Vatican Exhumation: Body Of Mobster Enrico De Pedis Exhumed

ROME -- Coroners and medical technicians swarmed the crypt of a Roman basilica on Monday to exhume the body of a reputed mobster as part of an investigation into one of the Vatican's enduring mysteries: the 1983 disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi, the teenage daughter of a Vatican employee.

The stench of sewage filled the courtyard next to Rome's Sant'Apollinare basilica where Enrico De Pedis was buried. Medical personnel in white pantsuits and masks milled about under a blue tent where his body was believed to have been taken for initial tests.

De Pedis, a member of Rome's Magliana mob, was killed in 1990. His one-time girlfriend has reportedly said he kidnapped Orlandi, and an anonymous caller in 2005 told a call-in television show that the answer to Orlandi's disappearance lay in his tomb.

Amid a new push to resolve the case, the Vatican said last month it had no objections to opening the tomb.

Emanuela Orlandi was 15 when she disappeared in 1983 after leaving her family's Vatican City apartment to go to a music lesson in Rome. Her father was a lay employee of the Holy See.

There had initially been speculation that her kidnapping was linked in some way to the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II, which had occurred two years earlier, and the jailing of the gunman, Ali Agca.

Doubts have also been cast on whether the Vatican itself had cooperated fully with the investigation. In a lengthy statement last month, the Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi insisted the Holy See had done everything possible to try to resolve the case.

Outside the basilica, Orlandi's brother Pietro Orlandi said the move to exhume the tomb was a step forward in the investigation into his sisters' disappearance.

"I think it's something very positive, both from the point of view of the Vatican and the prosecutors," he told reporters.

Speculation has long swirled around the location of De Pedis' tomb, since it's buried in a prominent church alongside prominent Catholics - an unusual final resting place for a reputed local mobster. Sant'Apollinare church is right next to the elegant Piazza Navona in Rome's historic center and is adjacent to the Opus Dei-run Pontifical Holy Cross University.

Among those in the courtyard speaking with medical personnel was the rector of the basilica, Msgr. Pedro Huidobro, who oddly enough was a coroner before being ordained a priest.

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Loading Slideshow

• Pietro Orlandi, brother of missing girl Emanuela, arrives at Sant' Apollinare Basilica, in Rome, Monday, May 14, 2012. Indications mounted Monday that the tomb of reputed mobster Enrico De Pedis was to be opened inside the basilica as part of an investigation into one of the Vatican's enduring mysteries: the 1983 disappearance of the teenage daughter of a Vatican employee, Emanuela Orlandi. (AP Photo/Roberto Monaldo, Lapresse)

• Forensic police unload equipment in the courtyard of Sant' Apollinare Basilica, in Rome, Monday, May 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Roberto Monaldo, Lapresse)

• A burial service truck enters the courtyard of Sant' Apollinare Basilica, in Rome, Monday, May 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

• Police officers stand outside Sant' Apollinare Basilica, in Rome, Monday, May 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

• Police and media stand outside Sant' Apollinare Basilica, in Rome, Monday, May 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

• Police and media stand outside Sant' Apollinare Basilica, in Rome, Monday, May 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

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Comments

[the Malcontent]

02:02 PM on 05/16/2012

I wish they would quit exhuming things. :>)

[Asiai5040]

04:59 AM on 05/16/2012

Why was this mobster buried there?

[silviarimembriancor]

04:49 PM on 05/15/2012

The disappearance of this girl is just the beginning of a story that connects the I.O.R. ( Istituto Opere Religiose), that is the Bank of the Vatican, with the killing of Calvi- the so called "God's Banker"- ( a fake suicide), the killing of Sindona, the klling of Ambrosoli,the secrets of the Italian politician and former prime minister Giulio Andreotti, the attempt of killing Pope John Paul the second in 1981 done by Ali Agca and organized dy secret services of the former communist countries of Eastern Europe. In Italy they say that the I.O.R sent money to Solidarnosc, a Polish organization who fought against communism in Poland in the 19eighties. The Pope was Polish and he wanted to help his country fellowmen to fight their dictatorship. Hence the kidnapping of Emanuela Orlandi- a vatican citizen and daughter of a man who worked as a gardener in the gardens of the Vatican palaces- a kidnapping who was a clear sign sent to the Pope by some communist secret service that said: "Stop what you are doing..". The so called "Banda della Magliana", a group of common criminals of Rome, and of which Enrico de Pedis- the infamous Renatino for us Italians- was the boss, was only the executer of the kidnapping, but the order was given by someone outside of Italy.
Sometimes reality in Italy is more complicated and intriguing than a Dan Brown novel.. ciao dear American friends :)

[DeuxExMachina]

08:24 PM on 05/15/2012

Thanks for the Italian point of view. I always thought the Calvi "suicide" under that bridge highly suspicious. A second inquest, in July 1983, the jury recorded an open verdict, indicating that the court had been unable to determine the exact cause of death. Following his exhumation in December 1998, an independent forensic report published in October 2002 concluded that indeed he had been murdered and giving convincing evidence for it. It seems strange that the initial two public inquests into Calvi's death didn't cover the non-DNA forensic ground as in the later private one. More likely there was political interference with the coroner;s ruling and I would really like to know what the British Government actually knows about the matter. Subsequently there were people in Italy that were tried for his murder but they have since been acquited.

[RVNGRUNT]

12:38 AM on 05/15/2012

In the first paragraph of His "Sermon on the Mount," Jesus proclaimed, "I have not come here to replace your laws or religions, but to fulfill them. Christ did not found any church/religion, nor did He intend to. He instructed Peter to 'Tend to the circumcized," which is why Peter went to be with a large population of Jews in Mesopotamia/Babylon following Jesus' death. Until the Roman Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity (aka, early Christians) in c. 313 AD, being a Christian in the Roman Empire carried a penalty of death. "Catholicism" (from the Greek root word for "universal") per se wasn't self-identified by its earliest leaders until sometime in the early 400s AD,followed by the seating in Rome of the first Pope Andrew (or Andrew I) in c.bably Andrew in c.430 AD) was seated in Rome.

[DeuxExMachina]

09:01 AM on 05/15/2012

@RVNGRUNT

Not true.
What is your interest? Are you Jewish and trying to claim Jesus as one of your own or are you one of these drive-by atheists throwing out pseudo-theology?
From your submission you are trying to say that Jesus was for the Jews only.

Couple of points:
(1) Most Jews today don't believe Jesus was the Messiah
(2) There are plenty of passages in the New Testament that I've referred to on this exact same point on many occasions explaining that Jesus's message was for all who would listen to Him and not just for the Jews.
For example, just this weekend's Catholic Mass first reading was the Acts of the Apostles 10: 25 - 48 which included:
Then Peter addressed them" 'The truth I have now come to realise' he said 'is that God does not have favourites, but that anybody of any nationality who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to Him''
and addressing Jewish followers who were suprised that the Holy Spirit came down on non-Jewish listeners as well:
Peter himself then said, 'Could anyone refuse the water of baptism to these people now that they have received the Holy Spirit just as musch as we have? He then gave orders for them to be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ.
You are wrong about Constantine changing Jesus' intentions but in either case St. Peter would trump the Roman Emperor on Church matters no matter what the latter decided.

[v eyepete]

07:29 AM on 05/17/2012

Saul, later named Paul the apostle, was a Jew from Tarsus. It was through his revelations that brought the gentiles into the Church mainly because the Jewish community in large numbers rejected the teachings of Christ. So stated in the book "History of Rome" by Michael Grant, Charles Scribner's and Son, NY. ISBN 0-02-345610-8

[usacookie]

08:35 PM on 05/14/2012

I am really hoping that HuffPo finds another religion to report on. I know it is a lot of fun to trash Catholicism over and over, but golly aren't the Muslims up to anything these days?

[Gregor53]

09:24 PM on 05/14/2012

If you go to the top of the Religion Page, you can pick the one you desire to read about. However, this is News despite the fact you wish it was not about the Vatican.

[usacookie]

12:04 AM on 05/15/2012

If you go to your AOL mail page and see the Today on AOL line to the left of your email list and click, about once every ten days you will see some highlighted news item associated directly or obliquely with ONLY one church. And yet, as you point out, you can go directly to the religion page, and golly, there are Muslims there, and Lutherans there and Jews there. What's up with the bigotry toward only this one church? I have information that the Catholic Church is not the only religion in town. There is plenty of dirt elsewhere but only ONE church is fair game?

[ChrisHK]

02:18 AM on 05/15/2012

They have to report the news, thats their job...not related to religion itself...the fact that catholic church keeps trashing itself over and over again its their own fault...if they have a known criminal buried in a church is quite shocking to say the least...

[n8iveresident]

08:32 PM on 05/14/2012

If there was anything in that tomb besides a rotted gangster you better believe they would NEVER let them exhume anything!!!

[sdave]

08:25 PM on 05/14/2012

So? Lots of bodies buried at the Vatican......and not all of them from centuries ago.....this is not news...

[OuterBanx North12]

12:36 PM on 05/15/2012

did you read the article? they're trying to search for info on a missing 15-year-old.

[ebull]

08:20 AM on 05/19/2012

His body is not in the Vatican, it is in a church near Piazza Navona. That , dear dave, is Rome, though granted the SCV has ownership of St. Appolinaire. But Italian Police have jurisdiction. HUge diff.

[T-BONEIMPALA]

08:04 PM on 05/14/2012

No amount of evil suprises me that come out of the Vatican's gold loving empire!

[pdf44]

08:04 PM on 05/14/2012

People would be shocked about all the secrets the Catholic Church has.
It would take many life times to research and expose just half of them.
I say this as someone that was brought up Catholic.

[Cold in Michigan]

02:02 AM on 05/15/2012

"Shocked." I don't think so. How many times have you read some conspiracy theroy and been 'shocked'...only to find out it has b

[Cold in Michigan]

02:03 AM on 05/15/2012

Sorry...first comment posted before I was ready....

....only to find it was an old story just rehashed in the media. Most of the vatican stories are just this.

[n8iveresident]

08:03 PM on 05/14/2012

"Doubts have also been cast on whether the Vatican itself had cooperated fully with the investigation.........In a lengthy statement last month, the Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi insisted the Holy See had done everything possible to try to resolve the case." That response must be in the official Vatican copy of Madd Libs!!!

[meow2u3]

07:54 PM on 05/14/2012

I'm surprised no one mentioned the role of Opus Dei in this kidnapping case. The location of the DePedis' tomb, right next to an Opus Dei-run university, reeks to high heaven of an Opus Dei job. After all, OD has been buddy-buddy with top Vatican officials for the past 20 years.
Ever since JPII approved Opus Dei as a "personal prelature" in 1982, the Church has been embroiled in one scandal after another. Don't tell me Opus Dei had nothing to do with Orlandi's kidnapping and disappearance. Don't tell me either that OD arranged for the burial of a mobster in a cemetary reserved for Vatican big shots, either.

Either way, I think Opus Dei is responsible for the bulk of the corruption of the modern Catholic Church, corruption that goes all the way to the Pope.

[shelby4087]

09:46 PM on 05/14/2012

meow2u3; I wish you would share any solid facts. with references, about your assertions that Opus Dei being responsible for the"bulk of corruption of the modern Catholic Church".

[dlp7202]

05:24 AM on 05/15/2012

There is no such thing as the "modern catholic church"

[ChrisHK]

02:32 AM on 05/15/2012

I personally know OD very close as I was educated in one of their private schools, but i'm not part of it or any other sect or religion...i actually dislike their ways very much...and as in any organization there are bad/corrupted people... anyway are you a mentalist? please give some facts not just presumptions...maybe they should call you to testify, then you go to jail for false testimony and defamation...that would be interesting...

[thudpucker]

07:36 PM on 05/14/2012

It is amazing and disturbing the amount of people who disregard the information-limited as it is- in this article and slip to a total bashing of the Catholic Church. I am not Catholic but I find any type of comment that is used to condemn any entire faith, organization, group or people very frightening. Everyone has faults and so it is fair to say that every organization has faults because members are not perfect. Wide spread crimes and atrocities have been committed from the dawn of time by a variety of organizations but people seem to let them slide unless the Catholic Church is involved. I in no way support or look the other way when horrid crimes are committed by some members but hold the person accountable and not the group as a whole. Perhaps waiting for the entire picture is painted would be a better path than a rush to "blanket judgment".

[thudpucker]

09:22 PM on 05/14/2012

Thank you.

[usacookie]

08:19 PM on 05/14/2012

I was noticing the very same thing. I also noticed that the HuffPo NEVER puts a religious leader onto the AOL link unless it is about the Catholic Church. They invite bigotry. They want the name calling and misinformation repeated over and over again. Hey HuffPo how about something interesting about Judaism? (my very favorite personal faith BTW). I am sure there were more then a few Rabbis who were caught in compromising positions in recent months. We're cool we can follow a link to the religion page. Better yet, how about something positive about the Catholic faith or any faith?

[thudpucker]

08:17 PM on 05/14/2012

What a rude disrespectful comment to a missing young girl whose family mourns her.

[usacookie]

08:20 PM on 05/14/2012

Aren't you sick of yourself yet?

[RVNGRUNT]

07:10 PM on 05/14/2012

In the first paragraph of His "Sermon on the Mount," Jesus proclaimed tha "I have not come here to replace your laws or religions, but to fulfill them. Christ did not found any church/religion, and he insructed Peter to 'Tend to the circumcized," which is why Peter went to be with a large population of Jews in Mesopotamae/Babylon following Jesus' death. Until the Roman Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity (aka, early Christians) in c. 313 AD, being a Christian in the Roman Empire carried a penalty of death. Catholicism wasn't established officially until the early 400s AD, some time before the first Pope (probably Andrew in c.430 AD) was seated in Rome.

[fhmjam]

06:59 PM on 05/14/2012

"The butcher, the baker, the candlestick, maker- TURN THEM OUT!! KNAVES, ALL THREE!!" Variation on a theme from children's books.