Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, Top Vatican Official, Busted in Shady Money Smuggling Deal
By Corky Siemaszko
Thou shalt not smuggle a fortune into Italy. Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, a top Vatican bean counter, was busted Friday for trying to do just that along with an Italian military police honcho and a shady financier. Scarano was the middleman in a scheme to avoid paying customs and taxes by sneaking $26 million from a Swiss bank to Rome by private jet, an Italian prosecutor said. But Scarano, who was already under investigation for using money meant for a hospice to buy himself a Sicilian hideaway, was undone when the wiretaps on his phone caught him plotting, prosecutor Nello Rossi said. Now the allegedly crooked cleric is cooling his heels in a Roman prison. So are moneyman Giovanni Carenzio and Giovanni Zito, who at the time of the plot was a member of the military police’s agency for security and information. The Vatican’s Monsignor Nunzio Scarano was arrested in a $26 million cash smuggling scheme. All three are charged with fraud, corruption and slander. Scarano’s arrest came just two days after Pope Francis ordered a commission to investigate pervasive corruption at the Vatican Bank. Even before his arrest, Scarano was known in Vatican circles as a priest with plenty of cash. His nickname was “Monsignor 500,” because he always has 500 euros (about $655) in his pocket. Scarano wound up in the slammer after some of his wealthy friends asked for his help last year in getting back the $26 million they had deposited with Carenzio to invest. Rossi said the friends belonged to the D’Amico shipping family and suggested they had stashed the cash in Switzerland to avoid paying Italian taxes. Scarano hired Zito as his muscle and together they leaned on Carenzio to give the money back, Rossi said. Monsignor Nunzio Scarano was already under investigation for using money meant for a hospice to buy himself a Sicilian hideaway. Carenzio quickly caved. Zito then called in sick, rented a private plane, and flew with Carenzio to Lucerne to collect the cash. They arranged to have a car waiting for them in Rome to bring the loot in a suitcase back to Scarano’s pad, Rossi said. But Zito wound up flying home empty-handed after Carenzio — for reasons still unclear— couldn’t get his hands on the cash, Rossi said. RELATED: POPE FRANCIS TARGETS VATICAN'S "GAY LOBBY" Nevertheless, Zito demanded that Scarano pay him his $523,000 fee — and this was when the plotters began turning on each other, Rossi said. Scarano wrote him a check for half the amount. Then he gave a second check with the rest. But to prevent Zito from cashing the second check, Scarano filed a report with the bank falsely claiming that the second check had been lost, Rossi said. That’s when police swooped in and arrest the trio. Scarano and the others face up to six years in prison if convicted. — With News Wire Services Contact: csiemaszko@nydailynews.com
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