Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi: Difference between revisions

	Missing people
	Emanuela Orlandi
Name	Emanuela Orlandi
Age at time of disappearance	15 years old
Missing since	June 22, 1983
Location	Rome, Italy
Height	5'3" (160 cm)
Hair	Brown
Eyes	Brown

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Emanuela Orlandi (born January 14, 1968), a citizen of Vatican City, mysteriously disappeared on June 22, 1983 at the age of fifteen. What might have seemed like a "common"' disappearance was immediately transformed into one of the darkest and most mysterious cases in Italian history. The case allegedly saw the involvement of the Vatican, the Vatican Bank, the Magliana Gang, the Ambrosiano bank and the secret services of many nations in an intricate plot which has still not been unraveled.

Disappearance

At the beginning of a warm summer, then 15-years-old Emanuela Orlandi vanished. She attended the second year of Scientific High School in a private institute of Rome, and in spite of the scholastic year having already concluded, she continued to take, three afternoons per week, flute lessons at the Tommaso Ludovico Da Victoria School; connected to the Pontificium Institutum Musicæ Sacræ (The Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music). She was also part of the chorus of the Saint Anna’s Church, to the inside of the Vatican City, where she lived from birth. In fact she was citizen of the Vatican, the forth of five Ercole and Maria Orlandi’s kids

In order to reach the music school, Orlandi usually rode the bus. She would get out of the bus after a couple of stops, then she would walk six or seven hundred feet. What is known for certain is that on June 22, 1983 she had arrived late to class. Later, around 7:00 p.m., she explained her lateness in a phone call to her sister, during which she said she had had a job offer from a representative of the Avon Cosmetics Company to promote the cosmetics on the occasion of a fashion show. Her sister suggested that she talk it over with her parents before making any decisions. Emanuela allegedly met with the would-be representative shortly before her music lesson. At the end of the lesson, Emanuela spoke of the matter also with her girlfriend, who then left Emanuela at the bus stop, in company of an unknown girl who has never been identified. Someone supposedly saw her get into a large, dark-colored BMW car. From that moment, Emanuela vanished.

Chronology

At 3:00 a.m., Orlandi’s parents called Sister Dolores, the director of the music school, in order to verify if any of the classmates had information on Emanuela. The Police that evening had suggested ‘to wait’, because ‘perhaps the girl was with friends’. On June 23, Emanuela was officially reported as a missing person, and on the 24 and the 25 an announcement was published with the number of Orlandi house in the newspapers Il Tempo, Paese Sera and Il Messaggero.

At 6:00 pm of Saturday, June 25, a phone call of a young boy who identified himself as 16 years old Pierluigi, (though, from the sound of his voice and the way he spoke, he sounded much younger) reported that together with his fiancée, he had meet Emanuela in Piazza Navona that afternoon. The young guy mentioned Emanuela’s flute, her hair, and the glasses that the girl did not like to wear, and other details that corresponded. According to Pierluigi, Emanuela had just had a haircut and had introduced herself as Barbarella, she had ran away from home and she was selling Avon products. All reliable details.

On June 28, a man who said his name was Mario, and he owned a bar near Ponte Vittorio, between the Vatican and the Music School, called the family. The man said that a girl named Barbara, a new costumer of his bar, once confided of being a fugitive from home, but she would return home for her sister’s wedding. On June 30, Rome was upholstered with 3,000 posters showing the photograph of Emanuela Orlandi.

Sunday July 3, Pope John Paul II, during the Angelus, made an appeal to those responsible for Emanuela Orlandi’s disappearance, making official for the first time the hypothesis of the kidnapping. On July 5, the Orlandis family received the first of a number of anonymous phone calls. Emanuela should be prisoner of a terrorist group who asks to release Mehmet Ali Ağca, the Turkish man who shot the Pope in St Peter's Square on May 13, 1981. No other indications were given. Days later other calls were received, among those one from a man identified as The American because of his voice’s strange and adulterated accent. He played over the phone a recording of the Emanuela’s voice. A few hours later, in another phone call to the Vatican, the same man also suggested an exchange between Orlandi and Alì Ağca. The anonymous interlocutor also mentioned self-described Mario and Pierluigi of the first telephone calls, defining them members of the organization.

July 6, a man with juvenile voice and with not accent, informed ANSA Agency of the demand for Orlandi-Ağca exchange, asking for the Pope’s participation, giving an expiration of 20 days, and indicating a basket in a Public square near the Parliament, where it would be left the proofs that Orlandi was indeed in his hands. It would have been photocopies of the Music School I.D., one received of a payment and a hand-written note of the kidnapped girl. On this basis, the Magistrate who was following Orlandi’s case, had never believed there was a credible connection between the Orlandi abduction and the assailant of the Pope. She believed that Orlandi was probably kidnapped and killed after sexual violence.

On July 8, a man with Middle Eastern accent, phoned one of Orlandi’s classmates saying that the girl was in their hands, that they had 20 days to make the exchange with Alì Ağca, and the man also asked for a direct telephone line with then the Secretary of the Vatican State, Agostino Casaroli. The line was installed on July 18. In total, the telephone calls from The American will be 16, all from different public telephone booths. In spite of his variety of demands, and the presumed evidence, the man (that may never be identified) does not open any real track to pursue.

The presence of Emanuela, during the years, is marked in various areas, even inside the Vatican City, but the information does not ever turn out reliable. Ağca, that had once declared that Orlandi has been kidnapped by Bulgarian Agents and the Lupi Grigi, spoke about Orlandi during a prison interview with Italy's RAI state television, telling the interviewer that the girl was alive and not in danger, and that she is in a cloistered convent. He also denied any direct knowledge of the girl's fate, though, saying that he had made "some logical deductions." With no evidences of any of that, the case was closed in July 1997.

During the mid 2000, the judge Imposimato, based on what he has learned about the Lupi Grigi, declared that Orlandi, by now an adult woman, lives perfectly integrated in a Muslim community, and that she probably lived for a long time in Paris. But of this, and the connection between Orlandi-Ağca case, he seems to remain the only supporter.

The morning of May 14 2001, the parish priest of Gregory VII Church, near the Vatican, discovers in a confessional booth a human skull of small dimensions, lacking of the jaw, contained in one bag with an image of Padre Pio. The bag must have been left there the previous day, on May 13, twentieth anniversary of the attack at the Pope and "coincidently" with the Eighty-Fourth anniversary of the Fátima apparition in 1917. It is not clear if it could be the proof that Orlandi is death, or some kind of message, or, as the priest believes, just a poor taste joke. A criminologist, expressed the opinion that the girl may have died soon after disappearing, that the skull has been chosen with attention, because or is Orlandi’s, or because it was intended to remind of the girl. It is currently awaiting testing to compare the DNA to that of Emanuela's parents.

In 2004, just one month after giving his last interview, Orlandi’s father, Ercole, died.

In a letter published on 2006, Ağca claimed that Emanuela Orlandi, and another girl, Mirella Gregory, both vanished in 1983, where abducted in return for his release from prison. He claimed that the girls were whisked away to a royal palace in Liechtenstein. Ağca was released from an Istanbul prison after serving 25 years in Italy and Turkey for the attempt on the pope's life and the murder of a prominent Turkish journalist. The Orlandi’s case is still unsolved.

Ties with the Banda della Magliana

In 2005, an anonymous phone call attested that in order to find a resolution on the Orlandi case, it would have to be discovered as to who is buried in the Crypt of Saint Apollinare’s Church, and about the favour that Renatino made to the Cardinal Poletti, at the time.

In the center of Rome, near Piazza Navona, there is Saint Apollinare Church, with its crypt underneath its Basilica, where Popes, Cardinals and Christian martyrs are buried, there is the grave of Enrico De Pedis, also known as Renatino, one of the most powerful heads of the Magliana gang, assassinated on February 2, 1990. The Basilica is part of the same building of the The Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music that Orlandi attended, and where she was last seen. De Pedis’ interment at the Church is an unusual procedure for a common citizen, and even more because he was a gangster. Authorizing the interment at the time, was then Cardinal Ugo Poletti, now deceased.

In February 2006, a ex-member of the Magliana Gang, recognized in the voice of Mario, one of the killers working for De Pedis.

Ties with the IOR scandal and Roberto Calvi

A journalist who wrote a book on Banker Roberto Calvi’s case, has recently reported that, during an interview, the son of the banker killed in mysterious circumstances would have declared that the kidnapping of Orlandi was closely connected to his father’s case. According to him, it would have been an attempt to make pressures on the Vatican so that nobody would investigate on facts that would involve the Vatican with the Ambrosian Bank.

References

L'ultima verità di Ali Ağca Avevo dei complici in Vaticano (Italian)
The Latest Truth From Ali Ağca: I had accomplices in the Vatican (English)
Extra Omnes. L'infinita scomparsa di Emanuela Orlandi by Gaja Cenciarelli (Italian)
Indimedia (Italian)
Haber Vitrini
Hürriyet

@@ Line 41: / Line 41: @@
 On [[June 28]], a man who said his name was ''Mario'', and he owned a bar near ''Ponte Vittorio'', between the Vatican and the Music School, called the family. The man said that a girl named ''Barbara'', a new costumer of his bar, once confided of being a fugitive from home, but she would return home for her sister’s wedding. On [[June 30]], Rome was upholstered with 3,000 posters showing the photograph of Emanuela Orlandi.
-Sunday [[July 3]], [[Pope John Paul II]], during the ''Angelus'', made an appeal to those responsible for Emanuela Orlandi’s disappearance, making official for the first time the hypothesis of the kidnapping. On [[July 5]], the Orlandis family received the first of a number of anonymous phone calls. Emanuela should be prisoner of a terrorist group who asks to release [[Mehmet Ali Ağca]], the Turkish man who shot the Pope in [[St Peter's Square]] on [[May 13]], [[1981]]. Not other indications were given. Days later other calls were received, among those one from a man identified as ''The American'' because of his voice’s strange and adulterated accent. He played over the phone a recording of the Emanuela’s voice. A few hours later, in another phone call to the Vatican, the same man also suggested an exchange between Orlandi and Alì Ağca. The anonymous interlocutor also mentioned self-described ''Mario'' and ''Pierluigi'' of the first telephone calls, defining them ''members of the organization''.
+Sunday [[July 3]], [[Pope John Paul II]], during the ''Angelus'', made an appeal to those responsible for Emanuela Orlandi’s disappearance, making official for the first time the hypothesis of the kidnapping. On [[July 5]], the Orlandis family received the first of a number of anonymous phone calls. Emanuela should be prisoner of a terrorist group who asks to release [[Mehmet Ali Ağca]], the Turkish man who shot the Pope in [[St Peter's Square]] on [[May 13]], [[1981]]. No other indications were given. Days later other calls were received, among those one from a man identified as ''The American'' because of his voice’s strange and adulterated accent. He played over the phone a recording of the Emanuela’s voice. A few hours later, in another phone call to the Vatican, the same man also suggested an exchange between Orlandi and Alì Ağca. The anonymous interlocutor also mentioned self-described ''Mario'' and ''Pierluigi'' of the first telephone calls, defining them ''members of the organization''.
 [[July 6]], a man with juvenile voice and with not accent, informed ''ANSA Agency'' of the demand for Orlandi-Ağca exchange, asking for the Pope’s participation, giving an expiration of 20 days, and indicating a basket in a Public square near the ''Parliament'', where it would be left the proofs that Orlandi was indeed in his hands. It would have been photocopies of the Music School I.D., one received of a payment and a hand-written note of the kidnapped girl. On this basis, the Magistrate who was following Orlandi’s case, had never believed there was a credible connection between the Orlandi abduction and the assailant of the Pope. She believed that Orlandi was probably kidnapped and killed after sexual violence.