Name Franco Ambrosio | ||
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Similar People Riccardo Patrese, Eddie Cheever, Derek Warwick, Thierry Boutsen, Damon Hill | ||
Francesco Vittorio 'Franco' Ambrosio (18 September 1932 – 15 April 2009) was a businessman from Italy who financed Formula One racing teams Arrows and Shadow in the late 1970s. He became a multi-millionaire through wheat trading, primarily for pasta production, and built up a large business empire. He was involved in financial scandals and served jail terms. He was murdered in a robbery at his home near Naples in 2009.
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Background
Francesco Vittorio Ambrosio was born on 18 September 1932 in the San Gennarello area (frazione) of Ottaviano in the Naples metropolitan area, close to Mount Vesuvius.
Career
At the age of 18 he joined a wheat milling business near Naples which he rose to lead within 10 years. He renamed the business Italgrani SpA in 1960. Its huge financial growth led to his nickname 'the king of grain' (Italian: il re del grano). Italgrani expanded rapidly in the 1980s into Africa, Australia, and the United States. Ambrosio created a holding company comprising up to 50 companies, importing and exporting various commodities. The businesses gradually unravelled in the 1990s as his involvements in several financial scandals were discovered. He declared the Italgrani company bankrupt in 1999.
Formula One
Ambrosio sponsored the Shadow Formula One team in 1977, backing the Italian driver Renzo Zorzi. Zorzi's lack of success led Ambrosio to have him replaced by the more promising Riccardo Patrese. Ambrosio joined the majority of the Shadow staff when they broke away to form the Arrows Formula One team for the 1978 season. The first Arrows car was named FA1, using Ambrosio's initials.
Convictions and imprisonment
Franco Ambrosio was arrested several times for fraud and financial irregularities.
In 1980 he was jailed in Lugano for complicity in a fraud scheme involving the Banco di Roma in Switzerland. Ambrosio made two unsuccessful escape attempts - in November 1981 by bribing a guard and hiding in a garbage bin, and in August 1982. His sentence was for five years, but he was released in February 1983 after serving three years.
In October 1993 he was jailed for money laundering and receiving stolen goods in the Enimont corruption scandal, in which a large chemical company was found to have bribed politicians in return for tax relief.
In June 1994 he was arrested for attempted bribery, and fraud in declaring bankruptcy in claiming EU subsidies for non-existent grain shipments to Algeria.
On 10 January 2001, he was arrested for fraud and false accounting.
At the time of his death Ambrosio was due in court to appeal against a nine-year prison sentence for false accounting when declaring the bankruptcy of Italgrani.
Death
On the morning of 15 April 2009 one of his sons discovered the bodies of Ambrosio and his wife Giovanna Sacco in their coastal villa in Posillipo near Naples. The cause of his death was injuries to the head from a blunt object. There were signs of a robbery: a broken window, possessions scattered and valuables missing. The next day three Romanian immigrants, including one who had worked as his gardener, were arrested and charged with the murder.