Vatican Bank Mafia Link Investigated by Prosecutors

The official request was made more than a month ago but so far the Vatican Bank, known as the Institute for Religious Works, has refused to disclose any records of the account held by father Ninni Treppiedi – who is currently suspended from serving as a priest.

Investigators want to know more about vast sums of money that are said to have passed through his account to establish if they were money laundering operations by on the run Mafia Godfather, Matteo Messina Denaro.

The reports emerged in the Italian media and came just two weeks after the head of the Vatican Bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, was sacked amid claims of power struggles and corruption within the Holy See which have been linked to the leaking of sensitive documents belonging to Pope Benedict XVI.

More in line with a Dan Brown thriller, it is not the first time that the Vatican Bank has been embroiled in claims of Mafia money laundering. Thirty years ago this month financier Roberto Calvi was found hanging under London's Blackfriars Bridge with cash and bricks stuffed into his pockets.

Initially City of London police recorded the death as suicide but Italian authorities believe it was murder after it emerged Calvi, known as God's Banker because of his links to the Vatican Bank, had been trying to launder millions of pounds of mob money via its accounts and through his own Banco Ambrosiano which had collapsed spectacularly.

Father Treppiedi, 36, was serving as a priest in Alcamo, near Trapani, said to be the richest parish on the Mafia's island stronghold of Sicily, and he was suspended after a series of questionable transactions of church funds and which has also led to his local bishop Francesco Micciche being sacked.

Trapani prosecutor Marcello Viola made the request six weeks ago for details of the account held by Father Treppiedi at the Institute of Religious Works to be disclosed but according to reports in Italian media, as yet the go ahead has still not been given by the Vatican.

In particular prosecutors are said to be looking at financial transactions made through Father Treppiedi's account at the Vatican Bank between 2007 and 2009 and which came to almost one million euros but paperwork explaining the source of the money is said to be missing.

Attention is also focusing on several land and property deals made by the parish which is in Messina Denaro's heartland in the area around Trapani and where he still commands fear and respect.

There is speculation that Gotti Tedeschi was aware of the possible Mafia link and was about to name names and police seized paperwork from his home which is said to detail his suspicions and which he had prepared for a handful of trusted sources as he feared his life was possible in danger.

In a statement prosecutor Viola said:"We have made a request for information to the Vatican City State in the spirit of collaboration with regard to an investigation into sums of money in financial transactions undertaken by the Diocese of Trapani."

Transactions by the Vatican Bank are already under the spotlight with leading Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera saying Gotti Tedeschi was aware of accounts held by "politicians, shady intermediaries, contractors and senior (Italian) officials, as well as people believed to be fronts for Mafia bosses."

Of particular interest are said to be property investments and property sales that could potentially have been used to disguise money transfers and launder money – all this in the light of report earlier this year that the Vatican Bank was not completely transparent in its dealings despite efforts to be so.

The latest development comes as prosecutors in the Vatican continue to question the Pope's butler Paolo Gabriele, 46, in connection with the leaking of documents which then ended up in a whistle blowing book published by an Italian journalist called His Holiness.

No-one from the Vatican was immediately available to comment.

Thanks to Nick Pisa

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Death Sentence for Art Rachel?

During his decades as thief extraordinaire for the Chicago Outfit, 74-year-old Art Rachel has been known as "The Brain" or "The Genius" due to his brilliant burglary skills.

In federal court on Thursday though, it appeared Mr. Rachel didn't have the smarts to show sufficient remorse to the judge who was about to sentence him for his latest crime spree.

"We were bored and had nothing to do," Rachel explained to Judge Harry Leinenweber when the time came for him to make a final plea for leniency. "We weren't serious" about robbing banks, armored cars or the home of a late mob boss Rachel said. Then, almost as an afterthought, Rachel said he "could do better."

Judge Leinenweber, unimpressed by the Genius or his recitation, agreed that the allegedly ailing-gangster "could have done better." Leinenweber then handed Rachel a sentence of almost 8 1/2 years in federal prison. At Rachel's age, that could amount to a death sentence.
Earlier, Rachel's attorney Terry Gillespie told the judge that he was saddened to think that his client would "spend most or all the rest of his life in jail. There is a side of Arthur Rachel you haven't seen" Gillespie stated, "he should have something left of his life."

Rachel's life is marked by one case of skullduggery that stands out in the annals of Chicago mob history: the Great Marlborough Diamond Theft.

On Sept. 11, 1980 Rachel and his longtime Outfit partner Jerry "Monk" Scalise broke into this high-end jewelry store in London, England. They escaped with millions of dollars in gems including the once-royal Marlborough diamond-a 45 carat sparkler.

In a botched ending to one of the mob's greatest heists, Rachel and Scalise were nabbed at O'Hare Airport on the way back from Britain&although they didn't have the diamond and it has never been found.

Rachel's sentencing hearing in federal court on Thursday was against that historical backdrop. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet S. Bhachu noted the notorious diamond theft, Rachel's other "multiple convictions" for robbery and forgery and said he deserved no mercy.

"This thug has the gall to ask for leniency when he does the same thing over and over" Bhachu told the judge. "He is a parasite. He lives off of others. The public needs to be protected from this man."

Rachel, sporting a snow-white goatee, glasses and court-designer manacles, had no family members or friends present for the sentencing-although several had written letters on his behalf to the judge.

His Outfit partner Jerry Scalise was also charged in the current case along with Mob associate Robert "Bobby" Pullia. Scalise and Pullia pleaded guilty and have yet to be sentenced. Rachel took his case to trial and was convicted.

After the court sentencing, Rachel's attorney said he "found it to be a very sad hearing, maybe more than most because despite what the prosecutor said and the name calling I found him to be a very decent kind man." Lawyer Terry Gillespie told ABC7 that Rachel has "been always a gentleman, bright. I just got a sense that it's such a waste. He spent half his life in jail and now he's going to die there, but he had no excuses. He didn't allow me to present any excuses."

Thanks to Chuck Goudie and Ann Pistone.

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Whitey Bulger's Girlfriend, Catherine Greig, Should Get 10 Years in Prison Says the Feds

The longtime girlfriend of Boston mob boss Whitey Bulger should spend a decade in federal prison because she knowingly protected one of the Northeast’s most violent fugitives for more than 16 years, prosecutors said.

In a sentencing memo filed in U.S. District Court, prosecutors say Catherine Greig not only concealed Bulger’s identity, but made it possible for him to live in hiding — paying bills, picking up prescription medication, and targeting people whose identities she and Bulger could later steal. The pair were finally discovered last year in Santa Monica.

“This is no garden variety harboring case,” First Assistant U.S. Atty. Jack Pirozzolo wrote in the filing, submitted Friday in Boston. “It is the most extreme case of harboring this District has seen.”

Greig is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday.

Bulger, 82, pleaded not guilty to charges linked to 19 slayings from the 1970s and '80s during his time as the leader of the Winter Hill Gang, an Irish American crime ring in Boston, prosecutors say. He also worked as an FBI informant. Bulger is awaiting trial.

Greig, 61, pleaded guilty in March to charges of identify fraud, conspiracy to commit identify fraud and conspiracy to harbor a fugitive.

Although the charges Greig faces could result in a maximum of 15 years in prison, prosecutors have said she could get as little as 32 months. The prosecution recommended a longer prison term and asked that Greig pay a $150,000 fine.

“High-profile defendants such as Bulger require substantial assistance if they are to remain fugitives,” Pirozzolo wrote. “… Greig must know that there is a high price to be paid for choosing personal affection and loyalty over their legal obligations.”

After an FBI agent warned Bulger in late 1994 that he was about to be indicted, the mob boss fled Massachusetts with one girlfriend in tow, prosecutor say. He came back to Boston a few weeks later. He dropped off the first girlfriend and picked up Greig, who left her car and poodles with the first girlfriend, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors say Bulger and Greig spent the first year on the run posing as a married couple, traveling to Chicago, New York and Louisiana. They settled in Santa Monica, where they lived in a rent-controlled apartment not far from the Pacific Ocean. Behind a secret wall in the two-bedroom apartment, Bulger stashed 30 weapons and more than $820,000 in cash, prosecutors say.

Bulger spent years on the FBI's "10 most wanted fugitives" list. He and Greig were arrested in June 2011 in Santa Monica after a tipster recognized them.

Thanks to Laura J. Nelson.

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