Reuters
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Four indicted for "God's banker" murder

April 18, 2005

ROME (Reuters) - A Sicilian mobster, a Roman crime boss and two others were indicted on Monday in connection with the 1982 hanging of Roberto Calvi, a financier dubbed "God's banker" for his close ties to the Vatican, a Rome court said.

Calvi, once thought to have committed suicide, was found hanging from scaffolding under London's Blackfriars Bridge in June 1982 with bricks in his pockets and $15,000 (8,000 pounds) on his person.

But in the latest twist to the saga, prosecutors now say the Mafia killed Calvi for stealing from them and from Italian financier Licio Gelli. Gelli was the head of the P2 lodge -- a shadowy Masonic organisation whose members once included prominent politicians, businessmen and military officers.

The judge said the trial will start on Oct 6 and will involve the convicted Cosa Nostra treasurer Pippo Calo, Roman crime boss Ernesto Diotallevi, Sardinian financier Flavio Carboni and his ex-girlfriend Manuela Kleinszig.

The prosecutors' inquiry has focused on millions of dollars that flowed through the bank's offshore accounts in the weeks preceding Calvi's death.

Shortly before Calvi's hanging, the bank he headed at the time, Banco Ambrosiano, had gone bankrupt. It was then Italy's largest private banking group and worked with the Vatican.

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