Tosches, Nick. Power on Earth. New York: Arbor House, 1986. 290 pages.
DiFonzo, Luigi. St.Peter's Banker. New York: Franklin Watts, 1983. 308 pages.
Cornwell, Rupert. God's Banker. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1983. 260 pages.
Gurwin, Larry. The Calvi Affair. London: Pan Books, 1984. 251 pages.
Four books in NameBase describe the 1970s Italian banking scandals: "Power on Earth" by Nick Tosches, "St.Peter's Banker" by Luigi DiFonzo, "God's Banker" by Rupert Cornwell, and "The Calvi Affair" by Larry Gurwin. The first two are about Michele Sindona, the last two about Roberto Calvi.These scandals involved Sindona, Calvi, Pope Paul VI, Bishop Paul Marcinkus and the Vatican Bank, the Mafia, Licio Gelli and the P2 Lodge, Franklin National Bank, Banco Ambrosiano, and shell companies too numerous to mention. It's a story of international high finance and lavish lifestyles that Hollywood might reject as unrealistic: bank shares traded like baseball cards, blood oaths and secret P2 membership lists, Mafia hits, Italian intelligence agencies, terrorists, arms dealers, corruption at the highest levels, and even a faked kidnapping.
Sindona's empire was collapsing by 1974, and his protege Calvi's by 1978. In 1980 Sindona was convicted in the U.S. on 65 counts of fraud and was extradited to Italy in 1984, where two years later he was poisoned in his cell while serving a life sentence for murder. Calvi was convicted by an Italian court in 1981 of illegal currency transactions. He was found hanging from a London bridge the following year, possibly murdered, and $400 million is still missing.
Here are the names most frequently mentioned in the above books:
ABBRUCIATI DANILO AGCA MEHMET ALI AGNELLI GIOVANNI (GIANNI) ALESSANDRINI EMILIO ALIBRANDI ANTONIO AMBROSOLI GIORGIO ANDREATTA BENIAMINO ANDREOTTI GIULIO ANSELMI TINA ANTINUCCI MARK ANTONELLI PIETRO ARDUINO GIOVANNI ARICO WILLIAM JOSEPH ARMAO ROBERT BAFFI PAOLO BAGNASCO ORAZIO BALDUCCI DOMENICO BANCO AMBROSIANO BARBIE KLAUS BARR JOSEPH WALKER BAZOLI GIOVANNI BEGON JACK L BEHN BRITTA BELLOWS DAVID BENELLI GIOVANNI BIASE NICOLA BIGNAMI ENRICO BLUHDORN CHARLES G BOMBIERI CARLO BONOMI ANNA BOLCHINI BONOMI CARLO BORDONI CARLO BORDONI VIRGINIA BORGHESE VALERIO BOTTA GIACOMO BRENNAN JOSEPH BUSCETTA TOMMASO CALVI CARLO CALVI CLARA CALVI ROBERTO CANESI CARLO ALESSANDRO CAPRIO GIUSEPPE CARDINAL CARACCIOLO CARLO CARBONI FLAVIO CARLI GUIDO CARNELUTTI TITO CARTER BILLY (BROTHER OF JIMMY) CARUSO ANTHONY CASAROLI AGOSTINO CARDINAL CASTRO FIDEL CAVALLO LUIGI CEFIS EUGENIO CERUTTI CARLO CHELI GIOVANNI CHIANG KAI-SHEK CIAMPI CARLO AZEGLIO CIARRAPICO GIUSEPPE CIPPICO EDOARDO COLBY WILLIAM EGAN COLOMBO EMILIO COLOMBO GHERARDO CONNALLY JOHN BOWDEN (B.1917-02-27) CONTINENTAL ILLINOIS NATIONAL BANK COPPOLA FRANK (DETROIT) CORONA ARMANDO CORROCHER GRAZIELLA TERESA COSTA CARLO (AMBROSIANO) COSTELLO ROBERT (LAWYER) CRAXI BETTINO CRIMI JOSEPH MICELI CUCCIA ENRICO DAILY AMERICAN DALEMA GIUSEPPE DAMATO FEDERICO UMBERTO DAMBROSIO GERARDO DE BENEDETTI CARLO DE GASPERI ALCIDE DE LAURENTIIS DINO DE LUCA UGO DE MITA CIRIACO DE SAVARY PETER DE STROBEL PELLEGRINO DE WECK PHILIPPE DESARIO VINCENZO DEWEY THOMAS E DI BELLA FRANCO DI CRISTINA GIUSEPPE DI DONNA LEONARDO DI FALCO ANTHONY G DI FALCO SAMUEL DI JORIO ALBERTO CARDINAL DI MONTEZEMOLO ALESSANDRO CORDERO DINI LAMBERTO DIOTALLEVI ERNESTO FALCONE GIOVANNI FANFANI AMINTORE FELTRINELLI GIANGIACOMO FERRARI ALBERTO FIAT COMPANY FIORINI FLORIO FORLANI ARNALDO FRANCO HILARY FRANCOLINI LUCIANO FRANKEL MARVIN E FRANKLIN NATIONAL BANK FREEMAN LOUIS FREEMASONRY GABLER WILLIAM GALANTE CARMINE GAMBINO CARLO GAMBINO JOHN GAMBINO ROSARIO GASTEL LUIZ GASTON DON GELLI LICIO GENGHINI MARIO GIUDICE RAFFAELE GIULIANO BORIS GIULIANO SALVATORE GIUNCHIGLIA EZIO GIUSTINIANI PIERO GLEASON HAROLD V GRASSINI GIULIO GREGORI GIORGIO GUALDANI FEDERICO GUARINO PHILIP A GUERRI SERGIO CARDINAL GUTHRIE RANDOLPH H GUZZI RODOLFO HAIG ALEXANDER M JR HAMBRO CHARLES II HAMBRO JOCELYN O HAMBROS BANK HANSCH KARL HARMON JAMES D HAYES ALFRED (FEDERAL RESERVE) HITCHCOCK HAROLD INZERILLO SALVATORE ITALY CIA IN JOHN PAUL I (POPE) JOHN PAUL II (POPE) KASANOF ROBERT KENNEDY DAVID MATTHEW KENNEY JOHN J (U.S.ATTORNEY) KENNY JOHN KIRBY JOHN J KLEINSZIG MANUELA KLEINSZIG MICHAELA KORKALA GEORGE GREGARY KUNZ HANS ALBERT LA MALFA UGO LEDEEN MICHAEL A LEEMANS MICHEL LEHMAN BROTHERS INC LEHMAN ROBERT LEONE GIOVANNI LEONI FILIPPO LOPEZ REGA JOSE (MINISTER OF SOCIAL WELFARE) LUCCHINI LUIGI LUCIANO LUCKY (CHARLES) LUFTIG PAUL MACALUSO JOSEPH MACCHI PASQUALE MAGNONI PIER SANDRO MARCINKUS PAUL CASIMIR MARINOTTI FRANCO MARTIN GRAHAM ANDERSON MARTIN JOHN S JR (U.S.ATTORNEY) MASSERA EMILIO EDUARDO MATTEI ENRICO MATTIOLI RAFFAELE MAZZANTI GIORGIO MAZZOLA VALERIO MAZZOTTA MAURIZIO MCCAFFERY JOHN MCDOWALL BRUCE MENNINI ALESSANDRO (ALEX) MENNINI LUIGI MERZAGORA CESARE MEYER ANDRE MICELI VITO MICHELI FRANCESCO MINERVINI GUSTAVO MOIZZI ERNESTO MONTINI GIOVANNI (POPE PAUL VI) MORO ALDO MORRIS MAX KING MOZZANA RUGGIERO MUCCI LUCA MUDGE ROSE GUTHRIE ALEXANDER MUSSELLI BRUNO MUSSOLINI BENITO NASSANO GIORGIO NESI NERIO NIXON RICHARD MILHOUS OCCHIUTO ANTONINO OLGIATI CARLO OPUS DEI OROURKE MICHAEL ORTOLANI UMBERTO OTERI JOSEPH PADALINO GIULIO PAGE WALTER HINES PALAZZINI PIETRO PAPA MICHELE PAPADOPOULOS GEORGE PAZIENZA FRANCESCO PECORELLI MINO PELLICANI EMILIO PERON JUAN DOMINGO PESENTI CARLO PICCOLI FLAMINIO PISANU GIUSEPPE PORCO DANIEL A PRISCO GIUSEPPE PROPAGANDA DUE (P2) QADDAFI MUAMMAR RAO PAUL REYRE JEAN (PARIBAS) RIZZOLI ANDREA RIZZOLI ANGELO RONSISVALLE LUIGI ROSE CHARLES (U.S.ATTORNEY) ROSONE ROBERTO ROSSI GUIDO ROTH ARTHUR T ROTHSCHILD EVELYN ROVELLI NINO SALINELLI MARIO SANTOVITO GIUSEPPE SARAGAT GIUSEPPE SARCINELLI MARIO SAUDI ABDULLAH SCARPETTI RAFFAELLO SCHREIBER NORMAN SCOTTI TOMMASO GALLARATI SHADDICK PETER SIEGENTHALER PIERRE SINDONA MICHELE SMITH JAMES E (CURRENCY COMPTROLLER) SOGNO DEL VALINO EDGARDO SOLIDARITY UNION SOMOZA DEBAYLE ANASTASIO SORINO ANGELO SPADA MASSIMO SPADOLINI GIOVANNI SPAGNUOLO CARMELO SPATOLA ROSARIO SPATOLA VINCENZO SPELLMAN FRANCIS CARDINAL STAMMATI GAETANO SUAREZ MASON CARLOS GUILLERMO TASSAN DIN BRUNO TISCH LAURENCE ALAN TOGLIATTI PALMIRO TONDINI AMLETO TONELLO ANTONIO TURONE GIULIANO VAN HORN CHARLES (N.Y. COMPTROLLER OF CURRENCY) VATICAN BANK (INSTITUTE RELIGIOUS WORKS) VENETUCCI ROBERT VERZOTTO GRAZIANO VIDELA JORGE RAFAEL VIEZZER ANTONIO VIOLA GUIDO VISENTINI BRUNO VITALONE WILFREDO VITTOR SILVANO WOLF MARKUS JOHANNES WRISTON WALTER BIGELOW ZANFAGNA GENNARO ZILLETTI UGO
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