Niccolo Mainoni

And since Calvi was facing his own legal troubles, Gelli worried that he would tell police what he knew and that he'd give the Grand Master up to save himself. Gelli may have gotten help from or worked in concert with the mafia to bring Calvi down, but regardless, the Bologna massacre was the tipping point, the reason Calvi was murdered. One more murder to cover up dozens of others.

And since Calvi was facing his own legal troubles, Gelli worried that he would tell police what he knew and that he'd give the Grand Master up to save himself. Gelli may have gotten help from or worked in concert with the mafia to bring Calvi down, but regardless, the Bologna massacre was the tipping point, the reason Calvi was murdered. One more murder to cover up dozens of others.

Check, check, check. Levels. One, one, two. Check, check, check. Mario, what are you looking for? As I finished this story, I still felt a lot of frustration, a lot of uncertainty. I left my job, and I set out searching for something far more concrete than what I'd found. So I returned to where this all started. with my friend Mario.

Check, check, check. Levels. One, one, two. Check, check, check. Mario, what are you looking for? As I finished this story, I still felt a lot of frustration, a lot of uncertainty. I left my job, and I set out searching for something far more concrete than what I'd found. So I returned to where this all started. with my friend Mario.

It's funny, because we are right back in the apartment where you first told me about the story, I realize now, two-plus years ago, when you told me that story about Carlo in 1982, and I'd come over with this new recorder, I didn't know quite how to use it, and I said, maybe I'll record Mario telling the story.

It's funny, because we are right back in the apartment where you first told me about the story, I realize now, two-plus years ago, when you told me that story about Carlo in 1982, and I'd come over with this new recorder, I didn't know quite how to use it, and I said, maybe I'll record Mario telling the story.

It was. It was. Less predictable than I had thought. I told Mario about Vincenzo Calcara, the mafioso scaring the shit out of me. I described Frank Pacienza smoking a pipe as he told me about the Vatican espionage, meeting Vitor the smuggler on the coast of Trieste, trying to trace the billions of dollars Calvi had borrowed and never repaid.

It was. It was. Less predictable than I had thought. I told Mario about Vincenzo Calcara, the mafioso scaring the shit out of me. I described Frank Pacienza smoking a pipe as he told me about the Vatican espionage, meeting Vitor the smuggler on the coast of Trieste, trying to trace the billions of dollars Calvi had borrowed and never repaid.

We talked about the fascist Freemasons and the Cold War and Carlo Calvi's Bologna theory. I tried to process all these threads with Mario in real time. Because if you'd asked me two years ago, I would have said these were all just rumors and stories. They were all silly and absurd. But clearly there was some more straightforward, reasonable story behind Calvi's death.

We talked about the fascist Freemasons and the Cold War and Carlo Calvi's Bologna theory. I tried to process all these threads with Mario in real time. Because if you'd asked me two years ago, I would have said these were all just rumors and stories. They were all silly and absurd. But clearly there was some more straightforward, reasonable story behind Calvi's death.

Yet, here I was, telling him, Mario, the quote-unquote spy, about this web of shady characters, the nexus of power and money that orbited Calvino. And what was astounding to me was how much of that was happening at the same time behind the scenes. The fervor and the violence and the... the organized crime on another side. You talked to me about the term dietrologia. You introduced me to that.

Yet, here I was, telling him, Mario, the quote-unquote spy, about this web of shady characters, the nexus of power and money that orbited Calvino. And what was astounding to me was how much of that was happening at the same time behind the scenes. The fervor and the violence and the... the organized crime on another side. You talked to me about the term dietrologia. You introduced me to that.

Yes.

Yes.

I doubt that the 2005 defendants were actually Calvi's murderers. I do believe in the Bologna theory. I believe that there was some kind of neo-fascist plot to kill Calvi. But like Mario said, we don't know for certain. There's only enough evidence to get imaginative. What I realized as we talked was that this story, Calvi's story, had filled me with a surprising amount of compassion.

I doubt that the 2005 defendants were actually Calvi's murderers. I do believe in the Bologna theory. I believe that there was some kind of neo-fascist plot to kill Calvi. But like Mario said, we don't know for certain. There's only enough evidence to get imaginative. What I realized as we talked was that this story, Calvi's story, had filled me with a surprising amount of compassion.

A little bit for Roberto Calvi, who was caught up by forces far greater than himself. But mostly, it gives me compassion for the average Italians that lived through the heyday of dietrologia. People like my parents, who came of age in the 60s and 70s. During that time, the mafia, the Vatican spies, Da Vinci Code-style masons, they all did exist in Italy.

A little bit for Roberto Calvi, who was caught up by forces far greater than himself. But mostly, it gives me compassion for the average Italians that lived through the heyday of dietrologia. People like my parents, who came of age in the 60s and 70s. During that time, the mafia, the Vatican spies, Da Vinci Code-style masons, they all did exist in Italy.

Sure, they may have sounded like conspiracies, but they were real. Italy was a surprisingly violent place, where the mafia regularly kidnapped people for ransom, where the fight for and against communism wasn't abstract. It was bloody and in the streets. where maybe you knew secret societies existed, but not which of your friends or neighbors had signed up.

Sure, they may have sounded like conspiracies, but they were real. Italy was a surprisingly violent place, where the mafia regularly kidnapped people for ransom, where the fight for and against communism wasn't abstract. It was bloody and in the streets. where maybe you knew secret societies existed, but not which of your friends or neighbors had signed up.