Vatican OKs Cracking Open Mafioso's Tomb

Teen kidnap victim may be buried with mobster
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 6, 2010 3:00 AM CDT
Vatican OKs Cracking Open Mafioso's Tomb
Enrico Pedis was gunned down in a Rome street in 1990 by members of his own gang.   (Wikipedia)

Italian police probing the unsolved 1983 disappearance of a teenage girl have been given the Vatican's permission to open the tomb of a mobster. Enrico Pedis was buried in the crypt of a Vatican-owned church after he was gunned down by rival gangsters in 1990. Now police have received a tip-off that either the remains of 15-year-old Emanuela Orlandi or clues to her whereabouts can be found in his tomb, the Telegraph reports.

Pedis' gang has long been blamed for the kidnapping of Orlandi, the daughter of a Vatican employee, although some hold that she was seized as a bargaining chip to secure the release of the Turkish gunman who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981. The girl's family say they're skeptical about claims that her body lies in the gangster's tomb. "As a Catholic, to think that an underworld boss could be laid to rest in a basilica is upsetting," her sister said. (More Vatican stories.)

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