Official Italian sources confirmed that it concerned Paul Marcinkus, of the Vatican Bank, and Roberto Calvi, president of Banco Ambrosiano.

[3] On 11 July 1979, only hours after talking to US authorities, Ambrosoli was shot dead by three Mafia hitmen commissioned by Michele Sindona.

Shortly before he was killed, the American Mafia hitman William Arico, a convicted bank robber, invoked the name of Giulio Andreotti – the influential Christian Democrat politician close to Sindona – in a threatening phone call taped by Ambrosoli.

[2][6][9] According to the mafioso turned government witness (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 have played an important role in Sindona's attempt to save his banks.