Michele Sindona
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Michele Sindona (known in banking circles as "The Shark", May 8, 1920 - March 22, 1986) was an Italian banker and convicted felon. Sindona was a member of Propaganda Due, an Italian lodge of Masons, and had clear connections to the Mafia. He was poisoned in prison while serving a life sentence for the murder of lawyer Giorgio Ambrosoli.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early years
Born at Patti, Sicily, of poor parents, Michele Sindona was educated by the Jesuits, showing very early in his life an unusual aptitude for mathematics and economics. He graduated with a law degree from Messina University in 1942 then after he moved from Sicily to the north where he worked as a tax lawyer and an accountant for companies such as Società Generale Immobiliare and Snia Viscosa, but immediately turned away from Law and began working in smuggling operations with the Mafia. He soon moved to Milan and his skill and dexterity in transferring money to avoid taxation soon became known to the Mafia bosses. By 1957 he had become closely associated with the Gambino family and was chosen to manage their profits from heroin sales.
[edit] Becoming an international banker
Within a year of the Gambino family choosing him to manage their heroin profits, Michele Sindona had bought his first bank. He also became associated with Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini and became firm friends because the future Pope found his financial skill indispensable. By the time Montini became Pope, Sindona had acquired, through his holding company Fasco, many more Italian banks and his progress continued right up to the beginning of his association with the Vatican Bank in 1968. Huge amounts of money moved from Sindona's banks through the Vatican to Swiss banks, and began speculating against major currencies on a large scale.
In 1972, Sindona purchased a controlling interest in Long Island's Franklin National Bank. He was hailed as "the saviour of the lira" and was named "Man of the Year" in January 1974 by American Ambassdaor to Italy John Volpe.
[edit] Il crack Sindona
However, in April 1974 a sudden stock market crash led to what is known as Il Crack Sindona. The Franklin Bank's profit fell by as much as 98 percent compared to the previous year, and Sindona suffered a 40 million dollar loss, with the result that Sindona began losing most of the banks he had acquired over the previous seventeen years. On October 8, 1974, the bank was declared insolvent due to mismanagement and fraud, involving losses in foreign currency speculation and poor loan policies [1].
According to the Mafia turncoat (pentito) Francesco Marino Mannoia Sindona laundered the proceeds of heroin trafficking for the Bontade-Spatola-Inzerillo-Gambino network. The mafiosi were determined to get their money back and would play an important role in Sindona's attempt to save his banks.
[edit] Arrest, trial and death
On July 11, 1979, Giorgio Ambrosoli, the lawyer commissioned liquidator of Sindona's banks, was murdered in Milan. Councilman instructor of Milan Antonio Amati gave the case to a young judge Giuliano Turone. It was discovered that Michele Sindona ordered Ambrosoli's murder (which was carried out by an American assassin). At the same time the Mafia killed police superintendent Boris Giuliano in Palermo who was investigating the Mafia’s heroin trafficking and had contacted Ambrosoli just two weeks before to compare investigations.
While under indictment in the US, Sindona staged a bogus kidnapping in August 1979 to conceal a mysterious 11-week trip to Sicily before his scheduled fraud trial. The brother in law of Mafia boss Stefano Bontade, Giacomo Vitale (just like Bontate a freemason), was one of the persons who organised Sindona’s travel. The real purpose of the kidnapping was to issue sparsely disguised blackmail notes to Sindona’s past political allies – among them Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti – to engineer the rescue of his banks and recuperate Cosa Nostra’s money.
He threatened Enrico Cuccia, president of the Mediobanca who was opposed to the reorganization/rescue plan. In Palermo, Sindona went to the house of Joseph Miceli Crimi, an American-Italian doctor and freemason. Miceli Crimi later admitted to the judges that he went to Arezzo to talk with Licio Gelli about Sindona's situation. Licio Gelli then started to interest two judges, Giuliano Turone and Gherardo Colombo. The people around Sindona, trying to save him, all led to Licio Gelli, headmaster of P2: Rodolfo Guzzi, Sindona's lawyer ; Pier Sandro Magnoni, his brother-in-law; Philip Guarino and Paul Rao, two freemasons who met Licio Gelli a couple of hours after being received by Giulio Andreotti. Hereafter, the Milan judges ordered a search of all of Gelli's addresses.
The plot failed and after his "release" from the kidnappers Sindona surrendered to the FBI. Convicted in 1980 in the United States on 65 counts including fraud, perjury, false bank statements and misappropriation of bank funds, "The Shark" was sentenced to 25 years in prison on March 27, 1984. On March 18, 1986, he was poisoned in his cell in a prison of Voghera while serving a life sentence for the murder of Giorgio Ambrosoli. [2] [3].
[edit] Miscellaneous
- The Italian satirical magazine Cuore referred to former Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti as Giulio "Lavazza", where Lavazza is a famous brand of Italian coffee. This was a hint of an alleged involvement of Andreotti in Sindona's assassination.
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
- Yallop, David (1984). In God's Name: An Investigation Into The Murder of Pope John Paul I. Jonathan Cape.
[edit] External links
- Article (in Italian) on Propaganda Due
