Four indicted for "God's banker" murder

Mon Apr 18, 2005 10:34 PM BST

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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