Former prosecutor tells Orlandi inquiry De Pedis acted alone, not on behalf of Banda della Magliana

Rome – Former prosecutor Roberto Staffa has told the parliamentary commission investigating the disappearances of Emanuela Orlandi and Mirella Gregori that he does not believe the Banda della Magliana criminal organisation was directly involved in the case, arguing instead that any role was limited to its notorious member Enrico De Pedis.

Staffa, who served as co prosecutor on the investigation between 2008 and 2010, told the bicameral commission that he had "never believed" the gang itself was behind Orlandi's disappearance. "The Banda della Magliana had nothing to do with it. De Pedis is a completely different matter. There was something that interested De Pedis," he said.

The former magistrate also recalled interviewing Sabrina Minardi, De Pedis's former partner, whose testimony once played a central role in the investigation before being deemed unreliable. Minardi had claimed that Orlandi was abducted on the orders of Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, the former head of the Vatican Bank, and later murdered.

Staffa said Minardi initially appeared convincing because of the level of detail she provided during their meeting at the rehabilitation community where she was living.

"She described places, events and people with such detail that not even a first class screenwriter could have invented it all in a single morning," he told the commission, adding that he left the meeting believing she was personally credible.

However, he said her credibility later collapsed after she changed significant parts of her account. According to Staffa, there were also suggestions that Minardi sought to profit from the publicity generated by her statements before later introducing Marcinkus into her version of events.

The former prosecutor also referred to statements made by Salvatore Sarnataro, who claimed his late son Marco had confessed to helping kidnap Orlandi in Piazza Risorgimento on De Pedis's orders before handing her over to one of the gangster's associates. Those allegations were ultimately dismissed during the investigation because Marco Sarnataro had died, making independent verification impossible.

Staffa said the inquiry reached a deadlock after those developments. "The investigation became bogged down," he told lawmakers. "I left the investigative team because I was not convinced by the way the inquiry was being conducted."

He added that disputes later arose over relations with the Vatican, although he had already left the investigation by that stage.

PS