Rome, 19 giu (Velino) - A new investigative study into the riddle of the death of Roberto Calvi, found hanging under London’s Blackfriar’s Bridge days before his bank’s collapse, was presented at the Foreign Press Association this week soon after a lengthy trial acquitted the men accused of murdering one of the most intriguing figures in Italian postwar history.
Author Philip Willan told a throng of reporters on Monday that the trial nevertheless was important for filling in many gaps in aspects of the history of Italy linked to one of the most extraordinary criminal puzzles ever. Mr Willan’s book, “The Last Supper,” published by Constable, is the most clear, readable and detailed study yet of Calvi’s “execution” and his last days on the run based on research into the largest bankruptcy in European history, the bizarre early forensic studies of the death and secret Masonic rituals, Luigi Greco, a lawyer who defended one of the accused, Silvano Vittor, told the press conference. Calvi was known as “God’s Banker” because of his close ties to the Vatican.
Avv. Greco catalogued a series of quirky decisions in the history of the case since Calvi was found hanged in 1982 including the initial decision by the renowned British pathologist, Prof. Keith Simpson, who initially ruled the case a suicide, an uncharacteristic error of judgement that could be attributed to the elderly expert recently having taken a new, very young wife rather than the influence of Masonic forces in Britain. Although the “motivazione” of the judges who cleared the defendants in the Rome trial has not yet been released, Avv. Greco said it is generally expected that the judges will confirm that Calvi was murdered but that there was insufficient evidence to convict the accused.
Also presenting the book, the respected Spanish investigative journalist, Rossend Domenech, Rome correspondent for El Periodico, recounted how a second inquest into Calvi’s death in London had recorded an open verdict as the truth about the banker’s links to the secretive Masonic sect P2, an effective “shadow state” threatening Italian open society, began to emerge.

A jury earlier this month after 1 12 days of deliberation acquitted all five defendants charged with murdering Calvi. "Twenty-five years is a long time to wait for justice," said Renato Borzone, a lawyer for one defendant, businessman Flavio Carboni.
The prosecutors had asked for life sentences for four defendants, but said a fifth should be acquitted for insufficient evidence. They alleged that one of the five, Giuseppe "Pippo" Calo, ordered Calvi killed.
Prosecutors believe Calvi was laundering money for the Mafia. They alleged Calo ordered the murder because mob bosses thought the banker had appropriated some of the money and were afraid he would talk in the wake of a scandal that overwhelmed his bank. Calo, nicknamed the Mafia's "cashier" by the Italian media for his alleged laundering of mob money, was convicted years ago of Mafia charges unconnected to Calvi's death. He is serving his sentence and watched the verdict over a video link.
The other defendants were businessman Ernesto Diotallevi, Calvi's driver and bodyguard Vittor, and Carboni's Austrian ex-girlfriend Manuela Kleinszig. The prosecutors, who had asked that Kleinszig be acquitted, alleged the other three conspired to deliver Calvi to the people who killed him.New forensic tests in 2003 conducted on Calvi's shoes and clothing found no signs that the banker had climbed the scaffolding and indicated he had been killed elsewhere.
Calvi was found dead as his Banco Ambrosiano fell apart in one of Italy's largest fraud scandals — one that also implicated the Vatican's bank.
The bank collapsed after the disappearance of $1.3 billion in loans made to several dummy companies in Latin America. The Vatican had provided letters of credit for the loans, and while denying wrongdoing, the Vatican's bank agreed to pay $250 million to Ambrosiano's creditors.
Mr Willan has worked as a journalist in Rome for more than 20 years for the Daily Express, the Guardian and other newspapers and has specialised in covering the murky side of Italian Cold War politics. His first book, Puppetmasters: The Political Use of Terrorism in Italy, was published by Constable in 1991.