God’s Godfather

Douglas Johnson

• God’s Banker: An Account of the Life and Death of Roberto Calvi by Rupert Cornwell
  Gollancz, 260 pp, £8.95, September 1983, ISBN 0 05 753351 2
• A Man of Honour: The Autobiography of a Godfather by Joseph Bonnano and Sergio Lalli
  Deutsch, 416 pp, £9.95, September 1983, ISBN 0 233 97609 4
• The Biggest Game in Town by A. Alvarez
  Deutsch, 186 pp, £8.95, September 1983, ISBN 0 233 97521 7

On the evening of 15 June 1982 Roberto Calvi landed in a private plane at Gatwick airport and using a false passport proceeded to London. At the time he was one of the most sought-after men in Europe, and at the centre of a considerable financial scandal. The Ambrosiano Bank, of which he was director, was in the process of collapsing and there was talk of gigantic sums of money, thousands of millions of dollars’ worth, having vanished into thin air. And this was not all. Scandals surrounding banks are common enough in Italy, but this promised to be something big even by Italian standards. Not only were many famous institutions and individuals implicated: it was certain that the Vatican was involved. Via the Istituto per le Opere di Religione, and through a host of surrogate companies and banks, Calvi had lent large sums to the Papacy. He was no ordinary banker. He was God’s banker.