<headline>British women caught up in 'God's banker' murder trial</headline>
The murder of 'God's banker' Robert Calvi, who was found hanged under Blackfriars Bridge, London, in June 1982, is one of Britain's most extraordinary unsolved crimes. For two decades, conspiracy theories and intrigue have abounded over the death of the Vatican financier.
But in 11 days' time three Italian men and an Austrian woman will finally stand trial in Rome accused of Calvi's murder. The case is likely to feature evidence from two British women who unwittingly found themselves embroiled in a world of murder, Mafia hitmen and a multi-million-pound banking scandal.
The Observer has uncovered new details surrounding the banker's death, including those of two women who claim they were innocently caught up in the crime. One, a west London antiques dealer, went out with an Italian playboy who was later alleged to be involved in the killing and ended up being murdered himself. The other British woman acted as an interpreter for one of the men standing trial.
In what promises to be a dramatic trial, prosecutors will produce evidence to claim that Calvi was killed to stop him revealing secrets that would have rocked the Italian political establishment and implicated the Vatican hierarchy.
Investigators from the City of London police and the Italian authorities believe they have evidence to prove Calvi was murdered. They claim he was lured on to a River Thames boat by the Mafia. He was then garrotted from behind with a rope and concrete bricks were stuffed in his underpants and trouser pockets along with $15,000 in cash. A noose was made with the rope, placed round his neck and his body was hung on scaffolding by the bridge to appear as if he had committed suicide.
It is thought the boat on which Calvi was strangled was hired by an Italian drugs dealer and playboy, Sergio Vaccari, who was living in Kensington. Three months after Calvi was murdered, Vaccari was found lying in a pool of blood in his flat in Holland Park, west London. He had been stabbed 15 times in the face and neck.
Police did not link his murder with Calvi's. But new evidence has emerged that Vaccari helped Calvi find his London flat at Chelsea Cloisters when the banker fled Italy to escape a jail sentence for illegal foreign currency dealings. It is believed Vaccari was killed by the Mafia after he threatened to reveal Calvi's killers unless his drug debts were written off.
Vaccari also owned an antiques business in Kensington where he met his English girlfriend, antiques dealer Caroline Whitby-Jones.
In February this year, Italian anti-Mafia police questioned Whitby-Jones, 43, a mother of three, at her home in Florence about her relationship with Vaccari. They took away her diaries and phone books relating to the time she was with Vaccari. In particular they are interested in a trip she made with Vaccari to Sicily in 1981 where it is thought he met Mafia bosses. The Observer has learnt that the City of London police are also interested in talking to Whitby-Jones. However, there is no suggestion she knew of the plot. She declined to speak to The Observer last week.
The second British woman expected to feature in the trial is Odette Morris, then 21, who worked as an interpreter for Flavio Carboni, a Sardinian businessman who is standing trial for Calvi's murder. Carboni is accused of acting as a go-between for Mafia bosses in Italy and the then head of the Mob in the UK, Francesco di Carlo, known as Frankie the Strangler. It is alleged they hatched the plot to silence Calvi.
Carboni is known to have helped arrange Calvi's escape to London. Calvi had been the chairman of Banco Ambrosiano, in which the Vatican held a significant stake - a link that led Calvi becoming known as 'God's banker'. Banco Ambrosiano, which collapsed with 800 million in debts, was used by the Mafia to launder its money from the drugs trade. It was also the finance house through which unlawful payments were made by large corporations to leading Italian politicians.
When Calvi became embroiled in illegal foreign currency deals he faced four years in jail and fled to London. Calvi began sending signals back to Rome that if he was jailed he would tell all he knew.
Carboni used his family connections in London to try to find Calvi accommodation. Carboni's mistress at the time, Laura Scanu-Concas, had an aunt in London who had married a British man, William Morris - Odette's father. The Morris family agreed to help; there is no suggestion any of them were aware of the Calvi plot.
Carboni spent a lot of time at the Morrises' home in Heston, west London. On the morning after Calvi's murder, Carboni is alleged to have turned up at the Morris home and was described as being 'agitated and pacing up and down'. Carboni is alleged to have wanted to distance himself from London and flew with Odette to Edinburgh, where they stayed one night at the George Hotel.
Investigators believe that during this period Carboni had Calvi's briefcase, which contained critical documents that would have exposed Banco Ambrosiano's illegal activities. It is alleged that after Calvi's murder Carboni went to Gatwick airport and handed the documents over to a business associate. Carboni, who denies any part in Calvi's murder, said he did go to Gatwick but never met anybody. At the time Odette, who was travelling with him, is understood to have backed his claim.
But in December last year City of London police arrested Odette, believing she gave Carboni a false alibi. She was held on suspicion of conspiring to pervert the course of justice and perjury and questioned about the three days she spent with Carboni after Calvi's death. Morris was released on bail without charge and the case is in the hands of the Crown Prosecution Service.
Morris has declined to talk, but her mother told The Observer : 'He [Carboni] appeared such a nice man. He was a friend of the family. We knew nothing about him or his friends. Odette was just a young girl who helped him out because he did not speak good English.'
While at Morris's home, Carboni is alleged to have made a call to Ernesto Diotallevi, a leading figure in Rome's underworld, who is also on trial for Calvi's murder. Also standing trial is Carboni's Austrian girlfriend, Manuela Kleinszig. The fourth man on trial is convicted Mafia boss Pippo Calo, who is accused of organising the killing. All four deny they were involved in Calvi's murder.
Jeff Katz, the investigator hired by the Calvi family successfully to challenge the original suicide verdict, believes that the truth is emerging. Katz said: 'When Calvi was killed nobody in Italy thought it was suicide. Now the British authorities are thinking the same way. It has taken a long time, but the Calvi family may finally learn who, besides the Mafia, may have been responsible for his murder.' Additional reporting by Zoe Smith
[email protected]ecial reports
Crime
Gun violence in Britain
The issue explained
22.02.2002: Police reform
Useful links
Metropolitan police
Police Federation
Victim support
Firearms manual - Association of Chief Police Officers
The Police Superintendents' Association
Justice
http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,2763,1212825,00.ht ml
)to prosecuting someone for it - gotta love italian justice!
