Posted on: November 27, 2025, 11:09h.
Last updated on: November 27, 2025, 11:24h.
A new memoir is stirring controversy with explosive claims linking the Vatican, the Las Vegas mob, and the sudden death of Pope John Paul I in 1978.
In “Mafia Secrets: Untold Tales from the Hollywood Godfather,” actor‑turned‑author Gianni Russo alleges that the pontiff was not felled by the heart attack reported by the Vatican, but instead murdered after only 33 days in office. (No autopsy was performed, fueling conspiracy theories.)
“He was killed for not getting with the program,” the 81-year-old writes, insisting the pope was injected with an untraceable drug because he refused to cooperate with a laundering scheme.
According to Russo, the “program” was a pipeline in which the Vatican Bank allegedly cleaned mob money — including casino skim profits from Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal and Anthony “Tony the Ant” Spilotro’s operations at the Stardust and other Argent Corp. properties in Las Vegas.
Russo ties this to the Banco Ambrosiano scandal, which erupted when Italy’s second‑largest private bank collapsed under $1.3 billion in debt in 1982. Investigators found that Ambrosiano had funneled money through offshore shell companies linked to the Vatican, financing political movements and Cold War causes.
Russo names Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, then head of the Vatican Bank, as the alleged architect of the mob’s money-laundering. Marcinkus was indeed investigated for his role in Ambrosiano’s dealings but avoided prosecution by invoking Vatican diplomatic immunity.
The Vatican denied wrongdoing but in 1984 agreed to pay $250 million to Banco Ambrosiano’s creditors as a “moral responsibility” settlement.
Who is Dis Friggin’ Guy?
Russo, now 81, is more famous for playing a mafioso than being one, having portrayed Carlo Rizzi in 1972’s “The Godfather.” (James Caan’s Sonny Corleone punched him out for beating his wife.)
However, he claims he also worked as a courier for New York godfather Frank Costello, and later as a liaison to Hollywood and Las Vegas for other mob bosses through the ’80s and beyond.
And that placed Russo, he writes, at the scene of the execution of Spilotro and his brother, Michael, inside a Chicago basement on June 14, 1986. Spilotro’s hotheaded violence had gotten so out of control, it threatened the Vegas skim.
“The men with the bats were professionals and precise with their blows … shoulders, chest, legs. Everywhere but the head,” he writes. “The head would be saved for last.”
When Tony’s gag was removed for a second, Gianni writes, he looked at him and pleaded: “Gianni … tell them to stop beating Michael. He ain’t done nothing. Please.” But Russo was powerless to stop the violence.
Asked by the New York Post why Russo is speaking out now, he shrugged off fears of a reprisal: “There’s nobody around now. Everybody’s dead.”
