- Francesco Di Carlo
Francesco Di Carlo (Altofonte,
February 18 ,1942 ) is a member of theMafia who turned state witness (pentito - a mafioso turned informer) in 1996. He has been accused of being the killer of theRoberto Calvi – nicknamed "God's banker" because he was in charge ofBanco Ambrosiano and his close association with theVatican Bank .Early career
Di Carlo was initiated in the
Altofonte Mafia family in 1966 by the boss at the time, Salvatore La Barbera (not to be confused with the Palermo Centro boss who was killed in 1963). [it icon [http://www.narcomafie.it/sentenza_dellutri.pdf Sentenza nei confronti di Dell’Utri Marcello e Cinà Gaetano] December 11, 2004] He became "capo famiglia" in the mid 1970s. Altofonte was part of themandamento ofSan Giuseppe Jato , headed byAntonio Salamone and Bernardo Brusca. According to thepentito Giuseppe Marchese , Di Carlo was an influential mafioso and a very competent drug trafficker connected with theCorleonesi .Di Carlo is described as an elegant and intelligent mafioso who received an education at the prestigious
Jesuit college ofGonzaga dn inPalermo where he met the princeAlessandro Vanni Calvello , who would be best man at his marriage. Di Carlo and Vanni Calvello were partners in the nightclub "Il Castello" inSan Nicola Arena , just outside Palermo on the highway toMessina . The club was popular with the "beau monde" of Palermo, visiting concerts ofRay Charles andAmanda Lear . However, during the day the Mafia used it as a meeting place.Expelled from Cosa Nostra
Di Carlo was expelled ("posato") from Cosa Nostra, because of a conflict about a lost shipment of heroin or an unpaid consignment of
hashish . Because of his useful contributions for the Mafia he was not killed, but had to leave Italy. He moved toLondon . His brotherAndrea Di Carlo took over the command of the Mafia family and became a member of theSicilian Mafia Commission .According to Di Carlo he was expelled in 1982 because he refused to betray some members of the
Cuntrera-Caruana Mafia family (Pasquale Cuntrera andAlfonso Caruana ) – during the Mafia war in theprovince of Agrigento that ran parallel to theSecond Mafia War inPalermo . Mafia bossCarmelo Colletti , connected with theCorleonesi , had taken over the command after killingGiuseppe Settecasi and his lieutenantLeonardo Caruana . He wanted the other Cuntrera’s and Caruana’s out of the way as well. However, it was Colletti who was killed in 1983.Drug trafficking
In the
United Kingdom Di Carlo was involved in hashish and heroin trafficking. He bought a mansion inWoking , in Surrey, in the stockbrokers-belt near London. In the UK he teamed up withAlfonso Caruana . Di Carlo created an infrastructure to facilitate the smuggling operations: he owned a hotel, travel agencies and import-export companies. [" [http://www.tni.org/archives/tblick/aruba.htm The Rothschilds of the Mafia on Aruba] ", by Tom Blickman, Transnational Organized Crime, Vol. 3, No. 2, Summer 1997.]In June 1985 British Custom & Excise and the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) seized 58 kilograms of heroin in a controlled delivery. In the UK, Di Carlo was arrested with three others. In March 1987 Di Carlo was convicted to a 25-year prison sentence for heroin trafficking. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE5DC103DF931A25750C0A961948260 "Britain Sentences 4 in Mafia"] , The New York Times, March 12, 1987]Alfonso Caruana ’s brotherGerlando Caruana was convicted in Canada.Pentito
In June 1996 Di Carlo decided to collaborate with the Italian authorities. He is transferred from his UK prison to Rome. He is hailed as the "new Buscetta". Di Carlo mentioned several politicians to be members of Cosa Nostra, among others: the
Christian Democrat politicianBernardo Mattarella and Giovanni Musotto, father ofFrancesco Musotto , former president of theProvince of Palermo who has been accused of Mafia association. Di Carlo became an important witness in numerous antimafia trials and also testified in the trials against former Prime MinisterGiulio Andreotti andSilvio Berlusconi ’s right hand manMarcello Dell'Utri .He wanted to move to Canada as part of an international agreement that allows him to be relocated almost anywhere in the world. In an exclusive interview with
W-FIVE , Di Carlo confirms the allegation that the Sicilian Mafia considers Canada to be the best place in the world to conduct their criminal businesses. In November 2000, Di Carlo spoke to W-FIVE in hopes of sending a message toAlfonso Caruana . During his interview he revealed that the high council of the Mafia had ordered Di Carlo to murder Caruana, who had fallen out of favour. Di Carlo refused, saving Alfonso's life, but putting his own in danger. Di Carlo wants the Caruana's to remember this life-saving favour. [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1025827381647_21236581/ The Canadian connection] , W-FIVE, November, 7 2000]Involvement in Roberto Calvi murder
In July 1991 the pentito
Francesco Marino Mannoia claimed that Di Carlo had killedRoberto Calvi – nicknamed "God's banker" because he was in charge ofBanco Ambrosiano , in which theVatican Bank was the main share-holder. [ [http://www.americanatheist.org/pope99/calvi.html Through the Looking Glass: Vatican Politics, the Calvi Murder and Beyond...] ] Calvi had been killed because he had lost Mafia funds when Banco Ambrosiano collapsed. The order to kill Calvi had come from Mafia bossGiuseppe Calò .When Di Carlo became state witness in June 1996, he denied that he was the killer, but admitted that he had been approached by Calò to do the job. However, Di Carlo could not be reached in time, and when he later called Calò, the latter said that everything had been taken care of already. According to Di Carlo, the killers were
Vincenzo Casillo andSergio Vaccari , who belonged to theCamorra from Naples and have been killed since. [" [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Content/displayPrintable.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/11/wmafia11.xml&site=5&page=0 Mafia wanted me to kill Calvi, says jailed gangster] ", Daily Telegraph, December 10, 2005.]References
*fr icon Calvi, Fabrizio (1993). "L'Europe des parrains. La Mafia à l'assaut de l'Europe", Paris: Grasset ISBN 2-246-46061-1
*it icon Caruso, Alfio (2000). " [http://www.alfiocaruso.com/da_cosa_cap.htm Da cosa nasce cosa. Storia della mafia del 1943 a oggi] ", Milan: Longanesi ISBN 88-304-1620-7
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