01x02 - Potere Occulto

[bunniefuu]

[music playing]

What did you see?

I saw a complete body hanging
by the neck from a length

of string, tied to the top
horizontal scaffolding tube.

His feet were
dangling in the water.

The hurried British
investigation

was very badly handled.

They hadn't investigated
the scene properly

because the police
suspected it was suicide.

Roberto Calvi was certified
dead at Waterloo Pier.

The cause of death?

Asphyxia due to hanging,
and that he k*lled himself.

To be frank about it, it
wouldn't have been done.

But then the family hired
their own investigators.

Question isn't,
who k*lled Calvi?

It's, who didn't k*ll Calvi?

It could have been the mob,
P2, the Vatican, the CIA,

even the KGB.

This man had so many enemies.

If you wanted to come up with a
suspect list, it's a long list.

Calvi was somebody
whose time had come.

[music playing]

The family hired an
investigative agency, Kroll,

which is run by former
FBI agents at the time.

And there's a fellow that
really came on the case

for two years, Jeff Katz.

He was somebody who was
a superb investigator.

He didn't want to
do it the wrong way.

He didn't like dumpster
diving, ill*gal phone taps,

cutting the corners that many
private investigators had

before Kroll came around.

He viewed investigations
as intelligence gathering,

shoe leather work,
meticulous details,

trying to piece things
together that might

unearth the truth of
Roberto Calvi's death.

Your assertion is
that your husband

was m*rder*d to keep him
from naming people involved

in international fraud.

We want to prove, not
only that he was m*rder*d,

but that he was the victim
of forces out of his control,

forces that ultimately
controlled him.

We need to look again
at the crime scene.

We need our own
forensics expert.

10 years later, what
can we expect to find?

We need to review what exists.

We need to understand
all the possible ways

he could have ended up
hanging from that bridge.

How did he get there?

I hear a lot of conjecture,
but what's actually

scientifically plausible?

Anyone in mind?

Angela Gallop.

She's the best.

In 1992, Jeff Katz
of Kroll Associates

got in touch with me.

Gallop is a forensics expert.

She resolved the question
of whether Princess Di was

pregnant when she died by taking
a part of her stomach lining

and being able to show that
didn't have the right chemical.

Angela?

Jeff Katz from Kroll.

How can I help you, Jeff?

I'm asking you 10 years
later than I should,

but I have a job for you.

The original crime
scene was botched.

I need you to take a look at
the evidence that still exists.

Jeff wanted me to look at
the forensic science aspect.

I'm known for setting
up and running

full-scale forensic
laboratories and also

my particular interest,
which is leading teams

for cold-case investigations.

I was very aware that this
high-profile Italian banker

had been found hanging
from scaffolding

underneath Blackfriars Bridge.

Everybody had assumed
it was suicide,

and so they hadn't investigated
the scene properly.

I remember saying, well,
this is a very unusual case,

and I don't know at this stage
whether I will be able to help.

I spent some time down
at Blackfriars Bridge.

It was a little bit different.

There was no scaffolding
there in 1992.

But I was very much looking
at the foreshore there

and under low tide,
when it got exposed.

I must admit, sometimes, as
I started to get into it,

I thought, my goodness.

What have I bitten off here?

It's a bit more than
maybe I can chew.

You always have to understand
the context of the case

that you're investigating.

It's within that
context that you look

for certain types of evidence.

It's about the crime
scene, but it's

about everything that went on
around the crime scene as well.

Details like that can
be really important.

The web of players is complex,
each with a strong motive

to want Calvi disappeared.

Suspects span Italy's
vast centers of power.

The Vatican, a secret Masonic
lodge, the American CIA,

and Cosa Nostra.

One of the problems
with the Calvi case

was the excessive
number of suspects,

starting with the
Vatican itself.

He was potentially a source
of major embarrassment

and reputational harm to them.

The Vatican is an
extraordinary power

behind the scenes which
mustn't be ignored.

How does the Vatican get
so caught up in something

like this?

You mean, out millions,
marred by scandal,

and accused of m*rder?

I have books for you.

The reputation of the
Vatican has really taken

a hit for decades, particularly
when Archbishop Paul Marcinkus

dragged it into the whole
problem of the Banco

Ambrosiano.

The chairman is found hanging
under a bridge in London.

It was an extraordinary moment
of crisis for the reputation

of the church.

Pope Paul VI named Marcinkus
secretary of the IOR

in 1969, around the time
he became an archbishop.

Why a priest from Chicago?

Didn't you want a banker?

He's not even Italian.

Paul VI wanted someone he knew
he could trust, someone loyal.

And that was Marcinkus.

[music playing]

He is Archbishop
Paul Marcinkus, who

climbed from the blue-collar
churches of Cicero, Illinois

to this tower in the outer
walls of Saint Peter's, where

he heads the Vatican Bank.

He was very unlike
the typical priest,

who might be small and meek.

He was a big, macho man.

[music playing]

The nickname for Marcinkus
inside the Vatican

was The Gorilla, and it was not
said as a term of affection.

Because of his size--

6 feet 5 inches tall--

he became the unofficial
bodyguard to the pope

as they went around on trips.

He didn't have any sort
of financial training

or background at all.

Although I will look
at that and say, boy,

did they pick the wrong guy
to run the Vatican Bank,

from Sindona's
perspective, the pope

picked exactly the right person.

Marcinkus was the perfect
person for the other two

to use because they
had, by him, the stamp

of approval of the Vatican Bank.

The Vatican Bank
could handle money

and it could be distributed
around the world

in a confidential manner.

The operation that brings
these three key players

together is when they set up
the Banco Ambrosiano Overseas

Limited.

In the Bahamas.

It was believed to
be the only example

of a Catholic bishop
in the world who was

serving on the board of a bank.

By having untraceable
funds, they

could be used for any
ideologically driven projects,

as well as moneymaking projects.

The Vatican Bank has
no balance sheets.

There's no advisory board.

There's no independent board.

It has one
shareholder, the pope.

So therefore, you
don't have to worry

if you happen to
take a few dollars

on the side for yourself.

But that wasn't Marcinkus.

He was interested,
though, in power.

He did, at times, take
off millions of dollars.

An example was when they
did this backdoor deal

on this Catholic bank.

Calvi wanted to acquire
a Catholic bank in Venice

called Banca
Cattolica del Veneto.

With Banca Cattolica del
Veneto, Banco Ambrosiano

would be the largest
private sector bank

in the Italian banking system.

Marcinkus actually
sold them 50%.

The deal was that Calvi would
buy, through Ambrosiano, 37%.

And you know what
happened on the side?

The extra 13%.

That money comes back into
the Vatican Bank as cash

that Marcinkus uses
for other things.

$6 and 1/2 million to buy
himself a Cardinals position.

But the top Catholic
official in Venice, Luciani,

who was opposed to the deal--
and he objected to Marcinkus.

This deal is against the
church's long-term interest.

And excuse me, but I don't think
Calvi has the best interests

of the parishioners in mind.

Eminence, no disrespect,
but don't you

have anything better to do?

This is a conversation
no number of Hail Marys

will fix for Marcinkus, a
conversation he will live

to regret.

I have been an investigating
judge in the '70s and '80s.

Through our investigations,
relationships

came out that the Vatican Bank
was related with the finance

affairs of Michele Sindona,
Roberto Calvi, and the Mafia.

[g*nshots]

The new Mafia-- ruthless and
acting without compassion.

The gangs control the
food markets and almost

every form of commerce, but
they make their big money

in the drug racket.

From the port in Palermo,
between two and four tons

of heroin are shipped
to the US each year.

[phone ringing]

He specialized in
money laundering.

Signor Calo!

From what we know
from Mafia witnesses,

Sindona was the main banker
for the older Palermo families,

who were the ones who were
first involved in the heroin

trafficking.

People would say, don't
cross Michele Sindona,

because he's connected.

You'll have nothing
but problems.

[music playing]

Mafia operatives could have
been just the kind of personnel

that you needed on the ground to
park Mr. Calvi under the bridge

with a noose around his neck.

Looking back, we all know
where the downturn starts.

[music playing]

When Sindona's at his height,
he's now a storied success

because he's gone on to
make it big in America.

Sindona acquired
an American bank

which was one of the
largest banks in the US.

He's buying a stake in
Franklin National Bank

to use that bank to
further his transfers

and his offshore
accounts and to run it

through Franklin National.

This empire that he's
built has hundreds

of millions of
dollars in loans that

aren't going to be paid back.

It's not, will it fall apart?

What will fall apart first?

[music playing]

1973 dramatized
dependence on foreign oil.

All countries that were heavily
dependent on foreign oil

imports, such as Italy, their
currency plummeted in value.

This caused havoc for Sindona.

At the same time,
the currency traders

inside Franklin National
made the wrong bet

on the lira and the dollar
and got creamed by the market.

Franklin National becomes
the largest bankruptcy

in American history
at that point.

The man Fortune magazine
pegged the previous year

with a $450 million net worth
now holds huge paper losses

on foreign currency trades.

Plummeting stock prices mean
he cannot raise enough money

to cover his bad bets.

He had lost money
for powerful people.

He had lost money
and put the Vatican

into a terrible position.

With a financial empire that
is on the edge of collapse,

Sindona thinks, I will
call in all the favors

that I gave in the past.

Calvi was very nervous.

He turned to the P2
lodge for protection.

They claimed to have
political influence,

so he asked them to help him.

P2 was extremely powerful
in Italian business.

It was an elite club to be
part of to advance your career.

P2.

Propaganda Due.

That's right.

In the '70s, we knew this
strange Masonic lodge existed,

but our knowledge
was not complete.

P2 was really run by one man.

He was connected to everybody.

Licio Gelli, the head of
the secret Masonic lodge,

is the other partner in
their illicit laundering.

Was he, too, complicit
in Calvi's m*rder?

Jeff Katz told me a lot about
the background to the story.

And there were some
connections, I understand,

with Blackfriars, and
therefore Blackfriars Bridge.

It's certainly enough
to wonder about.

In the late 1960s, to make
Freemasonry important again,

the grand master decides to
revive an old lodge called

Lodge Propaganda.

This lodge is now
called Propaganda Due,

or P2 for short.

And at the same
time, there happens

along a man called Licio Gelli.

And he's soon master
of this P2 project.

Gelli is a convinced fascist.

He fights in the
civil w*r in Spain,

and after fighting,
got to meet Mussolini.

Gelli is very good
at capitalizing

on his reputation as a fascist
to build his power, to build

his connections.

How'd they all know each other?

Gelli and Sindona
met in the mid '60s.

Their relationship was
mutually beneficial.

Gelli had political connections,
and Sindona had banks.

Money.

Sindona was financing extreme
right-wing organizations

for Licio Gelli.

It also brings him into
contact with the CIA.

Gelli was a recruit and ended
up being a good recruit.

The key to P2's power was its
usefulness for the Cold w*r

and for Italy's
American masters.

The key cement
justifying everything

was commitment to the
anticommunist cause.

The idea was to prevent
communists from taking power.

Anything was justified to win.

[rioting sounds]

[rioting sounds]

This attempt at spreading fear
and terror across the country

by staging b*mb attacks.

Now, behind this
strategy, there were

rightist, neofascist
paramilitary groups and also

state intelligence agencies.

NATO and CIA was involved.

Many of these
right-wing bombings

were staged to
look as though they

were the work of
left-wing extremists

with the plan of
scapegoating people.

These fascists wanted to be able
to create enough instability

that the average
Italian says, whoa,

we don't like any of this.

Let's get a strong leader
like Mussolini again.

People like Licio Gelli believed
that they can be that leader.

And so as more and
more people are

nervous about the country
moving toward revolution,

Gelli's power rises.

If you are engaging in
dodgy financial practices,

it's a good thing to
have political friends

in high places.

[choir chanting]

He was very gullible, very
willing to accept claims

of other people who
said that they could

help him and protect
him and support him

in one way or another.

They extracted a
very high price.

Gelli's power depended, to a
large extent, on blackmail.

It was one of the key
instruments of the P2 regime.

Even the membership
forms said, do you

have any useful information
on people that we can use?

Gelli wanted to tap
that information

to make blackmail
part of his toolkit.

Once you get into the
system, you're bought.

You do one deal, you're stuck.

All they have to do is
turn you in for that deal.

The P2 membership lists and
a lot of important documents

are then spirited away
and kept in the safe.

Gelli used his position in the
P2 to get money out of Calvi.

He was certainly using
this for self enrichment,

along with whatever
political program he

may have had in mind.

Three months after his
initiation into P2,

Calvi achieves his
career ambition.

In 1975, Calvi becomes
one of the most important

financial men in all of Italy.

Ambrosiano is no longer
just a small regional bank.

It is one of a handful of
the largest banks in Italy.

With regional banks
across the country,

with relationships with
corresponding banks

in nearly 20
different countries,

Ambrosiano is
reporting big profits.

Calvi is living his
dream, his rise now

complete as Sindona's fortunes
continue their tumble.

Their career trajectories
crossing at that time--

Calvi on his way up,
Sindona on his way down.

After the collapse
of Sindona, Calvi

stepped into Sindona's
shoes as a financial advisor

to the Vatican, and he
became increasingly close

to Archbishop Marcinkus.

By the mid '70s, the church has
an active banking relationship

with almost a dozen
Calvi-controlled shell

companies.

After his losses that he
has with Sindona, Marcinkus

makes the amateur
investor mistake of,

I lost that money on Amazon.

I'm going to make it up
double here on Facebook.

Increase the risk to get back
the money that had been lost.

And that's what Marcinkus
does with Calvi.

Gives Calvi tremendous
power, but for Marcinkus,

it's a dangerous move
further down the rabbit hole.

[rioting sounds]

Italy is in real crisis.

The lira is now worth 40%
less than three months ago.

The economy in Italy
continues to sputter.

Safe financial havens abroad
for the wealthy's money

become more
attractive than ever.

Italy, in the 1970s, had
incredibly strict laws

against currency exploitation.

For Calvi and his
clients, the IOR

becomes instrumental in
hiding their capital.

And where does the money go?

Ambrosiano's branch in
Lugano, Switzerland.

It becomes the safe
haven for the rich.

Hm.

But not legally.

No.

And now the penalty, if
caught, is prison time.

So the stakes are
rising for Calvi.

And Sindona.

Sindona is already screwed.

Sindona gets into deep trouble.

He's wanted on both
sides of the Atlantic.

The mafiosi want
their money back.

[phone ringing]

He's in a desperate situation.

At a certain point,
the Italian state

puts an investigator
on the trail

of what's happening to
his Italian operation.

It's a guy called Giorgio
Ambrosoli in Milan.

That means the beginning
of the end for Sindona.

Giorgio Ambrosoli is not
prepared to cut Sindona

any slack.

Of course, Sindona hated him.

As Sindona becomes
increasingly desperate,

he decides to use
blackmail to put pressure

on people who might be in
a position to help him.

And Calvi is one of
the first targets.

Sindona hires this
blackmail artist.

[music playing]

[engine revving]

On a certain day of
1977, Luigi Cavallo

puts posters in the
streets of Milan

bearing the words,
"Roberto Calvi in jail,"

and accusing him of fraud,
false accounting, embezzlement,

and other crimes.

Well, the giant posters
really drew Banco Ambrosiano

to the attention of the Bank
of Italy and to the magistrates

in Milan.

Giulio Padalino is an
investigating magistrate

who decides that he's
investigating Ambrosiano.

That's bad for Calvi.

Calvi doesn't know how bad it is
until his offices are actually

raided.

A group of investigators
pick up paperwork,

they pick up files
and everything else.

So Calvi goes to Licio Gelli,
and he asks for assistance

on doing something on this
fellow called Padalino.

Calvi was already
deep into a web

where he would take money
from your bank account

and put it into a Calvi thing,
so that when a bank audit was

taking place, his
books would look

better than they really were.

Every time you're
doing stuff like that,

there's a kind of
tax to be paid.

You need to keep people
happy and keep them quiet,

and so you're making worse and
worse decisions as a banker.

Calvi's offshore dummy
companies had borrowed dollars,

but the shares that
they bought were lira.

The problem is that there
was another currency

crisis in the '70s.

I want to have a frank talk with
you tonight about inflation.

As a way of fighting
inflation, the Federal Reserve

decided to sharply
push up interest rates.

And this caused the value of
the dollar to rise sharply.

So imagine you have
a debt that you

have to pay that's
in dollars, and you

have an asset which is in lira.

And suddenly, the burden
of the debt is doubled.

That led to the collapse
of Calvi's scheme.

If things continued this
way, there was a real risk

that Calvi could lose control
of the bank, the chairmanship

of Banco Ambrosiano.

He knows that if someone like
Roberto Rosone, his deputy,

gains control, they will
uncover all of his shell games,

and he'll be finished.

So that's when he starts
buying up shares of Ambrosiano.

Oh, yes.

It was a bank that had a very
diffuse shareholding structure,

so he didn't need to
have anywhere near 50%

to control it.

And the offshore
dumping companies

that he controlled
collectively owned 20%.

And that was enough?

Yes, that was enough
for him to have

voting control of the bank.

And when Bank of
Italy supervisors

found that these obscure
offshore companies collectively

owned 20% of the bank,
that was a red flag.

Why?

Who are these companies?

[music playing]

In 1979, Sindona and Calvi's
legal troubles increase.

They begin a string of
events that will bring Calvi

ever closer to his doom.

In New York, Sindona is indicted
in a 99-count indictment

from federal prosecutors that
charge fraud, misappropriation,

conspiracy.

Two weeks after Sindona
was indicted in New York,

Giorgio Ambrosoli came out with
a 10-pound, 2000-page report

that was stunning.

The entire Ambrosoli
report, it essentially

shows how Sindona has used
Franklin National as a conduit

to pass through millions of
dollars in his paper phantom

ghost bank empire and ran
Franklin National down

to the bare bones, having
really looted the company.

[music playing]

It is a devastating
report and is

a major obstacle to getting
Sindona out of the trouble

that he's in.

Ambrosoli knew exactly that
he might have been k*lled.

But he did his
duty nevertheless.

[music playing]

[striking match]

Sindona was kind
of a loose cannon.

He begins first
threatening Ambrosoli

and then, eventually, actually
contracts to have him k*lled.

[g*nshots]

Sindona is becoming a liability
to his former friends.

If you are the Mafia,
looking to recycle money,

Pippo Calo was a
shrewd character

who sensed which way
the wind was blowing.

And so because Sindona is
beginning to fall apart,

the Corleonesi begin using
Calvi's bank as their money

laundering vehicle.

He was being drained of
huge amounts of money

by Licio Gelli and his
lobbyists and fixers.

[music playing]

Angela?

Jeff Katz from Kroll.

I look forward to joining
you at the crime scene

today and seeing you
work some of your magic.

We were quite a
good pair, really.

Jeff was absolutely amazing.

He had an encyclopedic
knowledge of this case.

His passion for
investigation matched mine

for forensic investigation.

When I first started
to get into it,

I thought long and hard
about what I could do,

how I could use the scientific
knowledge I had to help.

Forensic science is all
about physical evidence,

looking for tiny traces
of material or marks.

I was very keen to look at
the items that were available

and that the original
scientists had examined.

And they had notes on
them, and there were people

I could talk to about it.

They had compared the five
stones or part bricks that

had been recovered
from his pockets

with similar bricks and
stones on a building site

fairly near to
Blackfriars Bridge.

And they decided
that these items had

come from that building site.

I also had a look
at the items that

had been examined originally.

One of the watches
was a wristwatch

that was very badly corroded.

The other one, a pocketwatch,
wasn't so badly affected.

You couldn't see that
water had flooded into it.

Under Blackfriars
Bridge, the water

sort of rushed to either
side of the supports

as the tides were
coming in and out.

But you also had
the wash created

by passing river traffic,
which could raise

the level of the river
locally by about two

or three feet a night.

So the less badly damaged
watch was probably

in the upper pocket, and
the wristwatch was probably

on his wrist, which would
have been under water

at a certain period of time.

And it had stopped
at 1:52, which

might have been important.

I was particularly
interested in the shoes

because they could reflect
some of the last things Calvi

had walked over,
including, for example,

the stones on the foreshore.

The scaffolding-- he'd
have to have walked

along or up the scaffolding.

And I needed some help from
a forensic chemist, who's

a specialist in footwear
and marks in footwear

and the marks footwear makes.

We were interested
in paint because some

of the bars of the scaffolding
had yellow and green paint

on it.

And so the soles and the
lower parts of the uppers

would have been
of great interest.

This was an incident about
which there were still

questions to be answered.

The framework I
constructed consisted

of thinking about the
routes by which Calvi could

have got on the scaffolding.

And I decided there were
probably four main routes--

two suicide routes
and two m*rder routes.

And these were the ones that
I was going to focus on.

Pope Paul VI is dead.

The great and the humble
come to pay their respects

as Pope Paul lies in state.

August 1978, Marcinkus faces
his greatest crisis to date

when he loses his
ally at the Vatican.

Obviously, this is
a cause for concern

for Marcinkus's consolidated
position of power

within the Vatican.

Everything could
change depending

on who the new man is.

The vast numbers waiting
outside St. Peter's Basilica

confidently expected
a conservative

to occupy the papal throne.

The choice of a new pope
is bad news for Marcinkus.

Albino Luciani, patriarch
of Venice, was a surprise.

[applause]

The person who's elected
is Albino Luciani,

this man that he'd quarreled
with over the Banca Cattolica

del Veneto.

He's known as The Smiling Pope.

He seems like a loose
cannon in the Vatican

and a man who's known for his
hard line on financial probity.

Things are not looking
good for Marcinkus.

And then, after 33 days,
there was a scandal

that broke the church.

A faithful nun would bring him
a cup of coffee in the morning.

He failed to pick up the
coffee from outside his door.

She knocked and entered and
discovered the dead body

of the pope.

[glass shattering]

The almost incredible news
is released to the world.

Pope John Paul I is dead.

In order not to
admit the possibility

that a woman might have gone
into the pope's bedroom,

the Vatican officially announced
that the body had been found

by one of his male secretaries.

So from the very beginning,
you had contradictions

in the official account.

It's not just a comedy of
errors, it's a disaster.

The idea that has
emerged is that, given

that it's a serious sin
for Catholics to lie,

if the Vatican was
lying officially

on so many of these details,
they would only be doing it

for a very important reason--

to cover up something
that was even worse

than a lie, such as m*rder.

If he was m*rder*d,
the financial motive

is the most plausible one.

If he was threatening
to clean up,

people think Marcinkus could
well have objected strongly.

Whatever caused
Luciani's passing,

it is a fortunate turn
of events for Marcinkus,

one that could not have
happened at a better time.

A month later,
Giulio Padalino, who

had been leading
the investigation

into Roberto Calvi and
the Banco Ambrosiano,

goes public with his report.

Marcinkus and the IOR find
themselves implicated.

The extreme right-wing forces
present in Latin America

and engaged in the
struggle against communism

and in these dirty wars
involving human rights

abuses and t*rture and m*rder.

[drill instruction]

P2 is part of that story.

It is a part of the global
reach of the organization

and an indication of
how important it was.

Gelli had drained millions
of dollars out of the bank.

And there had also
been some bad loans

that Calvi was forced to
make by the P2 leaders.

They would basically
extort him or pressure

him to lend to certain parties
who should not have been

allowed to borrow that much.

[music playing]

Marcinkus is basically an
officer of the Vatican state,

and therefore, Italy has
no jurisdiction over him.

With Calvi, they certainly do.

This was the first serious
major investigation that said,

something stinks in Ambrosiano.

[music playing]

With Sindona and Calvi
both now compromised,

the stakes could not be higher.

Or could they?

[music playing]

Enter into this
tinderbox John Paul

II, a cold warrior
driven to defeat

the communists at all costs.

The arrival of a new pope
will have unseen and deadly

consequences for Roberto Calvi.

[music playing]

[bell ringing]

[thunder rumbling]

[music playing]