This is a must watch! A young Vatican citizen, Emanuela Orlando, disappears after setting out to go to a music lesson in the music school just over the border in Rome. Earlier in the day she'd phoned her parents saying that she was going to meet someone about becoming an Avon lady. Sure enough, later on, someone reports seeing a girl matching her description selling Avon products and accompanied by a mysterious man, lending credence to the theory that she was kidnapped and this man had something to do with her kidnapping. In time a series of people phone her parents claiming to be the hostage takers or that they're in contact with the hostage takers. The first two people leave cryptic messages and use the pseudonyms 'Mario' and 'Pierluigi' and the third one is anonymous but speaks Italian with an American accent and so becomes known as 'the American', he makes the odd demand that the Turk who tried to assassinate the pope a few years before should be released.
In time, an unpleasant man comes forward claiming to be 'the American' but some of his claims seem true and others seem false, it's probably fair to say that he's a narcissistic fantasist with a criminal record who can be ignored. More significant is the claim by the former girlfriend of a local mafia boss that she was in the house and flat where the kidnapped girl was kept, as not only are her descriptions of the interior of the flat verifiable but she claims that Emanuela, also known as Barbara or Barbarella, was handed over to a priest, or at least someone in a priest's uniform, at the Vatican petrol station.
Much later on, a cardinal claims that he received a phone call from the kidnappers before her parents did, indeed before they knew for sure that she was kidnapped not missing. Most significantly, a leaker to the reporters who revealed the Vatileaks scandal receive a document proving that the Vatican paid for Emanuela to be transferred to a convent in London and paid for her upkeep for 14 years when the payments suddenly stopped. We don't know what she died of but Pope Francis even said to her parents that 'Emanuela is in heaven' basically confirming their suspicions!
It seems likely that the mafia were annoyed that the Vatican bank basically stole their money as it sent laundered money to Poland to support the solidarity trade Union, using money that was sitting in the mafia's accounts. The mafia probably found out that Emanuela was being abused by a cardinal, so using that as leverage they kidnapped Emanuela and blackmailed the Vatican. It looks like the Vatican paid her kidnappers the ransom and then trafficked Emanuela to England to a convent without telling her parents, because it didn't want the truth that it laundered mob money and that it had a paedophile problem inside the Vatican itself getting out!
I haven't even mentioned Roberto Calvi or the Bulgarian secret services who are tangentially linked to the scandal. Do yourself a favour and watch this!
In time, an unpleasant man comes forward claiming to be 'the American' but some of his claims seem true and others seem false, it's probably fair to say that he's a narcissistic fantasist with a criminal record who can be ignored. More significant is the claim by the former girlfriend of a local mafia boss that she was in the house and flat where the kidnapped girl was kept, as not only are her descriptions of the interior of the flat verifiable but she claims that Emanuela, also known as Barbara or Barbarella, was handed over to a priest, or at least someone in a priest's uniform, at the Vatican petrol station.
Much later on, a cardinal claims that he received a phone call from the kidnappers before her parents did, indeed before they knew for sure that she was kidnapped not missing. Most significantly, a leaker to the reporters who revealed the Vatileaks scandal receive a document proving that the Vatican paid for Emanuela to be transferred to a convent in London and paid for her upkeep for 14 years when the payments suddenly stopped. We don't know what she died of but Pope Francis even said to her parents that 'Emanuela is in heaven' basically confirming their suspicions!
It seems likely that the mafia were annoyed that the Vatican bank basically stole their money as it sent laundered money to Poland to support the solidarity trade Union, using money that was sitting in the mafia's accounts. The mafia probably found out that Emanuela was being abused by a cardinal, so using that as leverage they kidnapped Emanuela and blackmailed the Vatican. It looks like the Vatican paid her kidnappers the ransom and then trafficked Emanuela to England to a convent without telling her parents, because it didn't want the truth that it laundered mob money and that it had a paedophile problem inside the Vatican itself getting out!
I haven't even mentioned Roberto Calvi or the Bulgarian secret services who are tangentially linked to the scandal. Do yourself a favour and watch this!