Editing Banco Ambrosiano (section)

==Propaganda Due P2==
	Banco Ambrosiano’s collapse was entangled with the [[Propaganda Due P2]] Masonic lodge, a secretive organization led by [[Licio Gelli]] a fascist sympathizer with ties to Italian intelligence, the Mafia, and anti-communist networks. Calvi and Gelli were P2 members, and the lodge was suspected of orchestrating political subversion, including funding anti-communist activities possibly linked to [[Operation Gladio]].  P2’s influence extended to Italy’s elite, including politicians, military officials, and businessmen. The lodge’s exposure in 1981 led to the fall of Prime Minister Arnaldo Forlani’s government, intensifying scrutiny on Calvi, who was convicted that year for illegally exporting $26.4 million, receiving a four-year sentence (suspended pending appeal).

	As investigations by the Bank of Italy deepened in 1981–1982, uncovering a $1.3 billion “hole” in Ambrosiano’s accounts, Calvi faced mounting pressure. On June 10, 1982, he fled Rome on a false passport, traveling via Venice and Zurich to London. On June 17, his body was found hanging under Blackfriars Bridge, with bricks in his pockets and $15,000 in cash.  Initially ruled a suicide, Calvi’s death was declared a murder after a 1983 inquest and a 1991 investigation by Kroll Associates, commissioned by his family. Suspects included the Mafia (notably Giuseppe “Pippo” Calò), P2, and Vatican officials, with motives tied to Calvi’s knowledge of sensitive financial dealings. Mafia pentito Francesco Marino Mannoia claimed Calvi was killed for losing mob funds, though trials in 2007 acquitted five defendants, leaving the case unresolved.  The day before Calvi’s death, his secretary, Graziella Corrocher, died by suicide, jumping from a Banco Ambrosiano window, leaving a note condemning Calvi’s damage to the bank.

	The scandals were accompanied by suspicious deaths, including Gérard Soisson, a Clearstream manager found dead in Corsica in 1983, shortly after Ernest Backes, a Clearstream whistleblower, was fired. Backes claimed they handled Ambrosiano’s illicit transactions, suggesting their knowledge threatened powerful interests.  The scandals fueled speculation of ties to Operation Gladio, NATO’s clandestine anti-communist network. Ambrosiano’s funding of anti-communist causes, such as Solidarity and the Contras, aligned with Gladio’s objectives, and P2’s role in Italy’s “strategy of tension” (e.g., the 1980 Bologna bombing) suggested a broader covert agenda to thwart communist influence, possibly involving the CIA.