Michele Sindona
Encyclopedia
Michele Sindona was an Italian
banker and convicted felon
. Known in banking circles as "The Shark", Sindona was a member of Propaganda Due
(#0501), a secret lodge of Italian Freemasonry
, and had clear connections to the Mafia
. He was allegedly fatally poisoned in prison
while serving a life sentence
for the murder of lawyer Giorgio Ambrosoli
.
, of poor parents, Michele Sindona was educated by the Jesuits, showing very early in his life an unusual aptitude for mathematics
and economics
. He graduated with a law degree from Messina University in 1942. Then he moved from Sicily to the north where he worked as a tax lawyer and an accountant for companies such as Società Generale Immobiliare
and Snia Viscosa
, but immediately turned away from the law and began working in smuggling
operations with the Mafia. He soon moved to Milan
and his skill and dexterity in transferring money to avoid taxation soon became known to Mafia bosses. By 1957 he had become closely associated with the Gambino family
and was chosen to manage their profits from heroin sales.
in 1969. Huge amounts of money moved from Sindona's banks through the Vatican to Swiss banks, and he began speculating against major currencies on a large scale.
In 1972, Sindona purchased a controlling interest in Long Island
's Franklin National Bank
. He was hailed as "the saviour of the lira" and was named "Man of the Year" in January 1974 by US ambassador to Italy, John Volpe. But that April a sudden stock market crash led to what is known as Il Crack Sindona. The Franklin Bank's profit fell by as much as 98% compared to the previous year, and Sindona suffered a 40 million dollar loss, with the result that he began losing most of the banks he had acquired over the previous seventeen years. On October 8, 1974, the bank was declared insolvent due to mismanagement and fraud
, involving losses in foreign currency speculation
and poor loan policies.
According to the Mafia
pentito
Francesco Marino Mannoia
, Sindona laundered the proceeds of heroin trafficking for the Bontade
-Spatola-Inzerillo
-Gambino
network. The mafiosi were determined to get their money back and would play an important role in Sindona's attempt to save his banks.
, the lawyer who was commissioned as liquidator
of Sindona's banks, was murdered in Milan
. Milan
ese Councilman Antonio Amati turned the case over to a young judge, Giuliano Turone. It was discovered that Michele Sindona ordered Ambrosoli's murder (which was carried out by an American assassin
). At the same time the Mafia
killed police superintendent Boris Giuliano
in Palermo
who was investigating the Mafia’s heroin trafficking and had contacted Ambrosoli just two weeks before to compare investigations.
While under indictment in the US, Sindona staged a bogus kidnapping
in August 1979 to conceal a mysterious 11-week trip to Sicily before his scheduled fraud trial. The brother-in-law of Mafia boss Stefano Bontade
, Giacomo Vitale, was one of the persons who organized Sindona’s travel. The real purpose of the kidnapping was to issue thinly disguised blackmail notes to Sindona’s past political allies – among them Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti
– to engineer the rescue of his banks and recover Cosa Nostra’s money.
He threatened Enrico Cuccia, president of the Mediobanca
who was opposed to the reorganization/rescue plan. In Palermo
, Sindona went to the house of Joseph Miceli Crimi, an American-Italian doctor
and Freemason. Dr. Crimi later admitted to the judges that he went to Arezzo
to talk with Licio Gelli
about Sindona's situation. Licio Gelli then started to interest two judges, Giuliano Turone and Gherardo Colombo.
The plot failed and after his "release" from the kidnappers Sindona surrendered to the FBI. He was convicted in 1980 in the United States on 65 counts including fraud
, perjury
, false bank statements and misappropriation of bank funds. He was represented by one of the nation's leading attorneys, Ivan Fisher
. While serving in US Federal Prison, the Italian government applied for the extradition of Sindona back to Italy to stand trial for murder. "The Shark" was sentenced to 25 years in Italian prison on March 27, 1984. On March 18, 1986, he was poisoned with cyanide in his coffee, in his cell at the prison in Voghera
while serving a life sentence for the murder of Giorgio Ambrosoli.
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
banker and convicted felon
Felony
A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...
. Known in banking circles as "The Shark", Sindona was a member of Propaganda Due
Propaganda Due
Propaganda Due , or P2, was a Masonic lodge operating under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient of Italy from 1945 to 1976 , and a pseudo-Masonic or "black" or "covert" lodge operating illegally from 1976 to...
(#0501), a secret lodge of Italian Freemasonry
Grande Oriente d'Italia
The Grand Orient of Italy is a masonic organization based at Palazzo Giustiniani, Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1805.Past grand masters included:*Giuseppe Garibaldi,*the sculptor Ettore Ferrari,*the mayor of Rome Ernesto Nathan and...
, and had clear connections to the Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
. He was allegedly fatally poisoned in prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
while serving a life sentence
Sentence (law)
In law, a sentence forms the final explicit act of a judge-ruled process, and also the symbolic principal act connected to his function. The sentence can generally involve a decree of imprisonment, a fine and/or other punishments against a defendant convicted of a crime...
for the murder of lawyer Giorgio Ambrosoli
Giorgio Ambrosoli
Giorgio Ambrosoli was an Italian lawyer who was killed while investigating the malpractice of banker Michele Sindona.-Liquidating Sindona’s financial empire:...
.
Early years
Born at Patti, SicilySicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, of poor parents, Michele Sindona was educated by the Jesuits, showing very early in his life an unusual aptitude for mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
. He graduated with a law degree from Messina University in 1942. Then he moved from Sicily to the north where he worked as a tax lawyer and an accountant for companies such as Società Generale Immobiliare
Società Generale Immobiliare
Società Generale Immobiliare was the largest Italian real estate and construction company. It was founded in Turin in 1862 but then moved to Rome in 1870 with the unification of Italy. After moving to Rome, the company became interested in the pastoral land around Rome and ended up buying it. ...
and Snia Viscosa
SNIA S.p.A.
SNIA S.p.A. was an Italian firm located in Milan that manufactured defence products, textiles, chemicals, perfumes, and corrugated paper among other products. SNIA was founded in Turin in 1917 as a shipbuilder and gradually diversified into other areas of manufacturing...
, but immediately turned away from the law and began working in smuggling
Smuggling
Smuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...
operations with the Mafia. He soon moved to Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
and his skill and dexterity in transferring money to avoid taxation soon became known to Mafia bosses. By 1957 he had become closely associated with the Gambino family
Gambino crime family
The Gambino crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The group is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963...
and was chosen to manage their profits from heroin sales.
International banker
Within a year of the Gambino family choosing him to manage their heroin profits, Sindona had bought his first bank. He also became friend with future Pope Giovanni Battista Montini who was at the time Cardinal of the Archdiocese of Milan. By the time Montini became Pope, Sindona had acquired, through his holding company Fasco, many more Italian banks and his progress continued right up to the beginning of his association with the Vatican BankVatican Bank
The Institute for Works of Religion , commonly known as the Vatican Bank, is a privately held institute located inside Vatican City run by a professional bank CEO who reports directly to a committee of cardinals, and ultimately to the Pope...
in 1969. Huge amounts of money moved from Sindona's banks through the Vatican to Swiss banks, and he began speculating against major currencies on a large scale.
In 1972, Sindona purchased a controlling interest in Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
's Franklin National Bank
Franklin National Bank
Franklin National Bank, based in Franklin Square in Long Island, New York was once the United States' 20th largest bank. On October 8, 1974, it collapsed in obscure circumstances, involving Michele Sindona, renowned Mafia-banker and member of the irregular freemasonic lodge, Propaganda Due...
. He was hailed as "the saviour of the lira" and was named "Man of the Year" in January 1974 by US ambassador to Italy, John Volpe. But that April a sudden stock market crash led to what is known as Il Crack Sindona. The Franklin Bank's profit fell by as much as 98% compared to the previous year, and Sindona suffered a 40 million dollar loss, with the result that he began losing most of the banks he had acquired over the previous seventeen years. On October 8, 1974, the bank was declared insolvent due to mismanagement and fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
, involving losses in foreign currency speculation
Speculation
In finance, speculation is a financial action that does not promise safety of the initial investment along with the return on the principal sum...
and poor loan policies.
According to the Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
pentito
Pentito
Pentito designates people in Italy who, formerly part of criminal or terrorist organizations, following their arrests decide to "repent" and collaborate with the judicial system to help investigations...
Francesco Marino Mannoia
Francesco Marino Mannoia
Francesco Marino Mannoia is a former member of the Sicilian Mafia who became a pentito in 1989. His nickname was Mozzarella. He is considered to be one of the most reliable government witnesses against the Mafia...
, Sindona laundered the proceeds of heroin trafficking for the Bontade
Stefano Bontade
Stefano Bontade was a powerful member of the Sicilian Mafia. Some sources spell his surname Bontate. He was the capomafia of the Santa Maria di Gesù Family in Palermo...
-Spatola-Inzerillo
Salvatore Inzerillo
Salvatore Inzerillo was an Italian criminal, a member of the Sicilian Mafia, also known as Totuccio . He rose to be a powerful boss of Palermo's Passo di Rigano family...
-Gambino
Gambino
Gambino is an Italian surname. Notable persons with that surname include:*Carlo Gambino, New York mobster and former boss of the family that takes his name; Gambino crime family*Emanuel Gambino, New York mobster and nephew of Carlo Gambino...
network. The mafiosi were determined to get their money back and would play an important role in Sindona's attempt to save his banks.
Arrest, trial and death
On July 11, 1979, Giorgio AmbrosoliGiorgio Ambrosoli
Giorgio Ambrosoli was an Italian lawyer who was killed while investigating the malpractice of banker Michele Sindona.-Liquidating Sindona’s financial empire:...
, the lawyer who was commissioned as liquidator
Liquidator (law)
In law, a liquidator is the officer appointed when a company goes into winding-up or liquidation who has responsibility for collecting in all of the assets of the company and settling all claims against the company before putting the company into dissolution....
of Sindona's banks, was murdered in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
. Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
ese Councilman Antonio Amati turned the case over to a young judge, Giuliano Turone. It was discovered that Michele Sindona ordered Ambrosoli's murder (which was carried out by an American assassin
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
). At the same time the Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
killed police superintendent Boris Giuliano
Boris Giuliano
Giorgio Boris Giuliano was a police chief from Palermo, Sicily. He was the head of Palermo's Flying Squad ....
in Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
who was investigating the Mafia’s heroin trafficking and had contacted Ambrosoli just two weeks before to compare investigations.
While under indictment in the US, Sindona staged a bogus kidnapping
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
in August 1979 to conceal a mysterious 11-week trip to Sicily before his scheduled fraud trial. The brother-in-law of Mafia boss Stefano Bontade
Stefano Bontade
Stefano Bontade was a powerful member of the Sicilian Mafia. Some sources spell his surname Bontate. He was the capomafia of the Santa Maria di Gesù Family in Palermo...
, Giacomo Vitale, was one of the persons who organized Sindona’s travel. The real purpose of the kidnapping was to issue thinly disguised blackmail notes to Sindona’s past political allies – among them Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti
Giulio Andreotti
Giulio Andreotti is an Italian politician of the now dissolved centrist Christian Democracy party. He served as the 42nd Prime Minister of Italy from 1972 to 1973, from 1976 to 1979 and from 1989 to 1992. He also served as Minister of the Interior , Defense Minister and Foreign Minister and he...
– to engineer the rescue of his banks and recover Cosa Nostra’s money.
He threatened Enrico Cuccia, president of the Mediobanca
Mediobanca
Mediobanca is an Italian investment bank founded in 1946 at the initiative of Raffaele Mattioli and Enrico Cuccia to facilitate the post-World War II reconstruction of Italian industry.Enrico Cuccia led Mediobanca from 1946 to 1982...
who was opposed to the reorganization/rescue plan. In Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
, Sindona went to the house of Joseph Miceli Crimi, an American-Italian doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and Freemason. Dr. Crimi later admitted to the judges that he went to Arezzo
Arezzo
Arezzo is a city and comune in Central Italy, capital of the province of the same name, located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about 80 km southeast of Florence, at an elevation of 296 m above sea level. In 2011 the population was about 100,000....
to talk with Licio Gelli
Licio Gelli
Licio Gelli is an Italian financier, chiefly known for his role in the Banco Ambrosiano scandal. He was revealed in 1981 as being the Venerable Master of the clandestine Masonic lodge Propaganda Due...
about Sindona's situation. Licio Gelli then started to interest two judges, Giuliano Turone and Gherardo Colombo.
The plot failed and after his "release" from the kidnappers Sindona surrendered to the FBI. He was convicted in 1980 in the United States on 65 counts including fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
, perjury
Perjury
Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...
, false bank statements and misappropriation of bank funds. He was represented by one of the nation's leading attorneys, Ivan Fisher
Ivan Fisher
Ivan S. Fisher is a prominent New York criminal defense attorney. He represents white-collar clients and others targeted or charged in complex federal matters.As a young lawyer, Fisher represented the writer Jack Abbott in a murder trial...
. While serving in US Federal Prison, the Italian government applied for the extradition of Sindona back to Italy to stand trial for murder. "The Shark" was sentenced to 25 years in Italian prison on March 27, 1984. On March 18, 1986, he was poisoned with cyanide in his coffee, in his cell at the prison in Voghera
Voghera
thumb|250px|The Castle of Voghera in a 19th century etching.Voghera is a town and comune of Lombardy, Italy, in the province of Pavia...
while serving a life sentence for the murder of Giorgio Ambrosoli.
External links
- Article (in Italian) on Propaganda DuePropaganda DuePropaganda Due , or P2, was a Masonic lodge operating under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient of Italy from 1945 to 1976 , and a pseudo-Masonic or "black" or "covert" lodge operating illegally from 1976 to...
- A Forcibly Retired Moneyman, Time, September 13, 1982