Archangels: Rise of the Jesuits by Tavakoli Janet M

Author:Tavakoli, Janet M. [Tavakoli, Janet M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-11-10T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XII

Vatican City

Monday, June 17

“Here’s the latest report, Father Miro.” The young Franciscan friar held out a ream of beige papers.

Father Miro took the documents and gave a little grunt of satisfaction as he leafed through the pages. So far the Archangeli had $30 billion under management and the money was still pouring in. The Miro account was doing just fine, too. Of course, Miro was not his real name, but the alias was a precaution worth taking, and he could still get at the money.

The Archangeli had wised up over the years. They no longer took drug money or funds from other illegal activities. Criminals of that type were unrealistic about money, and they could be violent. The Archangeli had given back the cash belonging to the Ochoa family and Pablo Escobar Gaviria, the former heads of the Medellin drug cartel in Colombia. Now the Ochoas were in jail and Escobar was dead.

“Have we finally severed all ties with the Cali cartel?” Father Miro asked.

“Yes. We helped them spirit most of their money out of Colombia, but they know we no longer want their business.”

“What about the Pepes and the northern Cauca Valley cartel?”

The friar nodded. “We’ve taken care of them, too.”

“Good.” Miro gave an inward smile of satisfaction. How easy it had been to take over this disorganized band, mainly Franciscans plus a mixed bag of Benedictines and Dominicans. He was the only Jesuit. Before he came to their rescue, their incompetence had nearly landed them in jail. Intelligent men, but they lacked discipline. They could thank their lucky stars that the Vatican would do almost anything to protect its own from scandal.

Before Father Miro saved them, in addition to laundering drug money, they had used Vatican bank deposits to curry favors with Italy’s richest families and corporations. They granted loans that never came due, always granting another when interest payments on the first loan became a burden. The reverse Ponzi scheme blew up, because they looted the bank much faster than they took in deposits. Father Miro paid the right people to develop temporary blindness. It was better than Switzerland.

After taking over, he christened the group Archangeli—the Archangels. “We are the rebellious Archangels who would rather rule on earth than serve in the Vatican,” he’d told the others. “We will use the power and influence of the Church to create unlimited wealth for ourselves.” He knew what they didn’t, that the real money wasn’t in drugs or Ponzi schemes, but in tax evasion. With the U.S. government threatening to prosecute accountants who set up offshore tax shelters for wealthy U.S. clients, those clients were swarming to the Vatican Bank. The Archangeli set up offshore vehicles to hide cash and profits for a ten percent fee. A high price, but worth it to U.S. tax evaders if it put their money forever beyond the reach of the dreaded IRS. European business had picked up, too. Lichtenstein once was the haven of choice, but now the Archangeli were taking the lion’s share.

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