Most Foul

Was God's banker murdered?

When the body of Italian Financier Roberto Calvi was found dangling under London's Blackfriars Bridge last June, the coroner's court ruled that he had committed suicide. Yet doubts have Lingered about the grisly end of the onetime president of financially troubled Banco Ambrosiano, who was known as "God's banker" because of his extensive financial dealings with the Vatican. Seven days before his corpse was discovered, Calvi had fled Rome to avoid investigation into illegal dealings and possible imprisonment. He apparently told relatives that he would "name the names" of people involved in the scam.

After hearing an appeal from the dead banker's family, three judges of England's High Court of Justice overturned the suicide verdict last week, citing irregularities in the way the July inquest was conducted. They ordered that a different coroner reopen the case, although they did not set a date for the new inquest. Calvi's widow Clara says that she did not take Dart in the first hearing because she had feared for her life, but she has promised to provide "fresh evidence" that her husband was murdered. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.