After the Pope John Paul I died, he was embalmed and buried without an autopsy in accordance with Vatican protocol, leading to rampant media speculation (via NPR). The October conclave elected Polish cardinal Karol Wojtyla as Pope John Paul II. Paul Marcinkus escaped earthly punishment (if guilty), but his associates were less fortunate. According to Forbes, Roberto Calvi (pictured above) was found hanging from London’s Blackfriar bridge (likely murdered) while his secretary Graziella Corrocher committed “suicide” by jumping from a window. According to the New York Times, Michele Sindona died of poisoning in Italian prison in 1986, while serving time for a raft of charges ranging from fraud to murder-for-hire.

Were the two fixers murdered to prevent exposure of their potential role in the pope’s death? In Calvi’s case, it is certainly possible. The timing of his death coincides with the unfolding of the Vatican Bank scandal in 1982. Sindona’s death four years later, though, could have resulted from other issues. After all, both men had many powerful enemies outside the Vatican. 

Now, there is still one more loose end. When John Paul II came to the papal throne, Marcinkus allegedly told gangster Anthony Raimondi (via New York Post) that the new pope could follow in his predecessor’s footsteps. So they concocted a plot to kill him, forcing John Paul II to curb any suspicions he might have had. Raimondi and his Vatican friends went out to celebrate in Rome with a booze-and-women-fueled orgy. Is this just a tall tale, or had Marcinkus, Raimondi, and their associates pulled off the greatest murder conspiracy of the 20th century? You decide.