Editing William Joseph Arico (section)

==Criminal Career==
Arico was a convicted bank robber with ties to the Mafia, specifically the Lucchese crime family. His criminal activities included:
===Bank Robberies===
Arico had a history of armed bank heists in the U.S., establishing him as a reliable operative for organized crime.
===Mafia Connections===
As a professional hitman, he worked for high-profile figures like Michele Sindona, a Sicilian banker with deep ties to the Sicilian Mafia and the Gambino crime family in New York as well as alleged ties to the CIA.
===The Ambrosoli Assassination===
In 1979, Arico was hired by [[Michele Sindona]] to eliminate Giorgio Ambrosoli, the liquidator of Sindona’s Banca Privata Italiana, who was uncovering evidence of fraud, money laundering, and Mafia connections. Ambrosoli’s investigation threatened Sindona’s financial empire and implicated figures like [[Giulio Andreotti]], [[Roberto Calvi]], and [[Paul Marcinkus]] of the Vatican Bank. These financial arrangements were supporting the money laundering activities of Operation Gladio.
===Threats===
In June 1979, Arico made a threatening phone call to Ambrosoli, invoking Andreotti’s name, which Ambrosoli recorded. The call was part of a campaign of intimidation that included leaving a dismantled pistol near Ambrosoli’s office as a Mafia warning.
===Murder===
On July 11, 1979, hours after Ambrosoli met with U.S. and Italian authorities, Arico approached him outside his Milan home at Via Morozzo della Rocca 1. After confirming Ambrosoli’s identity and apologizing, Arico shot him three times in the chest with a .357 Magnum. Ambrosoli died on his doorstep. Arico fled to the U.S. the next day. The State Department and the US Embassy would have been involved in authorizing his travel (using a visa) to Italy. The U.S. Ambassador to Italy in July 1979 was [[Richard N. Gardner]]. 

===Note===
A 1976 New York Times article mentions a conflict between U.S. Ambassador Graham A. Martin (1969–1973) and an unnamed CIA station chief in Rome over payments to General Vito Miceli, head of Italy’s military intelligence (this office was a key member involved in [[Operation Gladio]]. The station chief, who had left Rome by 1976, opposed the payments, citing Miceli’s ties to anti-democratic fascist elements. This illustrates the CIA was well aware of Operation Gladio activities.

The assassination was orchestrated by Robert Venetucci, a Lucchese family associate, who facilitated communication between Sindona and Arico. Sindona paid Arico $100,000 for the hit, channeled through intermediaries.