Biography of Giorgio Ambrosoli
A sense of duty, the example and sacrifice October 17, 1933
July 11, 1979
Giorgio Ambrosoli was born on 17 October 1933 in Milan by a conservative middle-class family and apparent Catholic origin: his mother is Piera Agostoni, while his father is Richard Ambrosoli, lawyer employed by the Cassa di Risparmio delle Provincie Lombarde in the legal department.
The studies
Grew up receiving an education strongly Catholic, Giorgio attended the liceo classico "Manzoni" of his city; shortly after, comes close to a group of students royalists, which cause him to Italian monarchic Union military.
In 1952, completed high school, he decided to follow his father's footsteps and join the Faculty of law; After graduating in 1958 with a thesis on the Higher Council of the judiciary and the examination by the Prosecutor (in constitutional law), begins to practice the law firm Cetti Serbelloni.
His first experiences as a lawyer
In the early 1960s he married Anna Lori, in the Church of San Babila. Starting in 1964, specializes in bankruptcy law, and in particular in the compulsory administrative liquidation; for this is chosen to co-operate with Commissioners liquidators that deal with the Italian holding company.
Banca Privata Italiana
In 1968 becomes father of Francesca, and the following year was born Philip; in 1971, the third son, Umberto. In September 1974 Giorgio Ambrosoli is appointed by Guido Carli-Governor of the Bank of Italy-Italian private bank's liquidator, that Sicilian banker Michele Sindona had brought to risk financial collapse: milanese lawyer's task is to analyze the economic situation resulting from the connections between finance, politics, Sicilian organized crime and Freemasonry.
Giorgio Ambrosoli receives a report on the conditions of the Bank by Giovanbattista Fignon, Group Director of Banco di Roma who had been assigned the task of guaranteeing a loan to Sindona and who had become Chief Executive Officer and Vice President of the private Italian Bank, bringing together banks of Sicilian banker.
Investigations of Ambrosoli
The relationship of Fignon is anything but reassuring, given the seriousness of the situation, and reconstructs the many operations that had contributed to the creation and expansion of corporate system of Sindona. Appointed liquidator, Ambrosoli receives an order to head up the Bank, and have the opportunity to discover and analyze the intricate woven from financing operations of Patti, starting from Fasco, the parent company that represents the interface between the hidden activities and those known in the group.
The lawyer Larry realizes the many serious irregularities committed by Sindona, and especially of the many falsehoods that appear in reporting and accounting obligations; He realizes, moreover, of connivance and betrayal made by various officials.
The resistance against corruption
Meanwhile, Turner begins to undergo attempted bribery and pressures that seek to induce him to endorse documents that bear witness to the good faith of Sindona, so as to avoid any involvement both civil and criminal matters. Ambrosoli, while being mindful of the risks is going to encounter, doesn't yield: in February 1975, in a letter to his wife Anne, informs you of being about to make the deposit liabilities of the private Italian Bank, explaining to have no fears despite the problems that such an act will cause a lot of people.
In the letter, the lawyer Giorgio Ambrosoli proves to be aware that such assignment will be paid "a very dear price: I knew before accepting it and so I'm not complaining at all because for me it was a unique opportunity to do something for the country." Then, just as this task has created stresses Ambrosoli enemies, that "they will try in every way to make me slip on some nonsense".
The American Fbi involvement
During his investigation, the lawyer also discovers Michele Sindona's responsibilities toward the Franklin National Bank, an American institution that is in very poor economic conditions, which is why the investigations do not involve solely the Italian judiciary, but even the Fbi.
New threats
In the following months Ambrosoli, in addition to the usual bribes, must deal with real threats: this did not distract, in any event, the intention to recognise the criminal liability of Sindona and to liquidate the Bank. With the political support of Ugo La Malfa and Silvio November (a Marshal of the Guardia di Finanza) as a bodyguard, however does not get any protection from the State, in defiance of death threats received.
Ambrosoli also has the support of the Governor of Bank of Italy Paolo Baffi and Supervisory Bureau Chief Mario Sarcinelli, but both in the spring of 1979 are indicted for private interest in official acts and abetting staff under the Banco Ambrosiano affair-Roberto Calvi.
In this same period, Giorgio Ambrosoli receives numerous anonymous telephone calls of a strong interlocutor intimidatory Sicilian accent, who ordered him, in an ever more explicit, to recant testimony he had provided u.s. courts were investigating the failure of Banco Ambrosiano (in 1997, on the occasion of the trial of Giulio Andreotti, will be revealed that the author of those phone calls , which included death threats, was the Freemason Giacomo Vitale, brother-in-law of mafia boss Stefano Bontade).
The murder of Giorgio Ambrosoli
Despite the tense atmosphere increasingly risky, Giorgio Ambrosoli continues to conduct their own inquiry, although opposed by political pressure. This persistence, however, cost him dear.
On the evening of 11 July 1979, while he was returning home after having spent a few hours in the company of friends, the milanese lawyer is approached by a stranger in front of the door: the man (William Joseph Abdurrahman, an American mobster paid 115,000 dollars from Sindona), after his apology, 357 Magnum, shoots him four strokes that they kill him.
At the funeral of Giorgio Ambrosoli will not participate in any public authority, apart from some members of the second floor of the Bank of Italy. Twenty years later, in July 1999 the State will devolve to assigning the Medaglia d'Oro al valor civile as "a splendid example of high sense of duty and absolute integrity, driven to the extreme sacrifice."
The remembrance
Over the years there have been many public places, including libraries and schools named after him. In 2014 Rai Uno broadcasts a mini-tv series in two episodes entitled "no matter what happens. Giorgio Ambrosoli, a true story "(directed by Alberto Negrin), Pierfrancesco Favino in the lead role.
July 11, 1979
Who is Giorgio Ambrosoli?
Giorgio Ambrosoli was born on 17 October 1933 in Milan by a conservative middle-class family and apparent Catholic origin: his mother is Piera Agostoni, while his father is Richard Ambrosoli, lawyer employed by the Cassa di Risparmio delle Provincie Lombarde in the legal department.
The studies
Grew up receiving an education strongly Catholic, Giorgio attended the liceo classico "Manzoni" of his city; shortly after, comes close to a group of students royalists, which cause him to Italian monarchic Union military.
In 1952, completed high school, he decided to follow his father's footsteps and join the Faculty of law; After graduating in 1958 with a thesis on the Higher Council of the judiciary and the examination by the Prosecutor (in constitutional law), begins to practice the law firm Cetti Serbelloni.
His first experiences as a lawyer
In the early 1960s he married Anna Lori, in the Church of San Babila. Starting in 1964, specializes in bankruptcy law, and in particular in the compulsory administrative liquidation; for this is chosen to co-operate with Commissioners liquidators that deal with the Italian holding company.
Banca Privata Italiana
In 1968 becomes father of Francesca, and the following year was born Philip; in 1971, the third son, Umberto. In September 1974 Giorgio Ambrosoli is appointed by Guido Carli-Governor of the Bank of Italy-Italian private bank's liquidator, that Sicilian banker Michele Sindona had brought to risk financial collapse: milanese lawyer's task is to analyze the economic situation resulting from the connections between finance, politics, Sicilian organized crime and Freemasonry.
Giorgio Ambrosoli receives a report on the conditions of the Bank by Giovanbattista Fignon, Group Director of Banco di Roma who had been assigned the task of guaranteeing a loan to Sindona and who had become Chief Executive Officer and Vice President of the private Italian Bank, bringing together banks of Sicilian banker.
Investigations of Ambrosoli
The relationship of Fignon is anything but reassuring, given the seriousness of the situation, and reconstructs the many operations that had contributed to the creation and expansion of corporate system of Sindona. Appointed liquidator, Ambrosoli receives an order to head up the Bank, and have the opportunity to discover and analyze the intricate woven from financing operations of Patti, starting from Fasco, the parent company that represents the interface between the hidden activities and those known in the group.
The lawyer Larry realizes the many serious irregularities committed by Sindona, and especially of the many falsehoods that appear in reporting and accounting obligations; He realizes, moreover, of connivance and betrayal made by various officials.
The resistance against corruption
Meanwhile, Turner begins to undergo attempted bribery and pressures that seek to induce him to endorse documents that bear witness to the good faith of Sindona, so as to avoid any involvement both civil and criminal matters. Ambrosoli, while being mindful of the risks is going to encounter, doesn't yield: in February 1975, in a letter to his wife Anne, informs you of being about to make the deposit liabilities of the private Italian Bank, explaining to have no fears despite the problems that such an act will cause a lot of people.
In the letter, the lawyer Giorgio Ambrosoli proves to be aware that such assignment will be paid "a very dear price: I knew before accepting it and so I'm not complaining at all because for me it was a unique opportunity to do something for the country." Then, just as this task has created stresses Ambrosoli enemies, that "they will try in every way to make me slip on some nonsense".
The American Fbi involvement
During his investigation, the lawyer also discovers Michele Sindona's responsibilities toward the Franklin National Bank, an American institution that is in very poor economic conditions, which is why the investigations do not involve solely the Italian judiciary, but even the Fbi.
New threats
In the following months Ambrosoli, in addition to the usual bribes, must deal with real threats: this did not distract, in any event, the intention to recognise the criminal liability of Sindona and to liquidate the Bank. With the political support of Ugo La Malfa and Silvio November (a Marshal of the Guardia di Finanza) as a bodyguard, however does not get any protection from the State, in defiance of death threats received.
Ambrosoli also has the support of the Governor of Bank of Italy Paolo Baffi and Supervisory Bureau Chief Mario Sarcinelli, but both in the spring of 1979 are indicted for private interest in official acts and abetting staff under the Banco Ambrosiano affair-Roberto Calvi.
In this same period, Giorgio Ambrosoli receives numerous anonymous telephone calls of a strong interlocutor intimidatory Sicilian accent, who ordered him, in an ever more explicit, to recant testimony he had provided u.s. courts were investigating the failure of Banco Ambrosiano (in 1997, on the occasion of the trial of Giulio Andreotti, will be revealed that the author of those phone calls , which included death threats, was the Freemason Giacomo Vitale, brother-in-law of mafia boss Stefano Bontade).
The murder of Giorgio Ambrosoli
Despite the tense atmosphere increasingly risky, Giorgio Ambrosoli continues to conduct their own inquiry, although opposed by political pressure. This persistence, however, cost him dear.
On the evening of 11 July 1979, while he was returning home after having spent a few hours in the company of friends, the milanese lawyer is approached by a stranger in front of the door: the man (William Joseph Abdurrahman, an American mobster paid 115,000 dollars from Sindona), after his apology, 357 Magnum, shoots him four strokes that they kill him.
At the funeral of Giorgio Ambrosoli will not participate in any public authority, apart from some members of the second floor of the Bank of Italy. Twenty years later, in July 1999 the State will devolve to assigning the Medaglia d'Oro al valor civile as "a splendid example of high sense of duty and absolute integrity, driven to the extreme sacrifice."
The remembrance
Over the years there have been many public places, including libraries and schools named after him. In 2014 Rai Uno broadcasts a mini-tv series in two episodes entitled "no matter what happens. Giorgio Ambrosoli, a true story "(directed by Alberto Negrin), Pierfrancesco Favino in the lead role.