Roberto Calvi's body was discovered forty-two years ago today, beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London. The 62-year-old chairman of Banco Ambrosiano had been missing for a week, having fled Italy under an assumed identity using a forged passport. His pockets contained £9,700 in various currencies and five bricks weighing 12lbs – a discovery that ignited a decades-long mystery entwined with the Vatican, organised crime, and Italy's tumultuous political landscape.
Calvi had been at the centre of a financial scandal in 1978 when Banco Ambrosiano was found to have illegally exported billions of lire. The bank, established in 1896 with strong links to the Catholic Church, was struggling under a reported £1.1bn shortfall. Calvi himself had been convicted and fined in 1981 for breaching Italian currency laws, while Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, President of the Vatican Bank, had provided 'letters of patronage' supporting unsecured loans to shell companies in South America.
The era of 'Anni di piombo' (Years of Lead), during which Calvi operated, was marked by widespread violence and corruption. His connections seemed to touch every sphere: Mafia threats forced his Deputy Chairman, Carlo de Benedetti, to resign within two months; de Benedetti's successor, Roberto Rosone, was shot and wounded in Milan after pressing Calvi for information on the bank's finances.
Calvi's death, initially ruled a suicide, has been shrouded in controversy. The presence of bricks in his pockets and the manner of his hanging led many to suspect foul play – a 'message' from organised crime rather than a self-inflicted act. This enduring ambiguity has spawned numerous theories, cementing Calvi's legacy as an enigmatic figure at the intersection of finance, faith, and crime.