None guilty of Calvi murder

An Italian jury acquitted all five defendants charged with the 1982 murder of financier Roberto Calvi, according to an Associated Press story published in the UK Guardian.

Calvi (left) had been known both as "God's banker" for his close ties to the Vatican.

Calvi's body was found hanging from London's Blackfriars Bridge with rocks and cash stuffed into his suit. The death was initially ruled a suicide, as it coincided closely with the scandalous collapse of Calvi's Banco Ambrosiano establishment. The collapse also involved the Vatican's own bank.

Italian prosecutors eventually charged Giuseppe "Pippo" Calo with ordering a hit on Calvi. Calo, known as the "Mafia's cashier" because of his money-laundering efforts, is currently serving a jail sentence for unrelated Mafia charges. Prosecutors theorized that Calvi and Calo partnered in money-laundering deals until Calo became convinced that Calvi was pocketing some funds.

Also charged were Flavio Carboni, Ernesto Diotallevi, Calvi's driver Silvano Vittor and Carboni's ex-girlfriend Manuela Kleinszig. Prosecutors abandoned their case against Kleinszig.

Related MobNews post:

• Charged with banker's murder, four face life in prison 03-08-07

Botched hit on reputed Brooklyn mobster

A reputed associate of the Gambino Crime Family was wounded yesterday morning during a drive-by shooting in Bath Beach, Brooklyn, according to stories published in the New York Times and the New York Post.

Slugs struck the arm and the leg of Robert DeCicco, 56, son of alleged Gambino lieutenant George DeCicco. Another grazed his head, as he sat parked in his car in front of 1678 Bath Avenue, at the corner of 17th Avenue (photo). He was treated and later released from Lutheran Medical Center.

The DeCicco family is well acquainted with violence. Robert DeCicco's cousin Frank was killed by a car bomb in Bensonhurst on April 13, 1986.

Robert and George DeCicco were indicted along with 11 other alleged mobsters of the Gambino and Lucchese Crime Families, charged with racketeering, loan-sharking, extortion, money-laundering and other offenses.