Former gangster says mob kidnapped daughter of Vatican employee
May 16, 2012
An admitted Italian gangster has said that the 15-year-old daughter of a Vatican employee was killed in 1983 because a criminal gang was irate over the loss of funds deposited in the Vatican bank.
In an interview with the daily Il Fatto Quotidiano, Antonio Mancini, a former member of the Magliana gang, said that young Emanuela Orlandi was kidnapped after Mafia figures learned that they had lost “more than 200 million dollars” that they had sought to launder through the Vatican bank. Depositors took huge losses because of the collapse of the Banco Ambrosiano, with which the Vatican bank had extensive ties.
“There was a problem with money not being returned, and the choice was between leaving some cardinal’s body by the side of the road or hitting someone close to the Pope,” said Mancini. He added that Enrico De Pedis, a noted crime figure in Rome, drove the car that was used in the abduction of Emanuela Orlandi.
Although Mancini’s credibility is not great, his interview gained attention in Rome because police investigators there have recently exhumed the body of Enrico De Pedis, searching for clues that might help to solve the mystery of Emanuela Orlandi’s disappearance. Several organized-crime figures have said that De Pedis was involved in the girl’s disappearance.
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Further information:
- The infamous Magliana Gang made investments through the Vatican’s IOR (Vatican Insider)
- Body of Italian mobster exhumed, no clues on girl's disappearance (CWN 5/14)
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