Niccolo Mainoni
Appearances
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
Friends of the Pod subscribers can listen to the full season of Shadow Kingdom right now. Join Friends of the Pod at crooked.com slash friends or on Apple Podcasts.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
On the day of, Patienza made his way to the address and went up a few flights of stairs to the room. And there he saw God's banker. Suit, tie, mustache. Calvi was seated. So he gets up and he shakes your hand.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
Do you remember the handshake? Yeah. You just shook my hand and it was kind of limp.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
Oh, you think it's emblematic of him? Emblematic. Very emblematic. So you shake his hand. It's limp. Then what happens?
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
You're making a gesture that you're taking out documents from a briefcase. Pazienza said he laid out the documents showing Calvi's secret transfers between the Vatican, the Ambrosiano, and its offshore companies.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
He told Calvi, I don't give a shit about you. Maybe you don't understand, I only care about the Pope. Patienza thought this was a true conspiracy against the Pope inside the Vatican. And he said he didn't want to be a part of it, Patienza was on their side.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
Pazienza is saying here that he ripped up the document in front of Calvi, handed it to him, and told him he didn't have any other copies. I had to ask this a few ways to confirm with Pazienza. But basically, he waltzed into Calvi's office and showed the banker blackmail material on the Vatican Bank, then tore it up.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
From there, Pazienza told Calvi he was ready to quit the Italian CIA, that he didn't have a special allegiance to the left-leaning cardinals. And Pazienza, anti-communist soldier, thought he'd be better off working privately for the banker.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
And you tell him, yeah, but only if I do exactly what I want.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
This sounded unbelievable, except that it was confirmed in every book, every article I've read about Patienza's hiring. In early 1981, he became Calvi's fixer for about a half a million dollars a year. Instead of fucking over Marcinkis, Patienza quit being a spy and went to work for the covert Marcinkis-Calvi Cold War slush fund syndicate. What did that actually involve?
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
Though Polish officials didn't want to allow the Pope's visit, denying his entry meant that they'd face a possible riot. No other Pope had managed to slip behind the Iron Curtain before, but this Pope, the Polish Pope, he made his way in, which was unbelievable. Christ had breached the Iron Curtain. The West had breached the Curtain.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
Well, Calvi normally moved through loans and wire transfers. But to ensure that the money was untraceable, the best way here was to go with literal cash, gold, preferably, moved across borders. One story that Pazienza told me was about a call he got from Archbishop Marcinkis. He said that the Pope wanted to transport $3 million in gold across the Iron Curtain to a Polish anti-communist group.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
Pazienza flew the money to Calvi's associates in Switzerland, where the currency could be converted to small ingots of 99.99% pure gold. Pazienza then brought the gold back into Italy, and then to the border of Italy and Yugoslavia. There, he met a priest who would drive the gold to Poland in a small car.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
Pacienza said he checked every inch of this beat-up Soviet car, then he put a false bottom for the gold.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
Pacienza told the priest, when you arrive at your destination in Danzig, Poland, give me a call. The code is Tanti Aguri, which is Italian for happy birthday. So Pacienza said day one passed and he stayed near his phone. Day two passed and still he waited. On day three, Pazienza began to get nervous.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
And it wasn't just in Poland. Potenza told me he helped Calvi and Marcinkus send money to anti-communist groups in Latin American countries, like Costa Rica and Panama. And Calvi, in return, got to keep using the Vatican's money and reputation to keep his bank afloat, just as he had hoped.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
I have to admit, though these stories are great, it's hard to totally corroborate everything Patsensa has told me. But when it comes to the basic question of did the Vatican task Calvi with moving funds to anti-communist groups, there's a document I mentioned earlier that confirms it all for me. Remember back in episode one,
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
When I talked about the letter Calvi had written to the Pope just days before he died, the one where he proclaims the Pope to be his last hope, a copy of which was also discovered tucked away in Calvi's briefcase, In Italian, Calvi wrote, quote, it was I who willingly took on the mistakes and faults of the Vatican Bank.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
It was I who, on precise orders from your representatives, arranged for money to get to entities throughout the East. In his final weeks, fearing for his safety, Calvi leveraged what he knew to try and get the Pope's protection. He's begging and threatening all at the same time But why was Calvi so scared in those final days?
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
Every Catholic who grew up during the Cold War probably knows about this trip. It was like a grudge match. The Pope facing off against the communists. At stake was the fate of Poland.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
I know generally about the mafia and the fascist Freemasons, and I'd learn more about the specifics of Calvi's death. But in the spring of 1981, something happened that would really set Calvi on edge. Pazienza told me everything was going smoothly in their new money movement operation for the first few months. But then he got a call from the Pope's right-hand man.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
Potenza rushed to St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, where Pope John Paul II was shot, but was caught in a sea of worshipers, of priests and journalists. Potenza regrouped with Calvi and Marcinkus to judge the fallout. And very quickly, Suspicion drifted toward the Soviet Union.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
And in the year to come, Calvi would become increasingly afraid for his own personal safety and increasingly desperate. If the Pope's anti-communist activities made him a target, if the Pope with his own security force could be shot in broad daylight, what might happen to Roberto Calvi? Calvi had poked the biggest bears in Italian society at this point.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
From the Soviets to the Freemasons to the Mafia, there were a ton of powerful people with motives to punish Roberto Calvi. In just a few days after the Pope was shot, someone finally did come for God's Banker, but it wasn't P2 or the Russians. It was the police. That's next time on Shadow Kingdom.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
I've heard this story from my grandmother, who watched the scene from her television in Rome, but I never actually saw the images until now. In front of millions, and I mean millions, of Poles, Pope John Paul II strode confidently on a platform that was half altar, half Monsters of Rock stage, He was calm, like he knew exactly what he was doing.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
Shadow Kingdom is a production of Crooked Media and Campside Media. It's hosted and reported by me, Niccolo Mainoni, with additional reporting by Simona Zecchi and Joe Hawthorne. The show is written by Joe Hawthorne, Ashley Ann Krigbaum, and me. Joe Hawthorne is our lead producer, and Ashley Ann Krigbaum is our managing producer. Tracy Samuelson is our story editor.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
Sound design, mix, and mastering by Mark McAdam. Our theme song and original score are composed by me and Mark McAdam. Our studio engineer is Ewen Lai-Tremuin. Voice acting by Bonnie Biagini, Andrea Bianchi, Ferrante Cosma, Luca De Gennaro, Michele Teodori, and Mustafa Zialan. Field recording by Justin Trieger, Jonathan Zenty, Pete Shev, Jonathan Gruber, and Joanna Broder.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
Fact-checking by Zoe Sullivan. Our executive producers are me, Niccolo Mainoni, along with Sarah Geismar, Katie Long, and Allison Falsetta from Crooked Media. Josh Dean, Adam Hoff, Matt Scher, and Vanessa Grigoriadis are the executive producers at Campside Media. One last thing before we go. You can also listen to Shadow Kingdom in Italian.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
Look up Il Banchiere di Dio wherever you get your podcasts.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
He knew that his next move could change the course of Polish history and really world history. Would he encourage Poles to rise up against communism and risk their lives? Or would he play it safe?
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
with police and spies for the KGB watching in the wings, John Paul didn't explicitly tell his country folk to fight, but he did tell them to keep living the life that God wanted for them, to keep going to church, keep supporting trade unions in defiance of Soviet policies.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
Then the Pope looked out into the crowd and paused. I assumed that there'd be mass arrests erupting at this point, but no. At the end of the homily, the Polish crowds began to sing.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
Then the crowds chanted, We want God. Some say the cheers went on for 14 minutes as Soviet police looked on helplessly.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
— It was a hot day in 1979 when Pope John Paul II's plane touched down on the Polish runway. Half the world was monitoring the plane's itinerary on television.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
It's clear from the videos that emotions were running high throughout this demonstration of Catholic faith in the heart of Soviet Poland. But even with over a million devotees of Pope John Paul standing in the heart of Warsaw and thousands of cops at the ready, the day didn't end in violence, but a revolution had begun.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
The Pope spent nine days in his mother country, nine triumphant days, according to a New York Times headline. And when he went back to Rome, the Pope was determined to keep the momentum up. He wanted to throw fuel on the anti-communist fire. He wanted to keep the resistance alive. And what the resistance needed now was money, lots of it.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
But the Pope couldn't just deliver hundreds of thousands of dollars to them. This was the Cold War. And if the money was traced back to the Vatican, hell, if it was detected by the Soviets at all, it could incite a violent backlash against his beloved Polish Catholics. Or worse, it could begin a full-on war.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
The Pope needed someone who could come up with the money and smuggle it across the world without being traced. Someone who was in a desperate enough position to do whatever the church asked him to do. And in the early 80s, there was one banker who fit the bill perfectly. From crooked media and campsite media, this is Shadow Kingdom, God's Banker.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
I'm Niccolo Mainoni, and this is episode four, The Priest and the Spy.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
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Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
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Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
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Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
He'd been pope only eight months, the first non-Italian pope in over 400 years. And as a proud Polish citizen, he was returning to his homeland for the first time since taking on the papacy. But it wasn't just a homecoming. It was an incredibly dangerous political act.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
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Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
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Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
That is L-U-M-E-N dot M-E slash kingdom for 20% off your purchase. Thank you, Lumen, for sponsoring this episode. So the Pope needed a banker to make his money disappear, and Calvi, whose name had been outed in a secret Masonic conspiracy, needed a high-powered patron to bounce back. And they, the Pope and Calvi, would come together via a six-foot-two rugby-playing bishop.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
Archbishop Paul Marcinkus was an American from the outskirts of Chicago. Author Gerald Posner shared more.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
And in 1971, shortly before meeting Calvi, Marcinkas added a new title to his Vatican resume. President of the Vatican Bank. Did he have the financial experience to lead a bank? No. But did that stop him?
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
Investment people like Roberto Calvi, After his 1979 trip to Poland, Pope John Paul II started to privately invite officials from the CIA to give him regular briefings and also invited Polish protest leaders to talk strategy. He told Archbishop Marcinkus that he wanted to support the Polish resistance financially.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
According to multiple reporters and the bishop himself, it was now Marcinkus' duty to get money to the Polish anti-communist groups without being caught. So, of course, Marcinkus turned to Calvi, who had already perfected the art of making Vatican cash disappear. Gerald Posner again.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
As God's banker, Calvi would also become an anti-communist cash smuggler. You're probably thinking, why does the Vatican Bank, the one that can make money disappear, need Calvi to help them move funds anonymously? Well, the Vatican Bank is like a black box. Cash that went in could disappear. And then it was a simple transfer to Switzerland or the Bahamas.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
But as Posner told me, this holy war was more complicated. You weren't just transferring money to some Western hub, you were sending money behind enemy lines, which required a higher level of skill and anonymity, often physically smuggling money and material. Plus, the Polish economy was on the verge of collapse, and the Vatican Bank had liquidity issues.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
Because Poland at that time was 90% Catholic, and Poles were desperate to see their beloved son come home. But Poland was also communist, part of the Soviet bloc. And communist leaders saw religion, and the Catholic Church in particular, as a threat, a rival. They'd been trying to banish Christianity in Poland for decades.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
the Pope needed someone who could deploy millions ASAP. So according to Calvi's written account, the Vatican asked for his help to find sources of cash and also ensure that cash was received behind the Iron Curtain. And to Calvi, this seemed like the best way to gain some salvation from his own critical debt situation.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
Gerald Posner told me that after the P2 membership list was outed, many of Calvi's investors wanted to distance themselves from him.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
Which meant less cash in Calvi's bank. This created a problem for Calvi. The money that he would normally use to keep his operation going was drying up. If he was in the Pope's good graces, perhaps he could leverage that trust to gain more support for his bank.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
He needed to make sure that the church kept the investments they already had in his bank, Banco Ambrosiano, as other investors were jumping ship. And so, Calvi got to work. But soon after, Calvi received word from a spy who said he knew all about his plans with the Vatican and he wanted to meet with Calvi or else. Espresso, pre-interview espresso is being made.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
It's the summer of 2023, another sweltering day in Italy, and I'm in what looks like a pool house at a villa waiting for an espresso to be made before my source is willing to talk to me. He didn't give me his address until a few minutes before the interview, which I'm getting used to at this point. Do you have a favorite place to sit somewhere? I put my ass wherever I want.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
You put your ass wherever you want? Yeah. He lights up his pipe and will continue to do so, refilling and lighting throughout our five-hour interview.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
Francesco, Frank, Pazienza is a jack of all trades. He was a medical doctor, a hard-nosed businessman, and most importantly, Pacienza used to be a spy, working for the Italian version of the CIA.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
Posner told me that if I wanted to understand how Calvi and the Pope were working together to send money behind the Iron Curtain, I had to talk to Pacienza, because at the time, he was spying on the Vatican. You see, one of the dirty secrets I've learned about the Vatican was that cardinals and bishops were all spying on each other.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
One rival cardinal apparently hired Pacienza to dig up dirt on Archbishop Marcinkus. And so what do you, he tells you this, he implies, fuck Marcinkus. What are you thinking? What's going on in your head?
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
Frank Pacienza had to find a document so scandalous that it could take down Marcinkis. So Pacienza worked his connections and said he found damning financial statements between Marcinkis, Sindona, and Calvi. He wouldn't go into more detail except to say this would have undermined the Calvi-Marcinkis covert operation. The two men would be exposed before they'd barely begun.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
In the 70s, protests and strikes were breaking out in multiple cities across the country. And now, here were over a million pro-Christian and likely anti-communist citizens all together lining the streets of Warsaw, amped up for their pope.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 4. The Priest and the Spy
But being a very Italian spy, Pazienza didn't bring this information to the cardinal who hired him. He had his own agenda. He made contact with Calvi. And then the banker invited him to meet. The rendezvous was set for an office on Via della Conciliazione in Rome, the massive boulevard that goes from the Tiber River to the doors of St. Peter's Basilica.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Friends of the Pod subscribers can listen to the full season of Shadow Kingdom right now. Join Friends of the Pod at crooked.com slash friends or on Apple Podcasts. As the sun rose on a spring day in 1981... Police officers in unmarked cars drove south from Milan, past fields, farms, and small towns, until they arrived at a mattress factory and knocked on the door.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Through his research, Gruen was able to sketch the details of an early meeting between Calvi and Gelli. It was around 1970, a decade before the raid on P2, and Calvi was still a mid-level executive looking for a leg up. His then-mentor, Michele Sindona, recommended Calvi to Gelli.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
When Calvi entered Gelli's office, he saw a wide desk with letters from senators, CEOs, celebrities, exactly the type of people Calvi had always wanted to hang out with, always wanted to be. So I can imagine how flattered and how charmed Calvi must have been when Jelly told him, we want you, Calvi. I want you.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Talking to Gerwin, there's no doubt that when Gelli looked at Calvi, he saw dollar signs, or lira signs, I should say. Calvi was an up-and-coming executive in one of Italy's biggest banks, a bank that was increasingly international in its business. And that was handy because Gelli's pro-fascist, anti-communist ambitions weren't limited to Italy.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
The police pushed open the factory doors and were greeted by a secretary who led them to the second floor. As the officers climbed upstairs, they weren't quite sure what to expect. They were hoping to find a paper trail of where the mafia was moving its money, so they scoured desk drawers and bookshelves for documents, all while a secretary kept a close and silent watch on them.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
At one point, Jelly was planning weapons sales to Argentina. Another time, he wanted to orchestrate oil transfers in Libya. Calvi could move money quickly and secretly to make those deals happen.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
In return, Jelly offered Calvi connections and protection. If Calvi joined P2, Jelly said he could start doing favors for him and help him get promoted.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Jelly cultivated an aura that only he had these connections. Only Jelly could connect Calvi with important politicians and executives. He could get the nobility to respect Calvi in a way the banker had never been able to do on his own. Calvi loved the idea of this. He was new to being rich and very preoccupied, borderline paranoid with the idea of an elite cabal running Italy.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Being part of P2 meant that no one would mess with you. And if they did, you'd have very powerful friends on your side. And this was also really appealing to Calvi because Italy wasn't the safest place at the time.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Italy was going through an economic boom, but it was also extremely dangerous. My parents remember this time well. I grew up hearing stories about how their city was bombed, how you'd hear gunshots in the night. These were called , the years of lead, because there were thousands of shootings and terrorist attacks from the mafia, the communists, and the neo-fascists.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Society was extremely unstable. Every bank executive could be kidnapped for ransom by domestic terrorists. Or they might have their bank raided by left-wing regulators. Jelly could sense that Calvi was afraid of the world around him, a fear that bordered on paranoia. And the Grandmaster fed it by inventing threats to Calvi that P2 could magically take care of.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Jelly would call Calvi multiple times after their first meeting. He'd say, there was an attempt to arrest you. Or, there was an attempt on your life, but I foiled it. And somehow, Calvi felt safer.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
P2 had connections to media, business leaders, judges, police, spies, even the mafia. And Calvi wrote in later letters that Gelli, quote, had been convinced that all political and financial power really depended on him. And so, according to Gerwin, by the summer of 1975, Roberto Calvi was sold. he pledged himself to the Freemasons and pledged himself to Licio Gelli.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
It didn't take long until they found a briefcase belonging to the factory's owner, Licio Gelli.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
His signed, sealed oath went into Gelli's safe. From there, it only took Calvi a few months to reach the pinnacle, promotion to chairman of the Banco Ambrosiano, Roberto Calvi's ultimate goal. The thing was, He had tied himself to Li Zhezhe and the P2 masons. He owed them. They expected his loyalty. And there's a reason nobody wanted to talk with me about Propaganda Due.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
People who defied or even slighted P2 met with violent ends. Very violent. That's after the break. As my conversation with Gerwin went on, I became increasingly disturbed. Here was yet another well-respected journalist who covered Calvi at the time, and here he was confirming the more conspiratorial parts of the story.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
I asked Erwin about the documents Tirona's men found in Gelli's office, the ones that included plans for a takeover of the Italian state.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Strategia della tensione. It meant that violence was at the heart of Jelly's plan. He wanted to destabilize the country through kidnappings, shootings, and mass arrests. Then, when people were looking for answers, P2-controlled media outlets would pump out propaganda about how nice it'd be to have a strong man fix everything.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Communist groups were staging student revolts and worker strikes, some of which turned violent. But what Gerwin is saying here is that some fascist groups, including possibly P2, planted terrorist attacks that they'd then blame on the communists.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
And after Calvi became bank chairman, Jelly started regularly pressuring Calvi to fund some of his other P2 projects, propaganda projects to build on the P2 playbook.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
With Calvi's help, Gelli filled the ownership board, the editorial board, and the writers' room with P2 members. From there, Jelly got Calvi to invest in foreign mining, construction, real estate, banking, even arms deals.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
One day, the Grand Master would ask for help with Saudi construction projects. Another day, he'd get Calvi to open a friendly Argentine bank. Each deal got Gelli closer to powerful leaders who shared his politics, at least his hatred of communism, Peron, Noriega, even Ronald Reagan. And it didn't seem to matter how many times Calvi helped Gelli.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
There was always another request, always another quote-unquote business opportunity. So not that long after Calvi's promotion, Gerwin said he was losing millions, hundreds of millions of dollars. But rather than risk his precious job, Calvi covered up the losses.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
So what does he do? Calvi built a financial network so big and so complex that no one, even inside his bank, could follow his moves and losses. A labyrinth of foreign banks and shell companies, all owned by the Ambrosiano in Milan.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
When police opened Gelli's briefcase, they were in for a shock. Inside were documents that looked like a sprawling blueprint for a new world order. They were all about bringing Italy back to its glory days under fascism.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Gurman helped me understand this was Calvi's greatest skill and also his downfall. He could take big debts and bad loans and, as if by magic, put them in his briefcase and make them disappear. But of course, debts don't disappear. Eventually, they have to be paid back. Throughout the 70s, Calvi would have the Ambrosiano borrow money from big banks around the world.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
These are big institutions from America, England, Japan, you name it. He'd then take that money and loan it to companies in Europe and the Americas. So on paper, the Ambrosianos balance sheet looked good. Calvi's bank borrowed money, it loaned money, and it collected interest and then repaid those original debts.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
What no one knew was that Calvi was loaning that original money to shell companies he secretly controlled. Ghost companies that didn't really do anything other than collect Calvi money. But because they were offshore, no one regulator could see what he was doing. And here's the kicker. Some of his shell companies were actually using their loans from the Ambrosiano to buy stock in the Ambrosiano.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Sneaky. This was Calvi's way of driving up the bank's share price and cementing his power.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Paradoxically, this made it easier for Calvi to hide what he was doing because he filled the bank's board with yes-men. So each time Jelly called Calvi on his private line with a new request, the banker would squirm and then find a way to oblige the Grandmaster. Calvi racked up debt for Jelly in 1976, 77, 78, 79, 80, until 1981, when news of Tirona's raid and the list of P2 members hit the media.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Gelli had written a manifesto wherein Freemasons would carefully infiltrate the government, buy up all the major media outlets, destroy unions, silence journalists, take over the military, and eliminate communism. Turone's men looked back and forth at each other and then at the papers. What the hell had they just stumbled upon?
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Authorities started to ask questions about Calvi. Why was he on this shadowy list? Who was Calvi loaning money to? How safe were deposits at his bank? In public, Calvi presented a cool, calm demeanor, even denying he was a member of P2. But with all the bad press, Calvi had problems bringing in new investors and depositors. And as his debt mounted, Calvi tried avoiding Jelly.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
When the Mason would call, Gerwin says Calvi's family would cover for him. They'd say, he's in bed, he's sick, he's out. When they did talk, Calvi was a mess. The banker would plead poverty. He didn't have any more money for oil transfers, arms deals, for right-wing dictators, let alone newspaper ventures. But Jelly threatened Calvi. If you can't pay me, I have no use for you.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Calvi was at a loose end. His wife recalled those moments in a grainy PBS interview.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
When things would get tough and it felt like the world was closing in, Roberto Calvi would often retreat to his papers, his physical papers. Remember, this is the late 70s, early 80s. Calvi was old school. This is a rare recording of Calvi's son describing his father's habit.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Calvi's son, Carlo, said that when his father needed to focus, he'd take documents out of his leather briefcase, one by one. He'd lay chart after chart out on the desk. Then when the desk was full of papers, he'd move to the floor, laying each sheet down on the ground of his palatial office, piece by piece.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Then his eyes would dart from one piece of paper to the next, each eye movement representing a movement of cash. It was like a financial opera that only Maestro Calvi could hear. And by 1981, the opera was tragic. No matter how Calvi shuffled the papers on the floor, no matter how many times he recalculated his accounts and his debts, there was no way to make the numbers work.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
I can see it now, looking over Calvi's shoulder, the way he kept getting himself in deeper and deeper, how every time he obliged some new funding request from Gelli, it created a bigger problem for him down the road. Was Calvi naive enough to think Gelli and his friends would pay the Ambrosiano back? That he could keep adding new debt while juggling mafia payments?
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
I picture Calvi sinking into his chair, surrendering, doing what human beings do when everything falls apart, when the darkness overpowers the light, when everything seems lost. I imagine Calvi closing his eyes and praying for help. But while you and I might close our eyes and look up to an abstract God, Roberto Calvi called upon the literal representative of God on Earth.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Shadow Kingdom is a production of Crooked Media and Campside Media. It's hosted and reported by me, Niccolo Mainoni, with additional reporting by Simona Zecchi and Joe Hawthorne. The show is written by Joe Hawthorne, Ashley-Ann Krigbaum, and me. Joe Hawthorne is our lead producer, and Ashley-Ann Krigbaum is our managing producer. Tracy Samuelson is our story editor.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
At best, they thought they'd find a mafia-linked safe house or where dirty money was stashed, but cryptic documents about a shadowy government takeover, they definitely didn't see that coming. And they still had more of the factory to search. Meanwhile, the secretary just kept watching and waiting.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Sound design, mix, and mastering by Mark McAdam. Our theme song and original score are composed by me and Mark McAdam. Our studio engineer is Iwanlai Tramuyen. Voice acting by Bonnie Biagini, Andrea Bianchi, Ferrante Cosma, Luca De Gennaro, Michele Teodori, and Mustafa Zialan. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Gelli had a safe there. Great. But Gelli's secretary didn't have the keys. Not so great. It didn't take long, though, before Turone's men noticed the secretary fiddling with her purse.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
As the secretary made her way down the stairs, she pulled something shiny from her bag. It looked like she was going to pass a set of keys to someone who had just arrived. One of the cops, though, snuck down the steps, rushed behind the secretary, and actually grabbed the keys out of her hand. She was stunned for a moment. then recovered and said, be careful about what you're doing.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
My commander is a very powerful person. Turone's men ran back up the stairs, found the safe, jammed the key in the lock. Inside were what looked like loyalty oaths to a branch of Freemasons called Propaganda Due. signed documents that declared each member would obey the Masonic Lodge and the Grand Master.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
The safe held oaths from the country's most powerful military officers, from journalists, diplomats, professors, judges. There were at least 30 members of Italian parliament, two undersecretaries, government ministers, even future Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. According to these oaths, they had all joined Propaganda Due.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Turone's men seemed to have stumbled upon a master list of Propaganda Due members in Italy and beyond. And right in the middle was Roberto Calvi's name. From crooked media and campsite media, this is Shadow Kingdom, God's Banker. I'm Niccolo Mainoni, and this is episode three, The Grand Master.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
These men were working with Judge Giuliano Turone. Turone was famous for investigating the mafia in Milan, Calvi's hometown. He was convinced Calvi was involved with the mob. Turone retold the story to me.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Shadow Kingdom is brought to you by Lumen. I've spent years unraveling banking scandals, high-stakes legal battles, espionage networks, but there is one elusive mystery I have yet to crack. That is my metabolism. One day I wake up clear-headed, I'm focused, I'm ready to take on the world.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
The next, it's 3 p.m., and I'm hoping no one walks by my office and sees me in what I can only describe as an upright nap. Turns out... There's a reason for all of that. And lumen, which is essentially a forensic tool for your metabolism, helps you figure it out. Lumen is a handheld tracker that reads your metabolism through your breath.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
And keep in mind, your metabolism is your body's engine, meaning it's how you turn food into fuel. All you have to do is you blow in the device, you check the app, and it tells you whether you're burning carbs or fat at that moment. At first, I wasn't entirely sure why that mattered, but then you start to see the patterns.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
The days I wake up burning fat, I have steady energy, I'm focused, no mid-afternoon crashes. The days where I wake up burning carbs, I'm foggy, I'm sluggish, And here's the part that really matters. Lumen doesn't just tell you what's happening. It helps you change it. It gives you a personalized plan. What to eat, how to adjust workouts, even how sleep impacts your metabolism.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
So you're not just guessing. Take the next step to improving your health and go to lumen.me slash kingdom to get 20% off your Lumen. That is L-U-M-E-N dot M-E slash kingdom for 20% off your purchase. Thank you, Lumen, for sponsoring this episode. After I spoke with Turone, I was kind of dumbfounded.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Now I talked to both a mafia insider and a mafia prosecutor, both of whom believed that Calvi was working with the mafia. But Turone was adding another super secretive group into Calvi's world. What the heck was Propaganda 2? Even the group's name was mysterious. Propaganda 2. Was there a Propaganda 1?
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
What was this shadowy group, and why would Calvi, a fairly public banker, get involved with them? Well, I learned that Propaganda Due or P2, they're not your average Freemasons. Freemasonry's origins are murky, but it likely started 500 years ago as a trade group for actual masons in Scotland, as in stone and brick masons.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
From there, it spread to other professions and countries, eventually reaching the Americas.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Paul Revere, all Masons. There are still Masonic lodges and halls peppered around the U.S. Generally, it's more of a brotherhood type of community organization. But P2 in Italy... was a very different, elite kind of Masonic brotherhood. A bastion of uber-wealthy, occasionally hooded men plotting world domination.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
So, obviously, I started digging deeper into what P2 was. It turns out, though, that this is hard. If you're ever looking for an easy way to challenge yourself, you might try reporting on a secret Italian society from the Cold War.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
I tried calling former members, friends of members, investigators, and sometimes I'd get through. Salve, Niccolò Mainoni di nuovo. Buongiorno, buonasera. Un documentario su Roberto Calvi, Licio Gelli e Propaganda 2. As I said before, I'm Uzi, il Disturbo.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Just following up and saying we would still really, really love to hear your thoughts. But when I told them I was interested in P2, they'd go off the record. Or just ghost me. P2, Propaganda 2. The world of Pitu Freemasons, I learned, was a world of smoke and mirrors, of double entendres and Cold War intrigue. But I was able to piece together eyewitness accounts from Pitu's early days.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
But on this day, Torona wasn't actually investigating Calvi. No, instead, he'd received a tip that bordered on conspiracy theory. That in this factory town, there could be evidence linking the mafia with an illegal underground branch of the Freemasons. He took the tip seriously, hand-picking officers for his team and keeping the raid confidential, even from other cops.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Picture a mansion hidden on a remote hill in Tuscany. menacing-looking sculptures in the courtyard, including stone serpents with security cameras hidden in their eyes. Inside, exquisite marble halls lined with hanging portraits of 20th century dictators. Perón, Mussolini, Hitler,
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Around a marble table, you might find a handful of new P2 initiates, dressed in satin robes, faces obscured by black hoods, sitting next to their grand master, Li Choujie, the only one who shows his face. He boasted about the ceremony years later on TV. Gelli described the dark uniforms, masks, and symbols of a flaming sword. He was the only one who knew all the recruits' identities.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
According to one account, Gelli would lift a small axe above a table and slam it down, asking for new members to enter. The initiates were blindfolded, sweat maybe dripping from their forehead, as the Grand Master began to question them. Are you prepared to die in order to preserve the secrets of Propaganda Due? Do you proclaim yourself an anti-communist?
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Are you prepared to fight and face death so that we may destroy this government? The initiate would say, I do. And then the blindfold would be removed. So these colorful details of the ceremony come from the firsthand account of a P2 member. It's a theatrical induction that Shelley likely reserved for his fanciest recruits.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
And I want to zoom in on Gelli for a moment, the man who recruited Calvi and made P2 what it was. I learned that in the 60s, when Gelli joined the Italian Freemasons, these guys were largely democratic and apolitical. But as Gelli rose to power, he remade his local group, P2, in his image. Anti-communist and pro-fascist. Very pro-fascist. Gelli said, quote, I studied with fascism.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
I fought for fascism. I am a fascist, and I will die a fascist. I realized, after listening to hours of tapes of this guy, that for Gelli, World War II had never really ended. He came of age under Mussolini, when Italy was unified by a strong right identity and a single leader. To him, the Italy of the 1970s, around the time that Calvi was ascending, wasn't social freefall.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Divorce and abortion were legal. The streets were filled with hippies, liberals, and communists.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
The P2 leader was obsessed with restoring order to Italy. He wanted to demolish democracy and bring back a dictatorship. On a certain level, Calvi's connection to Jelly and P2 made sense. Calvi did volunteer to fight for the Axis powers. He was a rich banker, certainly anti-communist, but this was much more radical than anything I'd previously heard about Calvi.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
I knew Calvi wanted to be rich and powerful, sure, but I didn't get the impression that he wanted a far-right takeover of the state. At this point in my research, in my quest to figure out who killed Calvi, I felt like I was, yet again, tripping face-first into a wall of absurd conspiracies. I mean, a secret society plotting a national coup? Come on.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Turone was worried that local police would tip off the Masonic group.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
I needed to find an anchor, someone to comfort the English side of my brain. Someone that could say, there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of this. That's when I found an American in Europe who could relate to exactly what I was going through. I called him up when I was in Italy.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 3. The Grandmaster
Larry Gerwin wrote one of the first books on Calvi after he died, and he interviewed scores of Calvi's friends and family. He also felt this overwhelming sense of paranoia from Italians.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Friends of the Pod subscribers can listen to the full season of Shadow Kingdom right now. Join Friends of the Pod at crooked.com slash friends or on Apple Podcasts.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
So when Kornackia got to London, it was immediately clear to him that this, this is not the A-Team, shall we say. But he held back his contempt, and he started filling the British cops in on everything he knew about Calvi, his associates, how Calvi was a member of the secret society P2, how he was a fugitive,
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
and how, actually, Italian intelligence officers had been trying to piece together the timeline of Calvi on the run.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Kornakia said the local cops just stared at him, blankly.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
The City of London police continue to investigate Calvi's death. A month later, they held a coroner's inquest, where a coroner presents the evidence to a jury, and they decide if a crime has been committed. In this case, did Calvi die by suicide or was it murder?
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
At the very same time, back in Milan, the Ambrosianos board members gathered at the bank. With Calvi on the run, they voted him out. He was no longer in control of the bank he'd led for seven years. And that soon became global news.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
So the English legal system had spoken. Case closed. It was a suicide. Calve was a desperate man, and he found some rope hanging along a dock in the Thames. Police sent Cornacchia and his colleagues back home. And that's where the case seemed to end, with Calvi's Ambrosiano taken over by the Bank of Italy and his family left to fend for themselves.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
there was new evidence that would tell a very different story. That's after the break.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
After the initial suicide verdict, Calvi's family fought tooth and nail to appeal. They noted all the inconsistencies, the sloppy police work, the dirt on Calvi's clothes, the list of possible suspects. And around the first anniversary of Calvi's death, they got a redo.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
This time, the court returned what's called an open verdict, which meant that the jury wasn't sure if it was murder or suicide, so they were keeping the case open if more evidence came through. I am here at Blackfriars Bridge, looking over the side of the bridge. As I was starting to wrap up my reporting for the show, I went to London. I wanted to see the bridge for myself.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
I think it's helpful to see this place. With all the uncertainty about Calvi's death, I thought visiting the bridge might help me understand the mechanics and forensics of how Calvi died. The current seems very fast. I'm looking at objects move in the Thames, which is dirty as hell.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
It's just gloomy and spooky and it's, you know, there's basically essentially a highway that runs along the side of this. What a lonely place to, for this guy's demise. Standing alongside the bridge, I could see that it has five enormous arches that sit on top of these five massive granite piers.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Calvi was found hanging from temporary scaffolding that rose up out of the water under one of the bridge's arches. As I walked over the bridge, I tried to imagine how Calvi got to the place where he died. A lot of people have tried to figure this out because it wouldn't have been easy to get to, whether he was murdered or died by suicide.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
This is Angela Gallup, a forensic scientist and a person who altered the course of the Calvi mystery. Over the course of a decade, the Calvi family tried everything they could to solve the banker's death. They appealed to British authorities, Italian authorities, criminal court, civil court. And in the early 90s, the family decided to do their own investigation.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
The Calvies assembled a team of the best private investigators money could buy, including Gallup. Full disclosure, we compensated Gallup for her time preparing for this interview because her research was so important to this case.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Any hope that Calvi may have had to go back to the Banco Ambrosiano was now extinguished. And then more bad news. Calvi received word that his secretary had died by suicide.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Gallup had been working on cold cases for years. But she says this case was especially tricky because the initial investigators didn't treat Calvi's death like a crime. So they missed a lot of evidence.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Gallup, like me, knew that she needed to revisit the scene of Calvi's death. So on a cool June night in the early 90s, she made her way onto a boat in the River Thames.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Once she was at the bridge, Gallup figured that there were only four ways Calvi could have died.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Calvi died hanging from temporary construction scaffolding that was set up directly under the bridge's first arch, closest to the riverbank.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Gallup gave me a very detailed walkthrough. But basically, if Calvi had died by suicide, he had two options. If he started on top of the bridge, he could have climbed over the edge, made his way down a rickety ladder, then jumped onto the scaffolding under the archway. Or he could have started under the bridge by swimming across the river and climbing up out of the water onto the scaffolding.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Two options for suicide. Now, if Calvi had been murdered, the routes would actually be very similar.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Someone would either have to carry Calvi down the same riggity ladder and balance him on the temporary scaffolding, or the killers would have brought Calvi to the scaffolding via the water. This probably meant by boat. They would have lifted Calvi off the boat and hung him on the scaffolding. So all in all, four ways Calvi could have died.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Two ways from the top of the bridge, two ways from the water. Put that way, it almost seems simple.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
It was quickly clear to Gallup that Calvi didn't swim to the bridge himself because his suit didn't have evidence of being soaked. So that's one theory down, three to go. What about the idea that a distraught Calvi climbed down the ladder himself onto the scaffolding? For this, Gallup had a man about Calvi's size retrace his steps.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Calvi had poor eyesight and vertigo. So as Gallup watched her husband struggle to climb down the bridge, she found it hard to imagine Calvi doing the same. To further test this route, Gallup actually built a replica scaffolding and had volunteers wear the same clothes, the same shoes, even put the same heavy bricks in their pockets. The results continued to get weirder.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
For example, Gallup's actors got bruises and scratches, none of which seemed to match Calvi's. But what really stood out to her was the footwear.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
In the replica scaffolding she built, Gallup had been careful to match the exact type of metal and the same type of paint as the scaffolding where Calvi had been found. Now she had her volunteers walk up and down the scaffolding with the same shoe model that Calvi wore. And she noticed small flecks of paint lodged in the soles.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
In other words, if Calvi had actually walked on the scaffolding on his own, he should have had microscopic flecks of paint in his shoes. But guess what? They weren't there. There was nothing, which meant if Calvi had hanged himself below the bridge, he'd magically flown there.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
The secretary had drafted a suicide note saying, quote, having been exhausted for a long time, I wholeheartedly apologize to everyone for the trauma I have caused and ask for forgiveness from my superiors and all those who love me at Banco Ambrosiano. But she also added a pointed message to Calvi. May you be twice damned for what you've done.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
If Calvi didn't swim to the bridge and he didn't climb down from the top, then Gallup felt very confident that he didn't kill himself. But also her tests and reenactments convinced her that it would have been impossible for someone to carry Calvi over the side of the bridge onto the scaffolding.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
So that left one solitary route, one where Calvi was knocked out and led to his final resting place via boat. But there's one big hurdle here, and that is that back in 1982, detectives couldn't find any physical marks of violence or traces of poison or sedation on Calvi. So was even this route a no-go? Would Gallup eliminate all four options? Not so fast.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
It's not that they didn't find any sedation. It's that they didn't really look. There was no thorough sweep that might have caught traces of chloroform, for example. And as Gallup continued examining the clues, a final piece of evidence really caught her eye. Calvi's underwear.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Previously, the hasty coroner had basically concluded his underwear's dirty. That's probably just from the river. But Gallup made her own way through the evidence. And yet again, something stuck out to her. the shape of the dirt stains on Calvi's body. These were no simple water stains.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
The way the silt had settled convinced Gallup that Roberto Calvi, in the last moments of his life, had sat in something.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
And it made her think that Calvi had sat on the wet floor of a boat with his legs out straight in front of him. Whether Calvi had been sedated and rode to the scaffolding or if he'd been held at gunpoint or tricked into getting on a boat and then strangled and at the last moment hung, Gallop couldn't say. But she could say this. God's banker had almost certainly been murdered.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
She shared her evidence with Calvi's son and then waited and waited. A year went by, then five, then 20 years passed. Calvi's death, his story, and the mysteries around it all faded. It became an unsolved puzzle and conspiracy fodder. My sources, my parents, even my friend Mario from episode one thought this would never get solved. And then, one day, Gallup got a call.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Because of her evidence, someone had finally been arrested for the murder of Roberto Calvi. That's next time on Shadow Kingdom. One of Italy's most wanted fugitives has been arrested in Switzerland.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
is a production of Crooked Media and Campside Media. It's hosted and reported by me, Niccolo Mainoni, with additional reporting by Simona Zecchi and Joe Hawthorne. The show is written by Joe Hawthorne, Ashley Ann Craigbaum, and me. Joe Hawthorne is our lead producer, and Ashley Ann Krugbaum is our managing producer. Tracy Samuelson is our story editor.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Sound design, mix, and mastering by Mark McAdam. Our theme song and original score are composed by me and Mark McAdam. Our studio engineer is Ewen Lai Tramuen. Voice acting by Bonnie Biagini, Andrea Bianchi, Ferrante Cosma, Luca De Gennaro, Michele Teodori, and Mustafa Zialan. Field recording by Justin Trieger, Jonathan Zenty, Pete Shev, Jonathan Gruber, and Joanna Broder.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Fact-checking by Zoe Sullivan. Our executive producers are me, Niccolo Mainoni, along with Sarah Geismar, Katie Long, and Alison Falsetta from Crooked Media. Josh Dean, Adam Hoff, Matt Scher, and Vanessa Gregoriadis are the executive producers at Campside Media. One last thing before we go. You can also listen to Shadow Kingdom in Italian.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Look up Il Banchiere di Dio wherever you get your podcasts.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Calvi was so down that when his fixer, Flavio Carboni, arrived at the hotel, he refused to go down to the lobby to meet him. Calvi simply couldn't or wouldn't budge. Carboni had arranged this whole trip, the whole escape from Italy, but then, strangely, the fixer also refused to come up to see Calvi?
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
So the two men were locked in this bizarre standoff that evening, with Vitor shuttling back and forth between them. It'd almost be funny if it didn't feel so, I don't know, sad? Maybe a little ominous? Calvi, a nervous wreck, and Carboni so close but refusing to go to him. Did Carboni not want to face Calvi for some reason?
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
The last day of Roberto Calvi's life started with a shave. For the majority of his 63 years, he'd sported an ever-present dark mustache. Pretty much every picture you'll ever find of Calvi, there's a mustache. But on the morning of June 17th, 1982, Silvano Vitor found Calvi in their shared hotel bathroom with the door open.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Instead, Carboni and Vitor went to a nearby pub to meet their girlfriends who traveled with them from Austria. They left Calvi in the hotel to fend for himself. The whole thing struck me as utterly bizarre that Carboni and Vitor would go and chivalrously tend to their girlfriends while their protectee, God's banker, the most wanted man in Europe, freaked out in his hostel alone.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Were they taking an innocent, if badly timed break here, or was there a more sinister design at play? I'm not sure. In any event, the two men were gone a few hours. Vitor told me he went back to the Chelsea Hotel a bit after midnight.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Calvi was gone, and I know that this time he was gone for good. But what I don't know is what happened to him in those last few hours. The last time Silvano Vitor remembered seeing Calvi was around 8 p.m. on June 17th. Eventually, Vitor told me that he went to bed in the hotel suite alone, waiting, hoping that Roberto Calvi would magically reappear.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
But when Calvi hadn't returned by the morning of June 18th, Vitor did something else that seemed strange to me. Vitor told me he had no idea what was going on. All he knew was that Calvi's disappearance was incredibly suspicious, and he didn't want to just be sitting around when shit hit the fan.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
And while Vitor was boarding a plane, Calvi was eventually found. From Crooked Media and Campside Media, this is Shadow Kingdom, God's Banker. I'm Niccolo Mainoni, and this is Episode 7, Discovery.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Shadow Kingdom is brought to you by Lumen. Did you know that when your metabolism is working properly, you end up feeling the benefits in pretty much every other aspect of your life? I found a pretty valuable tool that gives me insights into how to create a healthy metabolism for myself, and it goes by the name of Lumen. Lumen is a handheld tracker that reads your metabolism through your breath.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
And keep in mind, your metabolism is your body's engine. It's how you turn food into fuel. All you do is you blow into the device, then check the app, and it tells you whether you're burning carbs or fat at that moment. Now, at first, I had absolutely no idea why that mattered, but then I saw patterns. The days I woke up burning fat... I had steady energy. I was more focused.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
I didn't have afternoon crashes. The days I woke up burning carbs, on the other hand, I was foggy. I was sluggish. I was reaching for snacks. And here's the part that ultimately really matters. Lumen doesn't just tell you what's happening. It helps you change it. It gives you a personalized plan, what to eat, how to adjust your workouts, even sleep.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Vitor is the former smuggler we heard from in the last episode, who told me about helping Calvi flee Italy and watching over him in his final days.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
So you're not just guessing, but you're operating with a plan. The warmer months are coming. So spring back into your health and fitness and go to lumen.me slash kingdom to get 15% off your Lumen. That's L-U-M-E-N dot me slash kingdom for 15% off your purchase. Thank you to our friends at Lumen for sponsoring this episode. At 7.30 a.m.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
on June 18th, 1982, a postal clerk was walking along Blackfriars Bridge in London. Something caught his eye. He saw a head and then a body dangling underneath the bridge. He rushed to his office to share what he found. The police arrived on the scene by car and by boat. There they found a middle-aged John Doe in a gray suit hanging from a rope around his neck.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
he was dangling off of temporary construction scaffolding under one of the bridge's arches. His ankles were just covered by the river. The turbulent water made reaching the body by boat difficult, and it would take police 11 hours to figure out that their John Doe was the world's most famous fugitive banker.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
His suit was packed with 12 pounds of bricks, four pairs of glasses, a fake passport, and two wallets filled with thousands in various currencies. But his briefcase? Nowhere to be found. Now, London police weren't sure there was much cause for concern. This was no robbery. He had all of his valuables. It seemed like a suicide. England's ITV newscaster recounted a pathologist's testimony.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
This was a pretty reasonable analysis. Suicide attempts were very common on the Thames. Plus, Calvi had already attempted suicide just a year before. Add to that, he'd just been fired, and his beloved bank was on the brink of collapse. The Ambrosiano's stock price was plummeting, and with it, his fortune.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
And so what do you think? What do you feel in that moment?
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
When my friend Mario, from episode one, sent me on a journey to find out what happened to Calvi, he thought the more likely explanation was murder. And that's the way I've come at this whole investigation. Calvi worked with so many powerful, so many shadowy figures. P2 and its grand master, Alessio Gelli, the mafia, even the Pope. And now he was worthless to all of them.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Worse than worthless, he was a liability. a man desperate to stay out of jail, a man seemingly willing to use the secrets he kept to save himself. But on the other hand, my conversation with Vitor, reading transcripts from Calvi's wife, his kids, his co-workers, and reporters from around the world, it all painted a clear picture of Calvi in this moment, depressed, afraid, and alone.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
It's been my mission to figure out who killed Calvi. But was it really Roberto Calvi himself all along? This is a question that Calvi's family, law enforcement, and private investigators have debated for decades. The first people to investigate Calvi's death were police in the city of London right after he died in 1982.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
From the beginning, it was clear that Roberto Calvi's cause of death was asphyxiation. There were no signs of physical struggle and no known poisons in Calvi's body. So London police were quick to suspect suicide. But once word got back to Italy that Calvi was dead, Italian law enforcement immediately suspected foul play.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Calvi spent the rest of his morning in the cramped Chelsea Hotel, which was more like a hostel. His room was just 10 feet by 16 feet with one small window. Early in the day, Calvi handed Vitor cash to run some errands. And when Vitor returned, he used a special knock he had to identify himself. And Calvi let him in for lunch.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
They knew all about Calvi, his P2 involvement, and his suspected mafia ties. I flew to Rome to meet with Antonio Cornacchia, an Italian counterintelligence officer who investigated Calvi's death. He told me that Calvi had been on his radar even before his body was found. So, I was under espionage.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
I spoke to Cornacchia in Italian, so we asked an actor to record his responses in English. When Cornacchia's boss asked him to look into Calvi's death, he quickly booked a flight to London. The way he talked about the whole investigation was really vivid. I could viscerally see and feel the Italian legal system, which I know well, clashing with the British legal system.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Not the real police. Kornacki's voice was full of his casual disdain here. He said the police he had to work with were from the city of London. which is confusingly a distinct municipality within Greater London. It's like if Wall Street was a separate little city inside New York with its own tiny police force, a police force a lot less equipped than Scotland Yard.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 7. Discovery
Quick example of the rookiness of their investigation, the City of London police untied the knot on the rope Calvi had around his neck instead of cutting the rope and preserving how the knot was tied. Apparently that's like policing 101. You don't untie the knot because the kind of knot and how it was tied can tell you a lot about the person who tied it.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
And over the next few years, the boisterous Sindona and its new brooding mentee Calvi made the Vatican a ton of money. They played the stock market. They made real estate deals. They brought modern investment banking to the sleepy Vatican Bank. But Posner says, these guys were not saints. They were opportunists.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Sindona and Calvi took full advantage of their connection to the Pope. The bankers name-dropped the Vatican constantly and used the reputation of the church to secure huge loans for their own businesses. In return, the bankers came up with a plan to massively divest the church's investments in Italy.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Das neue Schema füllte die Kirche's Geld außen, schilderte die Kirche von den steigenden Augen des italienischen Staates und erhielt Calvino Sindona einen schönen Profit.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Außerdem war der Vatikan auf Lockdown für ein Event von Pope Francis. So, I pointed my Vespa away from St. Peter's and I sped down Via della Conciliazione. A road, I'd find out later, that Calvi had walked before. A road that actually changed his life. But in those early days of my research, I was only after the very basics of Calvis' life and persona.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Er wurde Generalmanager der Bank genannt, dann Managing Director. Die größten Berichte in Italien nannten es Calvys Erste in die Gesellschaft. Der Präsident von Italien machte Calvi eine Nacht der Arbeit. Calvi feierte. Er machte es nach oben. Er machte so viel Geld, dass er ein Haus in der am liebsten exklusiven Gated-Gemeinschaft in den Bahamas gekauft hat.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Wie weit Calvi gekommen ist, seit seinen Tagen für reiche Kinder zu arbeiten. Jetzt war er der reiche Junge. Von Milan nach New York, nach den Karibikern, zu Partys mit berühmten Schauspielerinnen. Er hat seine Fähigkeit zu Sedona und der katholischen Kirche gezwungen und sein ganzes Leben hat sich verändert. Und die Werte kamen immer weiter. Aber schlussendlich hatte Calvins Mentor einen Fall.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Sindona hat sich mit US-Bankregulatoren beschäftigt, nachdem er 1972 eine Long Island Bank gekauft hat. Sindona brauchte Geld, um Accounts zu erfüllen, von denen er nicht spenden sollte. Er brauchte Calvys Hilfe. Und der neu geheimnisierte Calvi blieb ihm auf. Calvi hatte jetzt offizielle Operationen, ein paar Geld und eine direkte Linie zum Popen.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
So he offered Sindona a little money from the Banco Ambrosiano, but not nearly what his old mentor needed. And without Calvi's help, that trouble that Sindona was in, it snowballed.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Aber sind Dona's Downfall turned out to be Calvi's big break. He could take over sind Dona's role with the Vatican. He alone could be God's banker. And in doing so, he would take on some of sind Dona's most dangerous clients too. E chi er invece questi altri personaggi che mi hai descritto? Chi sono gli uomini?
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Untertitelung des ZDF für funk, 2017 I cannot help but wonder what if just a handful of our protagonists had had access to easy, low-stakes therapy. Would the story have unfolded differently? But therapy isn't just for those in crisis. It's for perspective, for self-awareness, for learning how to step back.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
And unlike the financial statements of our protagonists, it's actually quite easy and simple to access. BetterHelp makes therapy affordable and convenient, serving over 5 million people worldwide. And though it has a network of more than 30,000 therapists... Das ist BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash kingdom. Calvi bekam seinen Wunsch. In den letzten 70ern war er allein Gottes Banker.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Aber Calvi war nicht zufrieden. Er wollte das Banco Ambrosiano immer mehr wachsen, bis es die größte Bank in Italien war. Vielleicht Europa. Posner sagte, Calvi suchte Shortcuts. Und das bedeutet, Kunden zu nehmen, die viel Geld haben, von, sagen wir mal, unnötigem Ursprung. Wie die Mafia. Das ist ein Begriff, der in meinen Berichten mehrere Male aufgekommen ist. Mario hat es erwähnt.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
And I'm gonna be honest, Roberto Calvi is a tough guy to get to know. Selbst mit all den Büchern, die ich auf der Erde entdeckt habe, den News-Fotos, die ich in italienischen Archiven gespeichert habe, sind die frühen Jahre von Calvins Leben immer noch ein bisschen ein Geheimnis. Ich weiß, dass Roberto Calvi nicht mit einem silbernen Spunen in seinem Mund geboren wurde.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Die Berichterstatter haben es aufgelistet bei Calvies Tod. Die Gerichtsfälle haben Calvies Mentor, Mikel Sindona, an den Mob und den Mord getrennt.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Calvi hat definitiv seine Mentors Paypal-Klienten aufgenommen. Aber hat er auch Sindonas offizielle Klienten aufgenommen? If I could prove Calvi's ties to the Mafia, that would substantiate at least part of Mario's story. It would still be a fairly logical explanation to Calvi's death. Calvi got tied up with the Mafia, maybe he racked up big debts, they killed him. Sad, but no big conspiracy.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
A resolution that would satisfy the English and Italian sides of my brain. The problem, I found, was that Calvys Mafia ties were hard to substantiate. Everyone seemed to say he was working with the Mafia.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
So, I put my Italian lawyer hat on and I went through decades of Calvi-related legal documents. There wasn't a smoking gun, no wire transfer from John Gotti to Roberto Calvi, but there were a few leads, several names of mafia leaders or mafiosi that Sindona could have introduced Calvi to. These were members of the Sicilian Mafia, known as Cosa Nostra. That translates in English to Our Thing.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
They're arguably the most organized, most deadly, most famous Italian criminal enterprise. Exactly the type of people I'd hope to stay away from when I decided not to be a prosecutor in Italy and practice cushy, comfortable, safe corporate law instead. Aber hier war ich, seit Monaten, um Mafiosi zu suchen, die mit Roberto Calvi gearbeitet haben, und zu ihnen zu sprechen.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Und es gab einen ehemaligen Cosa Nostra-Soldat, der mir sprechen konnte. Er wurde erwähnt in einigen der Rekorde, die ich gefunden habe. Und er beschrieb Calvi im Geschäft mit seiner Mafia-Familie. Ich wollte, dass er mit mir auf dem Rekord sprechen würde. Und um ihm zu zeigen, wie ernst ich war, musste ich mit dem Flugzeug nach Europa.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Vincenzo Calcarra war ein Soldat für eine der mächtigsten Mafia-Familien, die Castelvetrano-Familie. Er war sehr nah am Top-Boss, also hätte er sich dem Wissen am höchsten Niveau seiner Organisation gewünscht. Aber als Soldat wollte ich auch, dass er mich über die Mechaniken des Wachstums berücksichtigt.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Die Adresse, die er mir gegeben hat, war in einer kleinen Stadt nahe der Italiener Grenze mit der Schweiz. Es war ein kleines Apartmentgebäude, das hinter einem Traktrat saß, über die Berge. Als ich aufgewacht habe, war ich durch die Fragen, die ich fragen wollte. Mehr als alles wollte ich wissen, war es wahr, dass Roberto Calvi direkt mit Cosa Nostra handelte? Und was hat er für sie gemacht?
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
I was greeted warmly by Calcaras daughters and sat in a living room overlooking the train station. Minutes slowly ticked by and I did my best to keep my nerves at bay. Then a 66-year-old man in a three-piece suit walked in. Vincenzo Calcata strollte in mit dem Swagger, der Selbstvertrauen eines Showmanns. Er wusste, dass der Spotlight auf ihm war.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Er ist in den 1920er-Jahren in Milan geboren, das war damals die reichste Stadt in Italien. Aber seine Eltern kamen aus einem berühmten Dorf in den Alpen. Obwohl sie nicht niedrig waren, waren sie sicherlich tristig und austere. Calvys Mutter sendete den jungen Roberto zu einer exklusiven Prüfschule, wo er sich in drabigen Kleidung befand, wo er einen Side-Hustle entwickelte.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Und es sah aus, als ob alle anderen in der Raum das auch wussten. Als er mir ein Once-Over gab, fühlte ich mich verschwinden. Er sah mich an, wie mein Haar zertrinkt und meine Sneaker zertrinkt, bevor er mich ein wenig schrug. Sobald er sich in der Raum befand, begann Calcata, mich zu testen.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Er hat mir angefangen, mir über wunderschöne Waffen zu erzählen, epische Verbrechen und Initiativ-Rituale zu erzählen. Ich konnte sagen, er wollte sehen, welche Reaktionen er erläutern konnte.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Der ehemalige Mafioso hat sich eingelassen, um mir über einen kleinen Hund zu erzählen, als er viel jünger war. Black, with white spots, a little guy that would follow him around. But his Mafia boss told him the dog was a sign of weakness.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
The boss told Calcara to get rid of the puppy. Und als Calcaro das gesagt hat, habe ich gemerkt, dass er einen Finger-Gun-Motion macht. Beruhigt in unserem Interview, sagte Calcaro mir, wie er liebte und ein Puppe ernährt und dann es an einem Moment anmerkt, um seine Loyalität zu zeigen.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
I'm pretty sure if you could see my face at this moment in the interview, it would have been red as I tried to force out a polite nod. Anyway, it's at this point that I do my best to shift the conversation away from dog murder and get into why he's willing to talk to me about Calvi. Und er hat erklärt, dass er vor 30 Jahren für Raub, Zerstörung und gewalttätigem Mord verhaftet wurde.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Und jetzt, als Calcaro aus dem Gefängnis war, war er witzig, seine Geschichte zu erzählen. Um seine gloriausen Tage wieder aufzulösen, ohne Angst vor, dass er wieder verhaftet wird.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Kalkara's Boss sagte ihm, er würde einen großen Banker treffen, der die Interessen von Cosa Nostra, Roberto Calvi, handelt. Und er war ein großer Deal mit globaler Einfluss.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Er wurde bezahlt, um die Arbeit der reichen Kinder zu machen. Calvys Kollegen sagten, er hätte eine Schippe auf seinem Schulter. Als junger Mann hat er für die italienische Kavallerie gevolont, um seinen sozialen Status zu erhöhen. endete mit dem Kampf um den Axis in Russland zu kämpfen, die drei von seinen Fingern zu verletzen.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Who the fuck does he think he is? Jesus Christ? Is how Calcara said he reacted. And his boss clarified that it's fine, that Calvi should be respected, that he looked after the interests of Cosa Nostra and their money. Alright, so, Calcara confirmed that Calvi worked for Cosa Nostra and had their respect.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
But did Calcara have more evidence that might connect Cosa Nostra to Calvis death or even a possible motive for murder? Like some movie gangster, Calcara answered my question with a story. Bald nach Sindonas Fall bekam Calcaro einen großen Anruf. Von seinem Mafia-Bosses-Boss.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Er hat seine Taschen mit Waffen in 10 Millionen Dollar verpackt. Dann ist er in ein Stolz-Polizei-Uniform geschlüpft. Er ist zur Sicherheitsanlage gefahren und flog von Sicily nach Rom. Und wie jeder Passagier trug Calcaro durch die Eingangsgäste und wartete für seine geschlossenen Taschen.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Er hat einen Kaffee getrunken und hat gesehen, wie die Porters hufften, als sie versucht haben, seine Schuhe zu öffnen.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Nobody knew what he had in his bags. He nonchalantly rolled his bags outside, where an unusual caravan of cars was waiting for him.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Und aus diesem Mercedes stürzten mehrere Priester. Wie Kalkara erinnert, küssten seine Mafia-Kohorts die Ringe und die Nase der Monsignoren. Mit den Schönheiten am Flughafen über, kam die Mafia-Vatikan-Crew in die Autos und machte den Weg zu einer Villa auf der Außenstadt von Rom. Als die Autos in die Villa gedreht wurden, stürzten sie sich zu einem Halt.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Kalkara sagt, er ist rausgekommen und hat die Million-Dollar-Suitcases an seinen Boss geworfen, der sie in die Villa hineingemacht hat.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Wenn jemand dir Probleme gibt, schiebe sie an. Calcarra stand auf Acht, bereit, Invader zu töten, so wie er seinen Hund getötet hat.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Und als er nach Hause zurückkehrte, hatte er keinen kuscheligen Job für ihn. Calvi musste von der Spitze anfangen, als leiblicher Bürgermeister für den lokalen Bank, den Banco Ambrosiano. Diese Datenpunkte waren leicht zu finden. Was mir schwieriger geworden ist, ist, welche Art von Person Calvi war. Was motivierte ihn? Was schreckte ihn? Wer waren seine Freunde? Wer waren seine Feinde?
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Innerhalb der Villa haben die Mafia-Männer mit Calvi und den Priesterinnen für mehrere Stunden gesprochen, bevor sie mit den Schuhhänden zurück nach dem Vatikan gingen.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Jetzt kann Calvi mit den Mafia-Männern mit den Priesterinnen und Priesterinnen mit den Mafia-Männern mit den Mafia-Männern mit den Mafia-Männern mit den Mafia-Männern mit den Mafia-Männern mit den Mafia-Männern mit den Mafia-Männern mit den Mafia-Männern mit den Mafia-Männern mit den Mafia-Männern mit den Mafia-Männern mit den Mafia-Männern mit den Mafia-Männern
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
There was a meeting, he said, shortly before Calvi died, with the top Cosa Nostra bosses. They gathered to discuss one thing. Where the hell had all their money gone?
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Their international investments, their money had vanished, he said.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Und diese Mafia-Bosses wollten herausfinden, ob Roberto Calvi einen echten Fehler in schlechten Investitionen gemacht hat, oder ob er sie überschreiten wollte. Was auch immer das Ergebnis dieser Entscheidung war, war das für Roberto Calvi nicht eine gute Entscheidung. Zumindest laut Calcarra. Auch, laut Calcara, hatte Calvi Mafia-Money und er hat es verloren.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Also, potenziell hätte die Mafia die Mittel und den Motiv gehabt, den Banker zu töten. Es klingt unglaublich, sogar fantastisch. Aber die Geschichten wurden mehrwahrscheinlich, wenn ich die Fakten beobachte. Calcaras Geschichte passt mit anderen Testimonien, von anderen Mafiosen. Und dann habe ich einen legendären italienischen Juden genannt, der die Mafia verurteilt hat.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Ich würde interessieren, ob Calvi wusste, dass seine Bank für die Mafia-Money-Laundering verwendet wurde.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Dieser Berichter war ein Experte bei der Investition in illizitären Cashflows. Und er sagte, dass Calvi der Geldmann für mehrere Mafia-Familien war. Aber wenn das wahr ist, was hat Calvi mit dem Geld der Mafia gemacht? Calcaras Bosses wollten es wissen. Ich wollte es wissen.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Es scheint, die Antwort auf diese Frage betrifft eine Organisation, die noch schrecklicher, noch schrecklicher ist als die Mafia selbst. Eine Organisation, die Sie wahrscheinlich noch nie gehört haben. Eine secretive Untergrundordnung, die Millionen auf Millionen von Dollar von Roberto Calvi verpackt hat. Das nächste Mal auf Shadow Kingdom.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Shadow Kingdom is a production of Crooked Media and Campside Media. It's hosted and reported by me, Niccolo Mainoni, with additional reporting by Simona Zecchi and Joe Hawthorne. The show is written by Joe Hawthorne, Ashley Ann Krigbaum and me. Joe Hawthorne is our lead producer and Ashley Ann Krigbaum is our managing producer. Tracy Samuelson is our story editor.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Sound Design, Mix and Mastering by Mark McAdam. Our theme song and original score are composed by me and Mark McAdam. Our studio engineer is Iwanlai Tramuin. Voice acting by Bonnie Biagini, Andrea Bianchi, Ferrante Cosma, Luca De Gennaro, Michele Teodori and Mustafa Zialan. Field Recording by Justin Trieger, Jonathan Zenty, Pete Shev, Jonathan Gruber, and Joanna Broder.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Fact Checking by Zoe Sullivan. Our executive producers are me, Niccolo Mainoni, along with Sarah Geismar, Katie Long, and Alison Falsetta from Crooked Media. Josh Dean, Adam Hoff, Matt Scher, and Vanessa Gregoriadis are the executive producers at Campside Media. One last thing before we go. You can also listen to Shadow Kingdom in Italian.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Um mehr über Calvi zu erfahren, die Person, habe ich zuerst Gerald Posner gesprochen.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Look up Il Banchiere di Dio, wherever you get your podcasts.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
And in it, he painted a picture of the kind of banker Calvi was.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Calvi war ambitioniert. Er arbeitete stärker als seine Mitarbeiter. Er war auch sehr klug. Er war einer der einzigen Banker bei den Ambrosianern, die mindestens drei Sprachen sprachen. Und er hat die Mutual-Funds in Italien unterstützt, bevor sie wirklich ein Ding waren. Als er 30 war, war Calvi Bankmanager. Aber er hatte die Hoffnung, bis zum Top zu steigen.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Und das war alles während einer Boom-Zeit in Italien, in den 60ern. Sie nannten es das Miracolo Economico, das ökonomische Wunder. In der Zeit hatte Italien eines der schnellsten wachsenden GDPs im westlichen Weltraum.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Friends of the Pod-Subscribers can listen to the full season of Shadow Kingdom right now. Join Friends of the Pod at crooked.com slash friends or on Apple Podcasts. Campsite Media The first thing I wanted to figure out after Mario sent me on this mission was simple. Wer war Gottes Banker? Und ich hatte einen Plan. Schritt 1. Ich nutze meine Frequenz-Flyermile, um nach Rom zu fliegen.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Vespa und Fiat fliegen aus den italienischen Treppen. Colour-TVs Fendi, Fellini, La Dolce Vita. Die Ökonomie kam zurück aus der 2. Weltkrieg. Und es gab viel mehr Geld, das generell flog. Geld für große Business-Deals. According to Posner, Calvi yearned for a spot in the C-Suites of his bank. He wanted the riches that the Miracolo Economico promised.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
But all of the highest positions in his bank seemed to go to Italy's aristocrats, the Blue Bloods. His boss was literally a duke. Meanwhile, Calvi settled into middle age and the middle class. He woke up each day still dressed in drab beige clothes. After 20 years at the bank, his co-workers still snickered behind his back.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
They'd point out how he'd dye his hair, how he'd wear fancy hats and pretend to hold higher positions than he did. The powerlessness and the stagnancy seemed to eat at Calvi. Until, that is, one day. when he discovered someone who came from a similar background. Someone who actually broke through the aristocratic ceiling to become the type of Italian banking superstar Calvi dreamed of.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Italian financier Michele Sindona. By the late 1960s, Sindona had a worldwide empire of banks and holding companies. He had regular lunches with Nixon before he was president.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
And Sindona, like Calvi, came from nothing. He was an outsider from dirt poor Sicily, born the same year as Calvi. Sedona war im Grunde ein menschliches Blutzeichen, um in einen Echelon von Super-Welt zu steigen. Und 1969 hat Calvi herausgefunden, einen Weg, um ihn zu treffen. Und dieses Treffen würde Calvi in einen größeren finanziellen Weltraum eröffnen.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Nach Milan, nach Italien, sogar außerhalb einer menschlichen Institution. In die Himmel. Aber was er nicht wusste, was how this meeting would also drag him down into the underworld and seal his fate. From Crooked Media and Campside Media, this is Shadow Kingdom, God's Banker. I'm Niccolo Mainoni and this is Episode 2, Our Thing.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Shadow Kingdom is brought to you by Lumen. Did you know that when your metabolism is working properly, you'll feel the benefits in pretty much every other aspect of your life? There's a valuable tool, one that I've also found, that gives me insights to create a healthy metabolism for my body. It's called Lumen.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
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Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
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Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Zum anderen gibt Lumen dir dann einen personalisierten Nahrungsplan für den Tag, basierend auf deinen Messungen. Und für diejenigen, die es nicht wissen, ist dein Metabolismus im Grunde genommen dein Körner. Es ist so, wie dein Körper die Füße, die du isst, in den Füßen verwendet, die dich bewegen. Und weil dein Metabolismus am Zentrum von allem ist, was dein Körper tut,
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
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Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Es war 1969, als Roberto Calvi in das weiße Granit-Milan-Aufungsgebäude von Sedona gestorben ist. Dort hat er einen kleinen Mann getroffen, mit dünnem Haar, mit geschliffenem Rücken. Einen Mann mit einer bestimmten, raspen Stimme. Calvi wollte mich treffen, erinnerte Sindona in einem Interview Jahre später. Ich sagte, absolut. Sindona spürte, er könnte einen Mann wie Calvi nutzen.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Von dort würde ich meine alte Vespa finden, die in meiner Großmutter's Garage dormant lag. Dann würde ich zu einem kriminellen Gerätschaften hinsetzen, wo ich Transkripte von einem großen Trial finde, den Mario mir erzählt hat. Ein Trial, das nach Calvys Tod stattfand. Diese Transkripte wären ein guter Primer für die italienische Seite der Geschichte.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Einen Banker aus dem gut eröffneten Banco Ambrosiano. Der Ambrosiano, Calvis Bank, begann als eine Firma für Priester und wurde immer noch als katholische Bank betrachtet. But it had grown into one of Italy's largest private lenders. Sindona, a free market guy, told an interviewer that he was very interested in the private sector.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
But in that meeting, Calvi made the first move. Calvi told Sindona all about his dreams to run the Ambrosiano and how he wanted to be just like Sindona. Calvis' ambition was on full display. Right after Calvi left his office, Sindona picked up the phone and dialed.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
I know Calvi's boss, says Sindona. And so I called him to get the lowdown on Calvi. Calvi's patrician boss picked up the phone and proceeded to tell Sindona that Calvi, he's sort of a joke. Like, did you know Calvi's afraid to fly? I had to hold his hand on his first flight for work. In other words, Calvi is a provincial nobody. This may have hit Sindona in a special way.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Remember, Sindona was a self-made man too, overlooked by the Blue Bloods and generally ridiculed to no end by the Italian elites. Sindona put the phone down and sent word to Calvi. Come back. I want to see you again. Als die beiden sich kennengelernt haben und ihre Pläne begonnen haben, hat Sedona Calvi über ein Verhältnis erzählt, das zu gut klingt, um wahr zu sein.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Etwa sechs Jahre früher, 1963, wurde der neue Popel, Paul VI, gewählt. Und es brauchte ihm sehr wenig Zeit, sich zu erinnern, dass die Vatikan-Finanzen ein Messer waren. Die Kirche, obwohl sie immer noch super reich war, war auf dem Weg, viel Geld zu verlieren.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
According to Gerald Posner, donations were way down and the Vatican needed more liquidity. So much of the church's wealth was tied up in artifacts and real estate. Try paying your bills with a Caravaggio. Mit einer finanziellen Möglichkeit hat Sedona einen Publikum mit dem neuen Papst, Posner, bekommen.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Letztendlich ging ich mit Vespa nach dem Vatikan, um auf die Gebäude zu blicken, wo Calvi mit dem Geld des Vatikans ein Empire gegründet hat. Aber meine Besucherstattung ging nicht so, wie geplant. Der Bürgermeister sagte, dass meine italienische Bewerber-ID nicht mehr funktionierte. Also konnte ich nicht die exakten Dokumente anschauen, die ich wollte.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
hatte Sindona nun die Prestige und die Inhalte der Kirche hinter ihm. Auf einem Niveau, den niemand in der Welt hatte. Sindona sagte Calvi, das sei der Grund, warum er der Hauptfinanzierer der Vatikanbank wurde. Denn, ja, der Vatikan hat seine eigene Bank.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Aber, wie bei den meisten großen Banken, antwortete Sindona nicht zu einer Börse, oder hatte eine Flut von Verkäufern, die sich über seine Schulter schauten, Er antwortete nur einem Mann.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 2. Our Thing
Did you catch that? The Vatican Bank, unlike any of the other banks in its vicinity, was unregulated, totally secret. Attributes that would be very appealing if you didn't want anyone to know what you were up to. Calvi hatte italienische Regulierer zu beantworten bei dem Banco Ambrosiano, aber Sindona kontrollierte eine schwarze Box direkt im Herzen von Rom.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
Friends of the Pod subscribers can listen to the full season of Shadow Kingdom right now. Join Friends of the Pod at crooked.com slash friends or on Apple Podcasts.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
Vitor was supposed to zip back to Italy and return promptly with the briefcase. But, weirdly, he stopped for a family get-together on his way back. When Vitor finally arrived in Austria, he was immediately greeted by Calvi.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
With his precious briefcase in hand, relief washed over Calvi. He finally relaxed on an easy chair, talking to Vitor's girlfriend about his family, his adolescence, his war stories. So, talking with Vitor, at this point, my ears perked up. Once Calvi had his briefcase and was out of the country, he was more confident, more relaxed. It makes me think that Calvi had a plan, right?
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
But there was no announcement from kidnappers, no demand for a ransom, and none of Calvi's employees knew what to do. Up until this point, only Calvi knew the full extent of the Banco Ambrosiano's debts. Only he knew the tangled web of shell companies and offshore accounts set up to move that borrowed money around the world.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
And that plan was going somewhat well. And maybe there was something in that briefcase that gave him power. Calvi called his wife from the chateau and reassured her that everything was okay. She recalled this in an Italian interview.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
He said that the Vatican was going to give him protection, which is going to solve all his problems. He just needed time to negotiate outside of Italy. He wouldn't say why exactly those negotiations needed to be outside of the country or what exactly he was afraid of. But right here in the Chateau, Calvi seemed confident that he could solve his looming debt crisis.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
After some time relaxing, Vitor watched Roberto Calvi get up and prepare some kindling.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
I asked Vitor what was Calvi burning, but he couldn't see. He just said that Calvi burned a lot of papers. It seems odd to me that Calvi would bring documents with him from Italy, carefully guard them, obsess about them when they weren't with him, and then burn some of these documents once he had them back in his possession.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
Maybe he decided it was too risky to carry them around, or maybe he'd planned to use them and then changed his mind. I've often thought that if I could just see inside Calvi's briefcase, I could finally find Calvi's killer. But it's like all these years have rusted the lock and it won't budge. There's one person I know who held Calvi's briefcase and who knew his final itinerary, Silvano Vitor.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
And Vitor was getting closer and closer to London. to Calvi's final day. Calvi and Vitor had been on the run for three days. They were just starting to get comfortable in their borrowed Austrian villa when, late one night, Carboni the Fixer came to Vitor.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
Why Switzerland? I don't know. there wasn't any time for Vitor to ask questions. He just threw a change of clothes in the back of the car, got Calvi's bags, put the banker in the passenger seat, and they headed to Switzerland, sleep deprived and, I imagine, a bit confused.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
So what would he tell you, or what would you chat about?
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
And so at this point, does it almost feel like there's sort of a friendship growing here?
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
Again, I was torn here between taking Vitor at his word, that he and Calvi really were forming some kind of bond, and this other alternate narrative. where Calvi was forcefully separated from his briefcase and sent to Switzerland without much of an explanation.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
He was, in this narrative, out of control, dependent, and at the whims of his handlers, it felt like a Hitchcock movie, where nothing overtly scary is happening, but somehow you're on edge. Then, right as the duo started to approach the border with Switzerland... Carboni advised against going to Switzerland.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
Carboni sent word to Calvi and Vitor that the border crossing was now too dangerous, and that a plane was waiting for Calvi just a few miles down the road, headed to London. Now, I didn't know about this last minute switch until speaking with Vitor. And I was feeling spooked here, like something was off. And then Vitor said something that stayed with me.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
Now that Calvi was missing and his massive debts were coming due, his employees struggled to run the bank without him, to untangle the mess he'd left behind. And because of the size of the Ambrosiano, Italian regulators were watching as well. The Ambrosiano was Italy's biggest private bank. It had money tied to businesses around Italy and the world. If Calvi's bank failed, it
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
Vitor made a hopeless face. I can still see it. Up to this point, Vitor described a somewhat resilient Calvi, fighting to get his briefcase back, chatty with Vitor as they drove into Austria. The Calvi I'd known for these two years of research, the uber planner, control freak, master of his destiny. But hearing the word resigned, I saw that Calvi disappear, turning into something different.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
I could see Calvi surrendering, being ushered off to the place where he'd die within days. Did he suspect that maybe Vitor and or Carboni weren't his saviors? That maybe they were the wolves guiding him to a more sinister place? I mean, to recap... In less than a week, Roberto Calvi had secretly flown to Trieste, in the far northeast of Italy.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
From there, he took a speedboat across the Adriatic to sneak into Yugoslavia. From Yugoslavia, he drove to southeast Austria, taking a rest at a beautiful chateau. Then he took a road trip across Austria with his new best bud, Silvano Vitor, right up to the border with Switzerland, where, at the last moment, he was told by men whose motives I'm still not sure of to charter a private jet to London.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
Vitor kept taking me through the details of their trip, And he explained that Carboni had booked a suite at a cheap hotel in a bad part of Chelsea. Vitor called it a zero-star hotel.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
So that's interesting. Roberto Calvi resigned to his handlers, but still seriously trying to make a deal in London. He called his family and told them not to worry anymore. Calvi's son, Carlo, said in testimony after his dad's death that he'd claimed to be working on something big that would have taken care of all of his problems. Calvi told his wife, Clara, something similar.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
A big deal that would blow up into a wonderful thing that could change their lives. But what were the details of that deal? He didn't tell Clara, Carlo, or anyone else. Even though Calvi was in deal-making mode, he barely left the hotel. He was haunted by this fear of being recognized by someone on the streets in London. And so, Vitor was the one that brought back most of their meals.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
Vitor was the one that checked airline schedules in case they needed to move again. Vitor was Calvi's main human contact. And in the midst of that strange arrangement... I just kept waiting for something awful to happen, like a big plot twist. But Calvi's last days, even with him acting like there was one more deal out there, one key phone call to make, they seemed kind of procedural.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
At night, Vitor says he and Calvi would sit together in their PJs and just chat, bonding like a long-term bizarro sleepover, acting almost like the entire world wasn't looking for them. And then, on June 17th, a day before Calvi died, Vitor says they received news that Calvi's secretary had jumped out of a window at the Banco Ambrosiano to her death.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
But the headline that seemed to dominate, beyond the bigger financial questions about the bank, what everybody wanted to know was what the hell happened to Roberto Calvi? Was he kidnapped? Was he on the run? Had he been killed? I was pretty sure Calvi decided to escape rather than being abducted. And I know he'd be dead a week later. What I didn't know is what happened in between.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
Shadow Kingdom is a production of Crooked Media and Campside Media. It's hosted and reported by me, Niccolo Mainoni, with additional reporting by Simona Zecchi and Joe Hawthorne. The show is written by Joe Hawthorne, Ashley-Ann Krigbaum, and me. Joe Hawthorne is our lead producer, and Ashley-Ann Krigbaum is our managing producer. Tracy Samuelson is our story editor.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
Sound design, mix, and mastering by Mark McAdam. Our theme song and original score are composed by me and Mark McAdam. Our studio engineer is Ewan Lightram Ewan. Voice acting by Bonnie Biagini, Andrea Bianchi, Ferrante Cosma, Luca De Gennaro, Michele Teodori, and Mustafa Zialan. Field recording by Justin Trigger, Jonathan Zenti, Pete Shev, Jonathan Gruber, and Joanna Broder.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
Fact-checking by Zoe Sullivan. Our executive producers are me, Niccolo Mainoni, along with Sarah Geismar, Katie Long, and Allison Falsetta from Crooked Media. Josh Dean, Adam Hoff, Matt Scher, and Vanessa Gregoriadis are the executive producers at Campside Media. One last thing before we go. You can also listen to Shadow Kingdom in Italian.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
Look up Il Banchiere di Dio wherever you get your podcasts.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
In other words, God's Banker's final days. The answer was like a black box, hiding footage that could explain how and why it all came crashing down. Up until writing this episode, I thought I'd have to piece together that black box from news articles and history books. But then, I heard back from the last known person to see Calvi alive.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
From Crooked Media and Campside Media, this is Shadow Kingdom, God's Banker. I'm Niccolo Mainoni, and this is episode six, On the Run.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
Shadow Kingdom is brought to you by Lumen. Did you know? that when your metabolism is working properly, you will feel the benefits in literally every aspect of your life. I have found a valuable tool, one that was given to me, to be fair, but it's valuable nonetheless, and it gives me insights into how to create a healthy metabolism for my body. It's called Lumen.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
Lumen is a handheld tracker that reads your metabolism through your breath. And keep in mind, your metabolism is basically your body's engine. It's how you turn food into fuel. All you have to do is blow into the device, check the app, and it tells you whether you're burning carbs or fat at that moment. At first, candidly, I had no idea why that mattered.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
But then I understood and I saw the patterns. The days I woke up burning fat, I had steady energy. I was more focused. No mid-afternoon crashes. The days I woke up burning carbs, on the other hand, I was a little more foggy, a little more sluggish. And here's the part that really matters. Lumen doesn't just tell you what's happening.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
It helps you change it, essentially by giving you a personalized plan. What to eat, how to adjust workouts, even how sleep impacts your metabolism. So you're not just guessing. Okay, the warmer months are coming. Spring back into your health and fitness and go to lumen.me to get 15% off your Lumen. That is L-U-M-E-N dot M-E-N. slash kingdom for 15% off your purchase.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
Thank you to our friends at Lumen for sponsoring this episode.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
Okay, in my hotel room, about to go see Vitor. Actually, Vitor's lawyer. And we're going to sit on the side of a street because Vitor is not telling us where he lives, which is bad for the blood pressure of those who love you. Okay, let's see what happens.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
It's fall 2023, and I'm waiting to meet Silvano Vitor, a former contrabandiere, or contraband smuggler. who was also the last man we know of to see Calvi alive, the man responsible for watching over Calvi in his final days. Vitor hasn't sat down for a recorded interview in 40 years. And even then, the questions he answered were mostly bureaucratic.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
I was desperate to speak to him, to ask him why did Calvi flee? What or who was he running from? If there was anyone Calvi had confided in during his final days, I suspected it might be Vitor. And so I spent months and months trying to wrangle Vitor. First, he was down to talk. Then he wasn't. Then he wanted his lawyer to join, but I'd have to pay the lawyer. Then I thought he'd ghosted me.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
Finally, he was in. So now I've traveled all the way to Trieste, a town on the northernmost border of Italy, and almost on cue, Vitor's lawyer showed up first outside of my hotel. Fun fact, lawyers in Italy are actually called avvocato, which sounds like what guacamole is made from. So when two Italian lawyers greet each other, it sounds like we're saying, hello, avocado.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
And as us two Italian avocados, we're going back and forth. A fit 70-something with cool, slicked-back hair walked out of my hotel. At that moment, I realized I'd actually seen him. He'd been sitting in the hotel lobby all along, surveying the scene. Just like I'd never met a mafioso or a spy until working on this story, I'd never met a smuggler either, and I wasn't sure what to expect.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
What immediately struck me about Vitor was how normal, nondescript he was. He has a fairly pronounced Northern Italian accent, sort of like a Midwestern accent in the United States. He'd easily blend into a crowd, which I imagine was helpful in his former line of work.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
So the smuggler, the lawyer, and I settled into a room on the ground floor of the hotel, and Vitor began to tell me about his work before Calvi. Vitor didn't go too in-depth, but he did say he smuggled food and clothes across the Iron Curtain. It's easy to forget, but Italy was on the very border of the Cold War.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
News reports said that Calvi had vanished seemingly in the middle of the night. His disappearance came just a couple of weeks before huge debt payments at the Ambrosiano were coming due. hundreds of millions of dollars. Calvi had been frantically trying to drum up cash or buy more time from its creditors. He'd scheduled meetings with bankers and lawyers for the following week.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
And Trieste, where Vitor lived, was very close to the border with Soviet bloc countries, like Yugoslavia. Great for smuggling goods or people. See, when Calvi was convicted of illegal currency exportation, he'd had to surrender his passport. The Italian government wouldn't allow him to leave the country. But that's exactly what he wanted to do, because if he stayed, he could be sent back to jail.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
So he reached out to his new fixer, Flavio Carboni, to see if he could help. And Carboni reached out to Vitor.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
I interviewed Vitor in Italian, so I've enlisted an actor to read his responses in English. So Carboni and Vitor were dating sisters. They'd been friends for years, and so Carboni knew all about Vitor's work as a smuggler. It wasn't a huge surprise then that Carboni called Vitor and said he needed help smuggling a person.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
The next day, Vitor pulled up to a fancy hotel and saw an old Alfa Romeo driven by Carboni's assistant. As Vitor moved to open the passenger door and look down, eyes squinting, he saw the silhouette of Roberto Calvi. Bald head, dark suit, clutching a briefcase.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
I thought that was strange. A 40-year-old insisting he help a 60-year-old with carrying a briefcase. Calvi wasn't an athlete, but he wasn't like 90 years old. Anyway, the directions that Vitor had from Carboni were to smuggle Calvi over the border.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
So Vitor took Calvi to his house that afternoon, and the two settled into Vitor's living room, waiting for midnight.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
Yeah, he changed. He turned pale. And did he take his suit or his jacket off at all?
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
Vitor painted this vivid image for me. A half-naked Roberto Calvi, drenched in sweat, a week from death, watching his own face plastered on TV. He was running from something, but I still didn't quite understand what. And then, unexpectedly, Vitor said something that put me on alert. He told Calvi, okay, you want to leave right away, fine, but don't take your briefcase.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
He even made plans with his driver to commute to work as usual the following day. But instead, the driver found a vague note from Calvi saying that he was tired, he wasn't feeling well, and that he was going to go away. The driver found the note so suspicious, so unlike Calvi, that he almost immediately alerted the authorities. God's banker was officially a missing person.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
Vitor thought it'd be less risky if he helped Calvi sneak across the border without the briefcase. Once over the border, Calvi would sit tight in Austria. Then Vitor would go back to Italy, get the briefcase, and drive across the border legally to meet Calvi. Vitor said Calvi initially freaked out and said, no way. But eventually, somehow, a panicked Calvi agreed. Vitor explained.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
I never have. Again, this just sounds off to me. Calvi, the king of paranoia, not only willingly parted with his precious briefcase, but also offered up the combination. I found myself wondering, were Vitor and Carboni genuinely helping Calvi, or did they have an alternative motive in these final, crucial days? but I decided not to press Vitor just yet.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
He was starting to get comfortable with me and was finally getting to the part of the story I'd come for. So Vitor's plan continued. After midnight, the smuggler and the banker, now a bizarre buddy duo, stepped into Vitor's boat under cover of darkness and slipped over the border out of Italy.
Shadow Kingdom
God’s Banker I 6. On the Run
Vitor reassured Calvi all throughout their boat ride to Yugoslavia. And from Yugoslavia, Vitor put Calvi in a car to Austria and set him up to stay at a chateau owned by his girlfriend's family.
Shadow Kingdom
Introducing Shadow Kingdom: God’s Banker (coming March 17)
It was the summer of 1982. My friend Mario was preparing to interview one of the richest bankers in Europe. A man who was also the most famous fugitive in the world. When suddenly, a note came across Mario's desk. The wire said, Calvi found dead in London under the Blackfriars Bridge. Suicide? Question mark.
Shadow Kingdom
Introducing Shadow Kingdom: God’s Banker (coming March 17)
Find it wherever you get your podcasts or get early access for the full season by joining Crooked's Friends of the Pod at crooked.com slash friends.
Shadow Kingdom
Introducing Shadow Kingdom: God’s Banker (coming March 17)
The name of the man he was supposed to interview was Roberto Calvi, better known as God's Banker, the top money man for the Pope. Police argued whether this was a suicide or a murder. And the case only became more twisted as investigators dug deeper. My name is Niccolo Mainoni, and for years I have been obsessed with one of Europe's greatest mysteries. Who killed God's banker?
Shadow Kingdom
Introducing Shadow Kingdom: God’s Banker (coming March 17)
An obsession that's brought me into the underbelly of some of the most secretive circles of power.
Shadow Kingdom
Introducing Shadow Kingdom: God’s Banker (coming March 17)
I've talked to spies and mafia bosses. And I've recorded mind-bending stories of conspiracy and espionage.
Shadow Kingdom
Introducing Shadow Kingdom: God’s Banker (coming March 17)
All to find out what truly happened to the banker who had the Vatican, the mafia, and a secret far-right branch of Freemasons all pounding on his door. Coming March 17th from Crooked Media and Campside Media, this is Shadow Kingdom, Season 1, God's Banker.
Shadow Kingdom
A Sneak Preview of Shadow Kingdom: God’s Banker
There were sweat stains on his once crisp button-up shirt and dirt on his pants and jacket. He left his home in Rome in such a rush, there wasn't much time to pack. A couple of suitcases, a forged passport, and the precious item that hadn't left his sight since, his leather briefcase. Calvi picked up a book of matches and struck, igniting the small cavern of the brick fireplace.
Shadow Kingdom
A Sneak Preview of Shadow Kingdom: God’s Banker
One by one, he pulled the documents from the briefcase, dropping them carefully into the fire, page after page. Were these paper trails of illegal wire transfers? Maybe blackmail materials on his rich and powerful clients? I can't be sure. But Calvi didn't burn everything. Some papers he stowed back in the case, Maybe he could use them to cut a deal and save himself.
Shadow Kingdom
A Sneak Preview of Shadow Kingdom: God’s Banker
Or perhaps one of those powerful clients might protect him in order to protect their secrets. Among the papers he decided to save was a copy of a letter he'd written just a few weeks earlier. It was written to one of his most important, most secretive clients, Pope John Paul II. Calvi had done so much work for the Vatican, he'd earned the nickname God's Banker.
Shadow Kingdom
A Sneak Preview of Shadow Kingdom: God’s Banker
But now the Italian financier was in trouble. Santita, Calvi's letter started, I have concluded that you are my last hope. Calvi wrote that he'd secretly moved money for the Vatican around the world and that he'd willingly taken on its, quote, mistakes and faults. But now, he told the Pope, I am betrayed and abandoned by the Vatican.
Shadow Kingdom
A Sneak Preview of Shadow Kingdom: God’s Banker
I read this letter as both a cry for help and vaguely threatening. But why did Calvi carry it with him? And did the Pope ever respond? I don't know, but I know what happened next. Five days later, Roberto Calvi would be found dead, hanging from a rope over the Thames River in London, bricks in his pockets, and his briefcase nowhere to be found.
Shadow Kingdom
A Sneak Preview of Shadow Kingdom: God’s Banker
From Crooked Media and Campside Media, this is Shadow Kingdom, God's Banker,
Shadow Kingdom
A Sneak Preview of Shadow Kingdom: God’s Banker
There's a scene that I've been obsessed with for the past several years. It took place on a cool summer night in Austria in 1982. Italian banker Roberto Calvi sat in front of a cold fireplace. For him, it was a rare moment of stillness in what had been a full week on the run. His designer suit was disheveled.