Francesco Pazienza

Francesco Pazienza (born 1946) is an Italian businessman, and former officer of the Italian military intelligence agency, SISMI. As of April 2007, he has been paroled to the community of Lerici [cite news | title = Faccenderie Pazienza Volontario Pubblica Assistenza Lerici | publisher = ANSA | date = 2007-04-17] , after serving many years in prison, including a 1993 conviction due to his role in the Banco Ambrosiano scandal [cite news | title = Olivetti Chief Convicted in Bank Scandal | publisher = The Guardian | pages= 21 | date = 1993-04-17] , and a 1982 conviction for mishandling state secrets.cite news | title = Tale of Intrigue: How an Italian Ex-Spy Who Also Helped U.S. Landed in Prison Here | publisher = Wall Street Journal | pages = 1 | date = 1985-08-07]

Pazienza holds a degree in medicine from the University of Rome. He worked as a business consultant in France during the 1970s. In 1979 he was hired into SISMI, and became an assistant to SISMI director, General Giuseppe Santovito. Pazienza left the intelligence agency in wake of the Propaganda Due scandal that rocked the Italian political scene in 1981. The Banco Ambrosiano scandal, Roberto Calvi's "suicide," and charges of mishandling state secrets concerned with the 1980 Bologna bombing, made Pazienza a fugitive from Italian law.

Eventually, Pazienza ended up in the United States. A first extradition request from Italy was handed to the U.S. government in 1984, but Pazienza was not yet arrested. His arrest come only on March 4, 1985. Extradition procedures ensued, and a judge order him to stand trial in Italy [cite news | title = Former Italian Spy Loses First Round in Extradition Case | publisher = Wall Street Journal | pages = 1 | date = 1985-09-12] , an appeal process did not change that, and Pazienza was handed over to the Italian government in June 1986. [cite news | title = Pazienza Extradited | publisher = Financial Times | pages = 1 | date = 1986-06-20]

Mehmet Ali Ağca

During the trial of Mehmet Ali Ağca's 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II, Ağca claimed to have been visited by Pazienza in his prison cell at Rome's Ascoli Piceno (this came just after the presiding judge called for "pazienza" in the court room [cite news | title = The Gospel According to Ali Agca | author = Alexander Cockburn | publisher = The Nation | date = Jul 6 / 13 1985] [cite news | title = Former Spy Says He Warned the Vatican Of Assassination Try --- Name of Pazienza Crops Up At Trial of the Bulgarians In Attempt to Kill Pope | publisher = Wall Street Journal | pages = 1 | date = 1985-08-08] ). That Pazienza visited Ağca was also claimed by a former camorrista turned pentiti, Giovanni Pandico. From his New York prison, Pazienza denied ever having visited Ağca [cite news | title = Three deny Agca was coached about 'Bulgarian connection' | publisher = UPI | date = 1985-12-12] [cite news | title = Rome Inquiry: Was Agca Coached? | publisher = The New York Times | pages = A3 | date = 1985-10-08] ; Pazienza was question on this issue by Italian investigative judge, Ilario Martella, in New York. [cite news | title = Italian Is in New York, Investigating Papal Plot | publisher = The New York Times | pages = A7 | date = 1985-12-11] A short time later, Martella dropped the charges of Agca being "coached" by supposed elements from the Italian military intelligence. [cite news | title = Italian Judge Said to Drop Probe of Agca Being Coached | publisher = The Washington Post | pages = A31 | date = 1985-12-18] [cite news | title = The Bulgarian Connection Still Holds | publisher = Wall Street Journal | pages = 1 | date = 1986-02-12]

Banco Ambrosiano

tefano Delle Chiaie

During the time Pazienza was still a fugitive, he was questioned in the United States by Customs agents regarding the disappearance of funds from the Banco Ambrosiano. Pazienza claims that these Customs agents had told him that Stefano Delle Chiaie had been seen in Miami, Florida, with an unidentified Turkcite news | title = Italian Ex-Agent Ordered Extradited from U.S. | publisher = The New York Times | pages = A12 | date = 1985-09-12] , and repeated his position during the time he was on trial on charges stemming from the 1980 Bologna bombing. [cite news | title = Suspected Right-Wing Terrorist Questioned in Papal Shooting | publisher = Associated Press | date = 1987-04-17] It is unclear if this Turk was Oral Çelik or Abdullah Çatlı.

Bologna bombing

Pazienza was sentenced in 1988 for trying to divert the investigation into the 1980 bombing of the Bolonga train station, on charges relating the planting of similar explosive materials in a train in 1981, leading a trail away from the actual perpetrators. [cite news | title = Italy's No. 1 Fugitive Arrested by Customs Agents | publisher = Associated Press | date = 1985-03-04] In 1990, his conviction was reversed on appeals [cite news | title = Appeals Court Throws Out Bologna Bombing Convictions | publisher = Associated Press | date = 1990-07-29] , but a retrial resulted in a definitive prison term handed out in 1995. [cite news | title = Italy remembers 1980 Bologna train station massacre | publisher = ANSA | date = 2007-08-02]

References