People walking past Blackfriars Bridge early on Saturday morning (June 18) might have been surprised to see what looked like a body dangling off the edge.
The life-like dummy was put there by artist Red Jay at about 7.30am to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the death of Roberto Calvi – the man nicknamed ‘God’s Banker’ because of his work with the Vatican.
Red Jay also threw handfuls of blank Vatican Bank cheques into the air before walking off the bridge as part of the bizarre anti-Vatican stunt.
The dummy was dropped into the Thames by someone thought to be a security guard, after hanging off the bridge for about ten minutes.
Roberto Calvi, director of major Italian bank Banco Ambrosiano, was murdered on June 17 1982, and was found dead hanging from Blackfriars Bridge. His death was treated as a suicide at first, before a 2002 inquest ruled it a murder.
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At the time of Mr Calvi’s death, Banco Ambrosiano, of which the Vatican Bank was a major shareholder, was embroiled in a scandal that would lead to its collapse.
The Vatican and the Mafia were both rumoured to be involved in Mr Calvi’s death but no one has ever been convicted.