Operation Gladio
Page 25
Thanks to his friendship with Michael Ledeen, Pazienza became deeply involved in US political affairs, including the implementation of “Billygate,” a plot connecting President Carter's brother with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a group that sought the destruction of Israel.3 President Reagan was duly impressed with Pazienza's talents. In the diplomatic interregnum created by Reagan's removal of Richard Gardner as the US Ambassador to Italy, Pazienza and Ledeen received the federal fiat to handle relations between the US and Italian governments.4
In March 1981, Pazienza began to devise a plan to plug the gaping $1.75 billion hole within Banco Ambrosiano that had been created by “loans” to the Vatican's shell companies. Through his CIA contacts, he arranged for two American investors (presumably David Rockefeller and Robert Armao), three Saudi businessmen, and two banks to pay $1.2 billion for the nine shell companies that now held nearly 16 percent of Ambrosiano's stock.5
CALVI CAGED
Seven days after John Paul II was shot, Calvi was arrested for the illegal transfer of funds out of the country and locked up in Lodi prison, twenty minutes south of Milan. As soon as this happened, Calvi's family contacted Archbishop Marcinkus to seek his help in springing the banker from his cell. Marcinkus responded to their pleas by saying, “If the IOR accepts any responsibility, it will not only be the Vatican's image that will suffer. You'll lose as well, for our problems are your problems, too.”6
Prison was the worst experience of Calvi's life. Painfully introverted, he was obsessive in his behavior and fastidious in his personal care. His cellmates passed their time playing cards and listening to rock and roll on the radio. Calvi could neither sleep nor use the toilet in full view of the others. A visitor found him “bloated” and “completely submissive,” meekly obeying the taunting prison guards, and at the brink of physical and mental exhaustion.7 On July 3, when questioned by Milanese magistrates, Calvi broke into tears. “I am just the lowest of the low,” he sobbed. “I am just a dog who serves others.” The magistrates asked, “Then who commands you? Who is the proprietary of the bank?” Collecting himself, Calvi said, “I can't tell you anymore.”8
On July 7, when the Italian government charged Sindona with the murder of Giorgio Ambrosoli, Calvi swallowed a quantity of barbiturates and slashed his wrist. Coming to consciousness in the prison infirmary, he said that he had acted in a moment of “lucid depression.”9 On July 29, Calvi was sentenced to four years imprisonment and a fine of sixteen billion lire. His lawyer filed an appeal and he was freed on bail. Within a week, he returned to his position as Ambrosiano's chairman.10
A LETTER OF PATRONAGE
Calvi was becoming increasingly desperate. The shareholders kept insisting on some proof that the eight shell companies that had been established in Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and Panama were properties of the Holy See. By August 1, Calvi had no choice save to appear before Archbishop Marcinkus with hat in hand. The affair was about to explode unless he could present some assurance to the Guardia di Finanza that the eight companies, which had drained Banco Ambrosiano of all its cash reserves, were, in fact, legitimate Vatican concerns. Marcinkus realized that some action had to be taken to ward off financial disaster, and he came up with a course of action that represented one of the greatest acts of fraud in ecclesiastical history. He issued a “letter of patronage” stating that the dummy firms were legitimate financial organizations whose purposes and financial obligations were known, secured, and approved by Holy Mother Church. The letter, dated September 1, 1981, was written on Vatican letterhead. It read as follows:
Gentlemen:
This is to confirm that we directly or indirectly control the following entries:
Manic SA, Luxembourg
Astrolfine SA, Panama
Nordeurop Establishment, Liechtenstein
United Trading Corporation, Panama
Erin SA, Panama
Bellatrix SA, Panama
Belrose SA, Panama
Starfield SA Panama
We also confirm our awareness of their indebtedness toward yourselves as of June 10, 1981, as per the attached statement of accounts.11
The attached accounts showed “indebtedness” to the Lima branch of Banco Ambrosiano alone for $907 million. The letter was signed by Archbishop Marcinkus, along with his administrative assistants Luigi Mennini and Pellegrino de Stroebel.12 To compound the fraud, Calvi presented Marcinkus with a letter of his own—this one stating that the Vatican Bank “would entail no liabilities” or “suffer no future damage or loss” from its involvement with the eight companies.13
PAPAL PIPEDREAM
For several months, the letter served to quiet the concerns of the Ambrosiano shareholders, while Pazienza gained the necessary backing for his plan. The bailout of $1.2 billion was in place, with the group agreeing to accept the 16 percent of Ambrosiano stock held by the shell companies as equity. The investors intended to purchase more shares at an inflated rate from interested sellers in order to obtain a 20 percent holding.14 This would grant them ownership of one of Italy's most prestigious banks. The matter seemed settled. Calvi uttered a sigh of relief.
No one expected John Paul II's reaction. The pope opposed the plan, according to Pazienza, for the sake of a “pipe-dream.” In a 1986 interview with the news magazine L'Espresso, Pazienza explained: “The Ambrosiano [in the pope's eyes] was to represent the modern, secular arm of the church in the world. The new temporal power was seen as the penetration and control of financial and publishing activities [including the acquisition of Corriere della Sera, Italy's leading daily newspaper] to counterbalance the secular and Marxist influences that were becoming ever more preponderant in Italy.”15
The pope's belief that the Church could weather the crisis and take ownership of Ambrosiano was reflected by optimistic statements from Archbishop Marcinkus. In March 1982, as the storm clouds gathered around the Holy See, the Archbishop, in an interview with the Italian magazine Panorama, said, “Calvi merits our trust. I have no reason to doubt. We have no intention of ceding the Banco Ambrosiano shares in our possession.”16
BOTCHED JOB
While Marcinkus was making this pronouncement of trust, Robert Rosone, the general manager of Ambrosiano, was making a new demand for Calvi's dismissal as director and for a “call” on all loans that had been made to the Vatican. Rosone was causing unnecessary agita (agitation) Pazienza responded to the demands of the troublesome chiacchierone (“chatterbox”) by contacting Flavio Carboni, who was connected to Banda della Magliana. Carboni issued the contract. On April 27, Rosone was shot by an assailant with a pistol as he left his apartment for work. Several Milanese police officers heard the shots and killed the gunman. The hit had been entirely botched. Rosone managed to survive the attack and the gunman turned out to be no ordinary Magliana street thug but Danilo Abbruciati, the leader of the notorious gang.17
Why would Abbruciati attempt to conduct such a hit by himself? The Magliana boss had dozens of cugines (lackeys) at his beck and call. He had amassed hundreds of millions from the gang's involvement in robbery, kidnapping, prostitution, gambling, and drug trafficking.18 Why would a criminal of his stature accept a contract for the killing of a man of no obvious significance? Such questions were raised by journalists throughout Italy, and Banco Ambrosiano came under increased scrutiny.
On May 31, 1982, the Bank of Italy wrote to Calvi and his board of directors in Milan, requesting a full accounting of the lending to the Vatican's eight shell companies. The board, under increased pressure, voted eleven to three to comply, despite Calvi's protests.19
A PAPAL PETITION
Knowing the shell game had been lost, Calvi turned to the Holy Father with a last request for deliverance. In the letter dated June 5, 1982, he wrote, “I have thought a lot, Holiness, and have concluded that you are my last hope…. I have been offered help by many people on condition that I talk about my activities for the Church. Many would like to know from me whether I supplied arms and oth
er equipment to certain South American regimes to help them fight our common enemies, and whether I supplied funds to Solidarity or arms and funds to other organizations of Eastern countries. I will not reveal it. I will not submit to nor do I want to blackmail; I have always chosen the path of coherence and loyalty.” He added, “The Vatican has betrayed and abandoned me.”20
After documenting in writing the Holy See's involvement in arming guerrillas, engaging in bloody war, and misappropriating funds, Calvi continued, “Summing up, I ask that all the money that I gave to the projects of serving the political and economic expansion of the Church, that the thousands of millions of dollars that I gave to Solidarity with the express will of the Vatican, and that the sums which I provided to organize the financial centers and political power in five South American countries will be returned to me. These sums would amount to $1.75 billion.” He concluded the letter by saying that he was “seeking serenity” and “to live in peace.”21
LAPSI LINGUAE
Writing such a letter to the Vatican at this point would not result in Calvi's living in peace and only produced increased concern that the banker was becoming unhinged and might attempt to make disclosures that would place the CIA's major covert operation in certain jeopardy. This concern became intensified as Calvi began to pack away documents in his black leather briefcase and to confide in friends, including Prime Minister Andreotti, about the IOR's involvement in money laundering and wholesale fraud. “If things go a certain way,” he now told Flavio Carboni, his new best friend, “the Vatican will have to rent a building in Washington behind the Pentagon. A far cry from St. Peter's!”22
Calvi, when he was making these remarks, was not aware that he was being taped. A few days before his departure from Milan, Calvi again complained to Carboni about the Vatican's refusal to pay its debts. “The Vatican,” he said, “should honor its commitments by selling the wealth controlled by the IOR. It is an enormous patrimony. I estimate it to be $10 billion. To help the Ambrosiano, the IOR could start to sell it [its patrimony] in chunks of a billion at a time.”23
FINANCIAL DOOMSDAY
On Thursday, June 17 came the coup de grâce. Il Sole 24 Ore, Italy's cautious and conservative financial newspaper, published the complete text of the Bank of Italy's letter to Calvi and the Ambrosiano directors. Ambrosiano stock went into a free fall that resulted in complete collapse. Rosone and two other directors appeared before Luigi Mennini, deputy director of the IOR, and Pellegrino De Stroebel, the IOR's chief accountant, and demanded payment on the loans that the Holy See had received for its offshore holdings.24 They presented the two IOR officials with the letter of patronage that they, along with Archbishop Marcinkus, had signed and sealed. By any banking standard, they insisted, the letter represented a statement of financial obligation. Marcinkus was contacted by telephone. He was accompanying the pope on a trip to Switzerland. He responded to the demands of the Ambrosiano directors by saying, “We just don't have that kind of money.”25 When warned that his response would be reported to the Bank of Italy, the Archbishop said, “I know. I did all this to help a friend and look where we are.”26 Rosone later recalled his reaction, “I became as angry as a buffalo. I told them [Mennini and De Stroebel] this was a criminal conspiracy. They had committed fraud. The letter [of patronage] was from the IOR and it was a guarantee. All that was missing was the signature of Jesus Christ.”27
An emergency meeting was held on the fourth floor of Ambrosiano's headquarters. Panic reigned. Accusations were exchanged. Threats were made. Lawyers were summoned. When a degree of order was restored, Calvi, by unanimous vote, was removed from his position at the bank. The board was dissolved and the bank was placed in the hands of a commissioner from the Bank of Italy.28 A new warrant was issued for Calvi's arrest. But the cause of so much turmoil was nowhere to be found. The previous week, Calvi had made his escape from Milan. He was now one of the world's most wanted fugitives.
The day after he vanished, Graziella Corrocher, the banker's fifty-five-year-old personal secretary, fell or was hurled from the fifth floor of Ambrosiano. The body landed with a thump on the ramp leading to the bank's underground garage. No arrests were made and the cause of her death remains undetermined.29
TELL-TALE DOCUMENTS
On June 11, while packing his bags, Calvi told his son Nino, “I shall reveal things, which once known, will rock the Vatican. The pope will have to resign.”30 He stuffed several documents in his black briefcase, which came to light in 1987. One was a note concerning Gelli, which read, “He had convinced me that all political and financial power really depended on him and that no deal of any importance could go ahead without his consent.” The note further stated that Calvi had never made a decision regarding the transfer of funds to the shell companies or weapons for the Latin American dictators and guerrilla armies without conferring with his Worshipful Master.31
In a letter, Calvi said that the Vatican needed him to launch “an effective politico-religious penetration into secular society by securing control over banking institutions. The enormous importance of what I have just said induced me to incur debts in foreign currency in order to buy Banco Ambrosiano shares in sufficient quantity to guarantee IOR control over the institution.” Working for the Vatican, he added, meant providing financial assistance to guerrilla units and strong-arm regimes. He wrote, “On more than one occasion, I believed that my life was at risk as I rushed from one Latin American country to another, seeking to oppose the ferment of anticlerical ideologies. I did my utmost in every sense even to the point of concerning myself with the supply of warships and other war material to support those capable of contrasting the advance of well-organized communist forces.” These efforts, he maintained, ensured that the Vatican would have an authoritative presence in countries such as Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Paraguay, and Nicaragua.32
Nearly four years after Calvi made his escape from Milan, Bishop Pavol Hnilica of Czechoslovakia paid Flavio Carboni $6 million on behalf of the Vatican for the contents of the black briefcase. On April 1, 1987, an Italian television news program opened the briefcase before its viewing public with great flourish. The contents had been depleted, but the remaining documents showed that Calvi had been pushed beyond the breaking point and was ready to employ blackmail in order to obtain reparation for the Ambrosiano's losses. Seven years after the program was aired, a Roman court convicted Carboni and Bishop Hnilica of being in receipt of stolen property.33
ESCAPE TO LONDON
Leaving Milan, Calvi made his way to the seaport city of Trieste, where he boarded the Outrango, a launch that had been used by Stibam for drug smuggling, and sailed to the small fishing village of Muggia in Yugoslavia.34 He was met by Carboni, who drove him to a safe house in Austria where he received a passport that was genuine in all respects except the name of its bearer. “Roberto Calvi” had been crudely but simply adjusted to “Gian Roberto Calvini.”35
On June 14, he was flown to London on a plane that had been chartered by Hans Kunz, who had been a player in Stibam's guns-for-drugs operation.36 The Austrian businessman had been involved in providing Exocet missiles for use by the Argentine military junta in the Falklands War. The order had been placed by Gelli. The funding had been provided by Ambrosiano through a Vatican dummy corporation in Panama.37
THE BROTHEL AND THE BRIDGE
In London Calvi was placed in an eighth floor flat of a seedy apartment building off King's Row that served as a brothel for a louche clientele.38 The hiding place had been secured for him by Carboni, who booked lodgings for himself at a luxurious London Hilton. Calvi, growing increasingly morose and frightened, spent the next two days in a squalid bedroom stretched out on a cot, staring at the television and making telephone calls. He spoke several times with his daughter Anna in Zurich, telling her of the danger she faced and imploring her to leave Europe for the United States. “Something really important is happening,” he said, “and today or tomorrow all hell is going to break loose.”39
&nb
sp; On June 17, the body of Roberto Calvi was found hanging from an orange noose under Blackfriars Bridge in London, his feet dangling in the muddy waters of the Thames. He was wearing a lightweight gray suit, an expensive Patek Phillipe watch remained on his wrist, and $20,000 was stuffed in his wallet. In his pockets were four pairs of eyeglasses and his doctored Italian passport; five bricks had been stuffed in his trousers.40
MASONIC SYMBOLISM
The site of Calvi's demise immediately aroused suspicion. Members of various Masonic lodges in Italy wear black robes and address each other as “friar.” “Black friars”—fratelli neri—is an Italian nickname for Freemasons. There is even a Blackfriars lodge, number 3,722 in the “List of Lodges Masonic,” the official register of European masonry.41 The fact that masonry in the form of bricks was found on the body was deemed significant, as well as the fact that the Masonic oath stipulated that traitors should be “roped down” in the proximity of the rising tide
The main reason why De Pedis is buried in the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare, is that it was he who put an end to attacks by the band (and not only) against the Vatican. These pressures by the Banda were due to money on loan to the Vatican, through Calvi's Banco Ambrosiano and never returned. After the Orlandi fact, even though all the money was not returned De Pedis, who was building for himself a future in the upper middle class, worked through reference prelates, to stop the violence. Among the things asked in return for this mediation, there was also the guarantee of being buried (in a distant death) there in Sant’Apollinare.