages held in Iran by the Ayatollah Khomeini until after the election. The meeting had been arranged by Bush, who had become an honorary member of P2 in 1976.23 This strategy, which Bush called “the White Rose” in honor of Gelli's favorite flower, would serve to ensure Jimmy Carter's defeat.24 The Ayatollah was enticed to participate in the delayed release by shipments of arms for use in his war against Iraq that were provided, courtesy of Gladio and Gelli, by Stibam.25

  Gelli's efforts eventually resulted in a deal in which the Reagan Administration sold weapons to the Ayatollah, including 2,004 TOW antitank missiles and 18 HAWK antiaircraft missiles with 240 HAWK spare parts. The money from the sales went to aid the Contras—a right-wing guerrilla army in Nicaragua—who were seeking to overthrow the left-wing government of the Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction. The Iran-Contra affair occurred in the midst of a US-imposed arms embargo against Iran and the shipment of hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Iraq as a “good-will gesture.”26

  In January 1981, Gelli became an honored guest at Reagan's inauguration. After the celebration, his lodge received a gift of $10 million in unvouchered CIA funds.27 That night, as he swirled around the dance floor at the inaugural ball, the P2 master had no idea that within a matter of weeks he would become a wanted fugitive.

  THE RAID AT AREZZO

  Knowing that Sindona's kidnapping was a hoax, the Sicilian police began to question Dr. Joseph Miceli Crimi. They knew that Miceli Crimi had sheltered Sindona during his “captivity” and that the doctor made a four-hundred-mile trip to Arezzo in the midst of the ordeal. Miceli Crimi said that he had made the trip to see a dentist. But his story quickly unraveled and the truth about the summons from Gelli began to emerge. Miceli Crimi was indicted for being a member of the Mafia and for participating in the bogus kidnapping. As soon as he was placed on a stool, the good doctor testified against Johnny Gambino, Rosario Spatola, Vincenzo Spatola, and seventy-two other Mafiosi who were involved in the plot.28

  On March 17, 1981, the police raided Gelli's villa at Arezzo, where they found the official membership list of P2, 426 incriminating files on leading Italian figures, and top secret government reports. Within the office of Gelli's mattress company in nearby Castiglion Fibocchi, the Italian police uncovered evidence showing that the P2 master had been the puppetmaster of the strategy of tension, which had resulted in 356 people killed and more than 1,000 wounded.29 Warrants were issued for Gelli's arrest. But the Worshipful Master was not to be found. He had fled to South America.30

  STASHED WITH CASH

  At the end of April 1981, the Trapani Mafia, based on the west coast of Sicily, had a problem. Their lawyer, Francesco Messina Denaro, was a fugitive from justice. He had been safeguarding their monthly earnings from the heroin trade, which amounted to $6 million. The money had to be moved to an undetectable location before the police, who were seeking Denaro, stumbled upon it. They knew the right location and the right person to pick up the bag. The Trapanis flew to Rome, “to the office of public notary Alfano,” where they handed a suitcase filled with the cash to their trusted old friend Archbishop Paul Marcinkus.31 It was late at night but the Vatican banker was pleased to make th
e deposit.

  Conducting business as usual, Marcinkus did not appear concerned over the fate of Sindona, the flight of Gelli, and the plight of Calvi. Nor was he flustered by the arrests of Massimo Spada and Luigi Mennini, the former and present lay delegatos of the IOR for their complicity in looting the Banca Privata Finanziaria.32 His composure in the face of the worsening circumstances engulfing the Vatican Bank may have been due to his awareness that a plan was in the works to deal with John Paul II, who had become a primary cause of setbacks within Operation Gladio.

  For more than a century ideological extremists at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents…to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as “internationalists” and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure—one world, if you will. If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it.

  David Rockefeller, Memoirs, 2002

  By the end of March 1981, events surrounding Gladio were spinning out of control. The raid on Gelli's villa had provided Italian police officials with evidence of the covert operation, including statements of payments, linking P2 to right-wing terrorist outfits and criminal organizations such as Ordine Nuovo (New Order), Movimento d'Azione Rivoluzionaria (Revolutionary Action Movement), and Banda della Magliana (Band of the Magliana—referring to the neighborhood most members were from). The confiscated files also provided insight into Gelli's close ties to the CIA and SISMI.