<Archive Obituary> Roberto Calvi (June 18th 1982)
Bill Schenley
Photo: http://www.reformation.org/roberto-calvi.jpg
FROM: The BBC (June 19th 1982) ~
The body of a top Italian banker has been found
hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in London.
Known as God's banker for his links with the
Vatican, 62-year-old Roberto Calvi was the
chairman of Banco Ambrosiano in Milan and a
central figure in a complex web of international
fraud and intrigue.
He had been missing for the last nine days before
his body was discovered by a passer-by hanging
from scaffolding on a riverside walk under the
bridge.
Police are treating the death as suicide.
Jail sentence
Mr Calvi became chairman of Banco
Ambrosiano, now Italy's largest private bank, in
1975 and built up a vast financial empire.
In 1978, a report by the Bank of Italy on
Ambrosiano concluded that several billion lire
had been illegally exported.
In May 1981, Mr Calvi was arrested, found guilty,
and sentenced to four years' imprisonment, but
released pending an appeal. During his short spell
in jail he attempted suicide.
Mr Calvi was due to appear in an Italian court
next week to appeal against this conviction.
Later this month he was to be tried for alleged fraud
involving property deals with Sicilian banker
Michele Sindona, who is himself serving 25 years in
America over the collapse of the Franklin National
Bank in New York in 1974.
The Vatican is directly linked to Mr Calvi by
Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, the Pope's bodyguard,
a governor of the Vatican and head of the Vatican
bank which has a shareholding in Ambrosiano.
Missing millions
Now Ambrosiano is on the verge of collapse amid
press reports that investigators found a £400m
"hole" in its accounts. Last week the bank's
executive board decided to strip Mr Calvi of his
authority.
The Italian Treasury dissolved the bank's
administration and the Bank of Italy is now a
temporary commissioner.
Mr Calvi fled to Venice nine days ago after
shaving his moustache to avoid being recognised.
From there it seems he hired a private plane to
take him to London.
The day before he was found dead, his secretary
committed suicide in Milan by jumping off the
fourth floor of the bank's headquarters.
Teresa Corrocher, aged 55, left an angry suicide
note condemning her boss for the damage she said
he had done to Ambrosiano and its employees.
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Photo: http://www.strano.net/stragi/stragi/nomi/img/calvi.jpg