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Court clears five accused in killing of `God's banker'

The death in London of a corrupt Italian financier known as "God's banker" because of his ties to the Vatican remained more of a mystery than ever after the acquittal on Wednesday of five people accused of his murder.

A court in Rome decided there was insufficient evidence to show that any of the five, some of whom have links to organized crime, had a role in the death of Roberto Calvi, who was found dangling by his neck under Blackfriars Bridge over the Thames in London in 1982.

Defense lawyers argued it had not even been proved he was killed. But the questions Calvi's death raised were still thought sufficiently sensitive for the verdict to be read out in a maximum security courtroom inside a Rome prison.

None of the accused, including Pippo Calo, the man alleged to have ordered the murder and the Mafia's financial mastermind who has been in jail on unrelated charges since 1985, was present. It was not immediately clear whether the prosecution would appeal.

Bricks and stones had been stuffed into Calvi's trousers and jacket and it was speculated that this was a symbolic allusion to his involvement with a subversive masonic lodge, P2, which included some of Italy's most powerful men. One of its members was former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

As Calvi's corpse was being cut down, Banco Ambrosiano, of which he was the chairman, had collapsed in Italy, bringing to light the extent of his shady dealings, including alleged money laundering for the Sicilian Mafia.

A London coroner initially ruled Calvi had killed himself, but the case was reopened at the insistence of his family and an open verdict was returned.

Calvi's family continued to press for further investigation in Italy and in 1998 a judge in Rome ordered an inquiry by forensic experts that concluded the banker had been murdered.

At the request of the Italian authorities British police renewed their inquiries and in 2003 prosecutors in Rome charged five people.

They argued Calvi was killed for three reasons -- he had mishandled cash entrusted to him by the Sicilian Mafia; there was a risk he would disclose the secrets of his money laundering system; and the underworld bosses who ordered his death wanted to bank a favor with those Calvi was in a position to embarrass or ruin.

The judges rejected that version. But, until they publish their reasoning, it will not be clear why.
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