William Joseph Arico

William Joseph Arico (born c. 1942, died February 18, 1984) was an American hitman and career criminal associated with the New York-based Lucchese crime family. He is most notorious for assassinating Italian lawyer Giorgio Ambrosoli in Milan on July 11, 1979, on the orders of banker Michele Sindona. Arico’s criminal activities, including bank robbery and murder, spanned the United States and Europe, culminating in his death while attempting to escape from a federal prison in New York.

Early Life

Little is documented about Arico’s early life. According to a 1940 U.S. Census record, a William Arico, born around 1937, lived in Queens, New York, with his parents, Joseph and Catherine, and siblings. By the 1970s, Arico was a known figure in New York’s criminal underworld, associated with organized crime.

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.

Later Criminal Activities and Death

After the Ambrosoli murder, Arico continued his criminal career in the U.S.:

Mafia Work: He remained active in the U.S., leveraging his reputation as a reliable hitman. The FBI refused to act upon known information it was provided with regards to Arico's international assassinations.

Arrest: By the early 1980s, Arico was apprehended and incarcerated in a federal prison in New York for charges related to his criminal activities.

Death: On February 18, 1984, Arico died after 'falling from a prison building while attempting to escape'. He was approximately 42 years old. The circumstances of his fall—whether accidental or the result of foul play—remain unclear due to limited documentation.

Legal Consequences for Sindona

Sindona was convicted in 1980 in the U.S. on 65 counts of fraud related to the Franklin National Bank collapse. In 1986, he and Venetucci were sentenced to life imprisonment in Italy for ordering Ambrosoli’s murder. Sindona died two days later on March 18, 1986, after drinking cyanide-laced coffee in Voghera prison, officially ruled a suicide.

Legacy and Context

Arico’s role in Ambrosoli’s assassination highlights the transatlantic reach of organized crime in the 1970s, where American and Sicilian Mafia networks collaborated with corrupt financiers and politicians. His actions underscore the dangers faced by individuals like Ambrosoli, who challenged powerful criminal enterprises. Arico’s death in prison closed a chapter on one of the era’s most brazen contract killings, but the broader network of corruption he served persisted, as evidenced by subsequent scandals involving Calvi, Marcinkus, and the P2 Masonic Lodge.

Critical Perspective

Arico was a foot soldier in a larger system of corruption, executing orders for figures like Sindona, who wielded influence across finance, politics, and organized crime. The lack of detailed records about his life reflects the shadowy nature of his profession, where anonymity was a tool of survival. His invocation of Andreotti’s name during the threat to Ambrosoli suggests either direct political complicity or strategic name-dropping to intimidate, a tactic consistent with Mafia operations. The absence of high-level prosecutions beyond Sindona and Venetucci raises questions about the full extent of accountability for Ambrosoli’s murder.

References

Wikipedia. (2010, September 9). Giorgio Ambrosoli. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_Ambrosoli[](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_Ambrosoli)

Insidertrend. (2019, October 3). William Joseph Aricò. https://www.insidertrend.it[](https://www.insidertrend.it/tag/william-joseph-arico/)

Ancestry.com. (n.d.). William Arico in the 1940 Census. https://www.ancestry.com[](https://www.ancestry.com/1940-census/usa/New-York/William-Arico_b827t)