Jury acquits 5 in death of ‘God’s banker’
A jury acquitted all five defendants charged with murder in the 1982 death of Italian financier Roberto Calvi, who was called “God’s banker” for his close ties to the Vatican.
Calvi’s body was found hanging from London’s Blackfriars Bridge. The death was first ruled a suicide, but Calvi’s family pressed for further investigation, and eventually Italian prosecutors brought murder charges.
Calvi was found dead as his Banco Ambrosiano fell apart after the disappearance of $1.3 billion in loans made to dummy companies in Latin America. The Vatican had provided letters of credit for the loans, and while denying wrongdoing, its bank agreed to pay $250 million to Ambrosiano’s creditors.
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