Nexus - 0304 - New Times Magazine-pages

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head, Nugan was also holding a bible that contained an embarrass- ing list of names including William Colby, DCI of the CIA, and Bob Wilson, the House Armed Services Committee's ranking Republican. Others names listed had a variety of backgrounds, ranging from known narcotics traffickers, politicians and business- men to personalities from sport and the media. Beside each name were listed amounts running into five and six numbers. Following public outrage, the US Senate held an investigation into Nugan Hand's operations. Amongst other things it discovered that the bank operated a branch in Chiang Mai, Thailand—heart of Triad country. The branch was dedicated to laundering the Golden Triangle's heroin revenue. Connected to the bank's office by an interconnecting door was the DEA's (Drug Enforcement Administration's) local office—premises that were also shared with the CIA.‘ At about the same time that Frank Nugan's skull was developing powder-burns, Michele Sindona, a free-whecling financial whiz- kid and consigliere for the Sicilian Mafia, had purchased New York's Franklin National Bank and driven it to the wall with losses totalling US$40 million. Ranked the 29th largest bank in the US, the Franklin crash became the biggest on record at that time. Establishing a fictitious company, Fasco AG, in Liechtenstein, Sindona was able to obtain a majority interest in the Italy-based Banca Privata Finanziera. BPA was an excellent acquisition for Sindona, for-not only did it have a close relationship with Britain's blue-chip Hambros Bank but it also had a preferential partnership arrangement with Continental Illinois Bank of Chicago, owned and presided over by David Kennedy (later to become Finance Minister in the Nixon administration). Continental Illinois was later to crash spectacularly in the mid-'80s, only to be rescued with an estimated four billion US tax dollars. head, Nugan was also holding a bible that contained an embarrass- _ institutions into his ownership, including, in addition to his BPA, ing list of names including William Colby, DCI of the CIA, and the Banca Unione, the Germany-based Wolf Bank, the Generale Bob Wilson, the House Armed Services Committee's ranking Immobiliare, Geneva's Finance Bank, Edilcentro, a finance com- Republican. Others names listed had a variety of backgrounds, _ pany set up in the Bahamas, New York's Franklin National Bank ranging from known narcotics traffickers, politicians and business- _ plus 140 other companies spread throughout the globe. men to personalities from sport and the media. Beside each name Sindona's connection to the Mafia probably dates back to World were listed amounts running into five and six numbers, Following War II when he joined in the Mafia preparations for American public outrage, the US Senate held an investigation into Nugan _ landings in Sicily. However, it was during the '70s that the Hand's operations. Amongst other things it discovered that the Sicilian Mafia chose him as their money man. Four years later, in bank operated a branch in Chiang Mai, Thailand—heart of Triad 1974, Don Michele's world began collapsing around him. It was country. The branch was dedicated to laundering the Golden _ later discovered he had been skimming off the mob's narcodollars Triangle's heroin revenue. Connected to the bank's office by an — which he was charged with laundering. Incarcerated in prison for interconnecting door was the DEA's (Drug Enforcement __ his part in the Franklin Bank crash, Sindona was later found dead Administration's) local office—premises that were also shared in his cell. A dose of strychnine laced in his coffee brought a 25- with the CIA.‘ year sentence to an abrupt end.’ If Sindona’s death was anything, At about the same time that Frank Nugan's skull was developing _it was too late. His intimate involvement with another bank that powder-burns, Michele Sindona, a free-whecling financial whiz- crashed with massive losses was to have calamitous and far-reach- kid and consigliere for the Sicilian Mafia, had purchased New _ ing effects on Italy's ruling elite as well as the spooks of Langley. York's Franklin National Bank and driven it to the wall with losses Banco Ambrosiano was the largest private bank in Italy until it totalling US$40 million. Ranked the 29th largest bank in the US, collapsed in 1982 with losses approaching a massive US$2 billion. the Franklin crash became the biggest on record at that time. At the centre of the scandal was Roberto Calvi, Chairman of Establishing a fictitious company, Fasco AG, in Liechtenstein, | Ambrosiano and Lodge brother of Licio Gelli, the shadowy Grand Sindona was able to obtain a majority interest in the Italy-based | Master of the Italian P2 (Propaganda 2) Masonic Lodge. Gelli, Banca Privata Finanziera. BPA was an excellent acquisition for once an Oberleutnant in Himmler’s SS, held the reins of power Sindona, for-not only did it have a close relationship with Britain's | and knew how to use them—for which he was dubbed "The blue-chip Hambros Bank but it also had a preferential partnership Puppet Master". A consummate blackmailer, he kept a secret arrangement with Continental Illinois Bank of Chicago, owned record of wrongdoing of all those he came into contact with, and and presided over by David Kennedy (later to become Finance _ wasn't shy in using it to his advantage. P2's membership roll Minister in the Nixon administration). Continental Illinois was included highly placed politicians, cabinet members, heads of the later to crash spectacularly in the mid-'80s, only to be rescued with —_ Italian armed forces and the intelligence services, together with an estimated four billion US tax dollars. leading industrialists, media magnates, judges, Mafiosi, members of the Vatican Curia and, of course, high-flying financiers— MOBSTERS, MASONS AND THE ITALIAN CONNECTION including Sindona. P2's ‘elite’ membership, linked by their Described by Time magazine as "the greatest Italian since extreme right-wing political views, perfectly dovetailed with the Mussolini", Sindona used his relationship with David Kennedy to CIA's long-standing desire to eradicate Communism from the get close to Bishop Paul Marcinkus, head of the Vatican Bank (the _ Italian political scene. Institute for Religious Works [IOR]), and thereafter set in motion The P2 and Banco Ambrosiano scandal broke when Calvi was a tangled web of financial fraud that almost brought the IOR to its —_ found ‘suicided’ on 17th June 1982. With his hands tied behind his knees. His empire rapidly grew, pulling a number of financial back and a rope around his neck, he had been suspended from London's Blackfriars Bridge in what some | saw as a ritual killing. Calvi was P2's banker and had been involved in embez- zling massive sums of money out of his bank and into secretive ‘offshore’ companies in Liechtenstein and elsewhere. A number of these companies were linked to the Vatican Bank. P2 was responsible for a number of CIA-backed political atrocities at the time, including the bombing of Bologna railway station in August 1980 where 85 innocents were slaughtered—and mischie- vously attributed to left-wing terrorists. Tt took 10 years before the real story came out. Francesco Mannino Mannonia, a peni- tito (defector) from the Sicilian Mafia, con- firmed in 1992 that Calvi was strangled by Francesco di Carlo, the mob's heroin ‘traffic manager’, at the instruction of Pippo Calo of the Corleone family. We now know that Calvi, together with Gelli and Sindona, was embezzling the Mafia out of a fortune. Gelli was ‘handling’ for the Corleonesi a large sum of money which he passed to Roberto Calvi. (Source: In God's Name, by David A. Yallop) | MOBSTERS, MASONS AND THE ITALIAN CONNECTION Described by Time magazine as "the greatest Italian since Mussolini", Sindona used his relationship with David Kennedy to get close to Bishop Paul Marcinkus, head of the Vatican Bank (the Institute for Religious Works [IOR]), and thereafter set in motion a tangled web of financial fraud that almost brought the IOR to its knees. His empire rapidly grew, pulling a number of financial JUNE-JULY 1996 22 ¢ NEXUS