11 July 2006

Giorgio Ambrosoli

Today is 11 July. Twenty seven years have passed since the murder of a great servant of the State. He’s a man defined as a “bourgeois hero”: Giorgio Ambrosoli, killed by a mafia assassin with 3 shots from a Magnum 357 to the heart. Five years earlier he had been appointed liquidator of Michele Sindona’s Banca Privata Italiana.

He knew the risk he was taking on when he accepted the appointment. He knew about collusion between Sindona, some Italian politicians and the mafia. He accepted out of a spirit of service to the State and he went ahead to get to the bottom of things. Thanks to his work, Michele Sindona was arrested. The politicians that protected Sindona, the ones who didn’t lift a finger to save the life of Ambrosoli, the ones who are signed up to the P2, who obstructed him, are still in circulation.

A few years before his death, Giorgio Ambrosoli wrote a short testament-letter to his wife. Certain passages are given here to honour his memory.

“Dearest Anna,
Today is 25.2.1975 and I am ready for the deposition of the state of debts of the Banca Privata Italiana. This is an act that will obviously not satisfy many people and it has cost a lot of effort.
I’m not afraid for myself because I can’t see other possibilities other than pressure to get me substituted. But it’s certain that affairs like that of Verzotto (Christian Democrat senator) and the very fact of having to deal with people of every colour and kind doesn’t indeed give me peace. Without a doubt, whatever happens, I will pay very dearly for this position: I knew that before taking it on and so there’s no regret at all, because for me it’s been a unique occasion to do something for the country. However, whatever happens, you know what you have to do and I’m certain that you will do it really well. It will be up to you to bring up the young ones and to let them grow in the respect of those values that we believe in…. That they are aware of their duty towards themselves, towards their family in the transcendent sense that I have towards the country that is called Italy or is called Europe.
…
Giorgio”.

Posted by Antonio Di Pietro in Information