Gunmen Escape by Scaling Wall : Alert Clerk Foils First Armed Robbery in Vatican History

Three gunmen tried Tuesday to carry out what police said would have been the first armed robbery in Vatican history, but they failed when an alert payroll clerk stalled them and sounded an alarm.

When they realized that an alarm button had been pressed, automatically locking all four gates to Vatican City, the gunmen scaled a wall and disappeared into a rush-hour crowd on the Via Aurelia.

They left behind a Vatican payroll of almost a billion lire (about $710,000), still locked in the safe of the central administration building, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro said.

Pontiff Informed

At the time of the attempted holdup, Pope John Paul II was in his living quarters in the Apostolic Palace, about 500 yards from the administration building. He was told immediately, Navarro said.

The would-be robbers, apparently using false identity documents, drove into Vatican City in a stolen car shortly before 8 a.m., Navarro said. He described them as Italian-speaking men in their 30s. One was dressed in a business suit and another wore jeans, Navarro said, without describing the third. None of the men wore masks.

Rome police, who put up helicopters and blocked nearby streets, speculated that the men were acquainted with the operations of the Vatican, since they knew where the regular Tuesday payroll was kept. Also, they came prepared with a rope to scale a wall and make their escape.

Burglary in Early ‘60s

Neither the police nor the Vatican spokesman would speculate on the possibility that it was an inside job. The only incident of theft in recent Vatican history, an unarmed burglary of pontifical medals and gold pectoral crosses from the apartment of Pope Paul VI in the early 1960s, was attributed to Vatican employees. They were tried and sentenced by a Vatican court.

The spokesman said that Vatican security specialists and Rome police were examining the scene of Tuesday’s attempted robbery for fingerprints and other clues.

The three men were said to have parked a stolen sedan in front of the payroll office, just behind St. Peter’s Basilica, at about the time the clerks were preparing to open for the day’s business.

As the gunmen waved their pistols and demanded the payroll, a quick-thinking cashier stalled them by saying the clerk who had the key to the payroll safe had not yet arrived. Another clerk quietly pressed an alarm button that automatically shut the Vatican gates and summoned security men.