Francesco Vittorio 'Franco' Ambrosio was a businessman from Italy. 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.
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'. 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. Parts of Italgrani survived bankruptcy and were sold to new owners.
Convictions and imprisonment
Franco Ambrosio was arrested several times for fraud and financial irregularities. 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 for fraud by 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 his eldest son Massimo discovered the bodies of Ambrosio and his wife Giovanna Sacco in their seaside villa in Posillipo, 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.
