The Vatican Scandals III: Who Killed “God’s Banker”?

With Links to the Mafia and Vatican, Who Killed Roberto Calvi?

Aug 20, 2025

It could be a tale from Dan Brown’s pen or any number of other thriller writers who have long focused on the shady world where the Catholic Church and criminality intersect. There is certainly no shortage of source material. From the sex scandals of the Medici to liaisons with the mafia, corruption and vice have never been far from God’s supposed right-hand. Yet, among these controversies stands one above all other — the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano and Roberto Calvi’s death. With links to both the mafia and CIA operations in Latin America, many wanted Calvi dead when their money went up in smoke and the bank he controlled collapsed. But just who did kill Roberto Calvi, and what led to the discovery of his body hanging under a London bridge one September in 1982?

Roberto Calvi was born to be a banker. His father had been manager of the Banca Commerciale Italiana, one of Italy’s largest banks, and Roberto looked to follow in his footsteps. Showing an aptitude for the work, many expected that the young Roberto would bring the same level of pride to his family that his father had, particularly when he joined Banco Ambrosiano at the close of the Second World War.

Banco Ambrosiano was the second biggest bank in all of Italy and was considered prestigious. It was the “priests’ bank,” founded to conduct business ethically and charitably by Giuseppe Tovini, a devout Catholic. The bank was supposed to be a contrasting influence to Italy’s secular banks’ unseemly capitalist practices, serving charitable endeavors and work of a religious nature.

By the 1960s, the bank was on the quick ascendency, opening a Luxembourg holding company that would eventually become Banco Ambrosiano Holding. The company’s creation presented an opportunity for Calvi, and he was appointed as the personal assistant of Carlo Alessandro Canesi, a senior manager. Now married and with two children, Calvi was advancing in life and seemed comfortable, particularly when Canesi was made chairman of Banco Ambrosiano in 1965. Indeed, Calvi’s rise to the top seemed almost unstoppable, and in 1971 he was made general manager and then, in 1975, chairman of the entire bank.

Not one to rest on his laurels, Calvi had big ideas for Banco Ambrosiano and sped up the company’s expansion, creating new offshore companies in places such as the Bahamas and South America. He acquired a controlling stake in the rival Banca Cattolica del Veneto based in Vicenza and funded the purchase of Rizolli, the publisher of the Corriere della Sera newspaper. One of Italy’s oldest newspapers, it continues to be the most read newspaper in the country. Ardently anti-socialist, the paper had strongly backed the fascist leader Benito Mussolini and continued to promote hard-right ideologies after the end of the war. These purchases weren’t the complete work of Roberto Calvi alone, with the banker working with a group of like-minded individuals as part of a Masonic lodge by the name of Propaganda Due (P2).

Propaganda Due had been founded in 1877 in Turin under the name Propaganda Massonica. Comprising nobility, military figures, and politicians, the group was outlawed alongside all Freemasonry by Mussolini. After the war, the lodge was renamed as the Americans encouraged its resurrection as a potential underground network useful against rising communist sentiment in the country. Despite this, dwindling numbers meant that by the 1960s, P2 was virtually defunct. In 1966, Licio Gelli reestablished the group, winning the initial support of Lino Salvini, Grand Master of one of Italy’s largest lodges. Gelli was a Mussolini loyalist and hardcore nationalist, passionate in his anti-communism. Under his leadership, Propaganda Due spread across Italy, enlisting prominent politicians, military officials, spies, journalists, and distinguished members of society of all kinds. The lodge began to be built in his image, serving as an underground nationalist network determined to confront communism. Amongst these members was Roberto Calvi.

“I am a fascist and will die a fascist” — Licio Gelli

The links forged by Calvi as part of Propaganda Due undoubtedly helped him both bring Banco Ambrosiano to new heights and equally fatten his own bank account.

In 1968, the Holy See’s tax-exemption had been ended by the Italian government, and the then pope Paul VI turned to an old friend to help diversify their business dealings — Michele Sindona, known in banking circles as “The Shark.” Sindona has extensive links to the Sicilian mafia, American politicians, and was also a member of Propaganda Due alongside Calvi. From 1969, Sindona began putting mafia money through the Vatican and into Swiss banks. P2 also had extensive links with Argentina and other right-wing juntas across the continent. Banco Ambrosiano would be tasked with funneling CIA money to these groups, primarily the Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza. Additional money would be provided to the Solidarity movement in Poland, with some saying this money was requested by Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, the future Pope John Paul II. The money would come through the Vatican Bank under Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, whose corruption had been known to authorities for some time. Marcinkus would be appointed director of Ambrosiano Overseas, which was based in Nassau.

“One evening, I was at dinner with Calvi. He was angry, black in the face. He told me that the next day he had to go and see ‘the most Holy one’ in the Vatican to get $80m that he had to pay for bills relating to Poland and that if he did not get the money, everything would blow up” — Licio Gelli

Through these associations between politicians, P2, and foreign intelligence, the activities of Sindona, Calvi, and the Vatican Bank were essentially protected. As early as 1973, the DOJ became aware of the corruption, interviewing Bishop Marcinkus at the Holy See. They were soon given orders from on high to lay off the Archbishop. However, the writing would be on the wall for the operation from 1974 when one of Michele Sindona’s banks collapsed.

At the time of its collapse, Franklin National Bank in New York was the most extensive banking failure in the United States history. Sindona had only owned the bank for two years, and it was an essential part of his operations, being a key asset in his money-laundering process. When Sindona began to make huge losses in the foreign currency market, he defrauded his own bank for $30 million to cover his losses, sending the money to Europe. The amount brought the bank beneath its required operating capital. When the deficit was revealed, depositors withdrew their money, and the bank was forced into borrowing over $1 billion from the Federal Reserve. It was declared insolvent that October.

Meanwhile, Roberto Calvi was engaged in much the same business at Banco Ambrosiano and heading toward his own future disaster. Using the same extensive network built to hide the movement of criminal money, Calvi secured loans and inflated share prices, and in 1978, the Bank of Italy realized what was happening. The bank produced a report that predicted the collapse of the bank, fingering Calvi as corrupt.

Back in the United States, Michele Sindona was indicted over Franklin National’s collapse, and his white-collar crime would soon turn far more deadly. On July 11, 1979, the lawyer tasked with liquidating Sindona’s banks was shot dead by a mafia hitman in Milan. Sindona had given the order. The banker was desperately trying to save not only his banks but likely his life, with millions in mafia money going up in smoke at Franklin. He was aided in his efforts by Propaganda Due. Investigations into these activities would bring disaster to Calvi’s operation in 1981. Raiding Licio Gelli’s properties, police uncovered a list of P2 members, Calvi’s name being on it. The list exposed the entire clandestine network that stretched across the country and even brought down the government in May of 1981. With the scandal covering the front-pages, Calvi was on borrowed time.

Calvi was placed under arrest and put on trial for the export of billions in Italian lira, the same accusation that had been leveled by the Bank of Italy in 1978. He was sentenced to four years in prison and given a fine of just under $20 million. During his time in prison, he attempted suicide, and his family maintains that his actions during his life came from peer pressure and intimidation, being forced to carry out the frauds against his will. Pending an appeal, he was released on bail and allowed to keep his position as chairman of Banco Ambrosiano. Fearing a repeat of Franklin, the mafia and Vatican desperately moved to cover up their crimes and the Banda della Magliana criminal network moved in closer, ensuring that those getting too near were frightened off. New deputy chairman Carlo de Benedetti received threats, his replacement Roberto Rosone was shot.

The mafia’s attempts to stop the flood of information was too little too late, and a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry found that P2 was a criminal enterprise in January of 1982. It was banned, and Licio Gelli fled to Switzerland. Not long afterward, it was found that Banco Ambrosiano couldn’t account for $1.3 billion, a sum over $3.5 billion in today’s currency. They had massive debts, and much of the money had been siphoned through the Vatican. The bank collapsed in June, and the fallout was immediate. The links between the Vatican, the mafia, and Banco Ambrosiano were a headline sensation worldwide, and all eyes were suddenly on Archbishop Marcinkus, Propaganda Due, and Roberto Calvi. Pope John Paul II pledged that a full and open investigation would be held into the allegations, but before anyone could have a chance to question him, Calvi fled.

President Reagan Meeting with Pope John Paul II During Visit to The Papal Library, 6/7/1982 | White House Photographic Collection, Public Domain

On the run from the police, mafia, and likely the Vatican, Calvi escaped first to Venice and then onto London. In the meantime, he was finally stripped of his position at the bank, and the case would claim another life — Graziella Corrocher. Serving as Calvi’s personal secretary, Corrocher leaped to her death from his office window in Rome. She left a note blaming Calvi for events at Banco Ambrosiano. The following day Roberto Calvi would be found hanging underneath Blackfriars Bridge in London, apparently also a suicide.

Discovered by a postal worker on June 18, 1982, Calvi was said to have hung himself from scaffolding beneath the bridge. His pockets contained a considerable amount of cash in three different currencies alongside bricks he had apparently used to weigh himself down.

The suspicions that Roberto Calvi didn’t kill himself came almost before police cut down the body. His activities in Italy and involvement with the Vatican, mafia, and P2 led to some level of incredulity that he should conveniently be found dead before he could talk. The fact that Propaganda Due referred to themselves as “The Black Friars” and Calvi was found underneath Blackfriars Bridge was a coincidence too far. However, a coroner’s report returned a verdict of suicide in July. A subsequent inquiry in 1983 produced an open verdict, with the court deciding that a cause of death couldn’t be determined.

The scaffolding at Blackfriars Bridge from two different angles

And there, the story of Roberto Calvi may have ended, a tale of suspicions and non-confirmations. With Banco Ambrosiano and Calvi both gone, the clean-up operation was in full swing. Finding no evidence that the Holy See had been aware of what was going on, they were granted complete immunity from prosecution. Archbishop Paul Marcinkus resigned from the Vatican Bank soon afterward. On March 18, 1986, Michele Sindona was murdered in his cell in Voghera. He was poisoned with cyanide.

Licio Gelli, meanwhile, had been arrested in Switzerland as early as September of 1982 as he tried to withdraw millions from a Swiss Bank. He quickly escaped and fled to Chile under General Pinochet. He returned to Switzerland in 1987 and received two months in jail, the Swiss refusing to extradite him to Italy on anything but charges relating to the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 1992. Through money, connections, and the level of corruption that he had utilized so well throughout his life, he was out of jail by 1996.

Meanwhile, Roberto Calvi’s family were not satisfied with the British judgments in the affair, and in 1991 they had enlisted the services of a new investigation team, Kroll Associates, based out of New York. Investigators found that Calvi couldn’t have committed suicide. The scaffolding from which Calvi’s body was found hanging was rusted, with the victim’s shoes showed no evidence of either that rust or paint, both of which would have transferred to his footwear had he walked along to reach the point of his “suicide.”

“I heard from two people on two different occasions that the death of Roberto Calvi was not suicide but murder. I remember I was on the run and hiding in a villa in the countryside when a news report came on the television about Calvi’s suicide in London. With me at the time was Ignazio Pullara [a Mafia member], who told me in a very excited manner that he knew Calvi had been murdered.” — Francesco Marino Mannoia, former Mafia member

The body was exhumed in 1998, and the Italian courts asked German forensic scientists to reproduce the reports filed by Kroll Associates. Taking four years, the extensive report confirmed the findings. Not only was the shoe evidence correct, but the bricks that were found in Calvi’s pocket had not been touched by the deceased. Calvi’s neck condition was not consistent with hanging, and the report pointed out that the tide-level of the Thames would have allowed somebody to reach the scaffolding from a boat, potentially being able to stage the scene. Roberto Calvi had been murdered.

Blackfriars Railway Bridge as it is today | Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

In 2003, London Metropolitan Police reopened their investigation, now as a homicide. Working in conjunction with Italian prosecutors, the first trials began in 2005, with a London witness sentenced for perjury. Meanwhile, in Italy, four names were indicted in April, those being the Sicilian mobster Giuseppe “Pippo” Calò; businessmen Ernesto Diotallevi and Flavio Carboni and Manuela Kleinszig, Carboni’s former girlfriend. Calò had been fingered for the crime as far back as 1991 when former Cosa Nostra member Francesco Marino Mannoia claimed that both Calò and Licio Gelli of Propaganda Due had ordered the hit for the loss of the mafia’s money at Banco Ambrosiano. Mannoia accused London-based mafioso Francesco Di Carlo of actually carrying out the murder.

Licio Gelli was informed he was under formal investigation for the killing alongside those already indicted. Gelli denied the accusation but claimed that he knew Calvi was murdered, suggesting it was actually his links to the Vatican that had got him killed, particularly the joint operation’s financing to the Solidarity movement in Poland during the Cold War. Flavio Carboni had extensive links to the security services.

“[Those indicted ordered the killing to stop Calvi] 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” — Indictment against the accused in the Calvi murder case

Silvano Vittor, Calvi’s former driver and bodyguard, was added to the indictment before trial, yet Gelli escaped again and wasn’t charged. Most involved conceded that the leading players in the killing had evaded justice through the mafia’s infamous code of silence and being too big to challenge, some of them remaining prominent citizens. Evidence at the trial revealed that Calvi had had not only betrayed the Vatican and mafia in his handling of their money but was seen as a loose end who might talk.

“When I asked why, he said it was because Calvi had been given a huge sum of money to get rid of but had failed, and he was also no longer considered a reliable and trustworthy person by Cosa Nostra. He had been given drugs money and money made from contraband cigarette sales, and he should have laundered it via his bank, the Banco Ambrosiano.” — Francesco Marino Mannoia, former Mafia member

Despite building a case for nearly two years, all five suspects were cleared of involvement in the murder, with the court citing a lack of evidence. The trial had seen witnesses either dead, refusing to testify, or unable to be found. While the five were released, the court did agree that the Calvi case was a murder, the judge stating that many wanted him dead in both the criminal underworld and the upper echelons of the Vatican. Prosecutors dropped the case against Gelli in 2009, and in 2010 the Court of Appeals confirmed the acquittal of all suspects involved in the case. There was no justice for the family of Roberto Calvi.

To what level Roberto Calvi was a willing participant at Banco Ambrosiano is open to debate. Thrust into a world of corruption and fraud, he was surrounded by the toxic atmosphere that made up Italy’s tensions in the 1970s. From the widespread machinations of rogue freemasons and terrorist networks to the intrigues of foreign security services and the Vatican, Calvi was either a cunning player in a chaotic game of chess or a man in way over his head. Building an empire on quicksand, events spiraled out of control at a lightning pace. Together, Calvi, Sindona, Marcinkus, and others created a series of events whose fallout would bring down the Italian government and impact both the country and the church for a generation.

Calvi was an acceptable collateral damage to some and a man that needed to be silenced for many others. His enemies were legion, and we may never know exactly who killed “God’s Banker” and left him hanging under Blackfriars Bridge. While much of the Vatican scandals of the 1970s and 1980s have become known, much more still remains hidden. The secret world that was Roberto Calvi’s life was also his death, and its legacy continues to hold more secrets in the shadows than we might care to believe.