The late Michele Sindona a key Mafia banker in the 1960s and '70s who had exceptionally close ties to the Vatican bank saw Canada in a similar light. For Sindona, Canada was primarily a safe repository for funds he had already laundered on behalf of his murky clientele. By 1971, his investments in Canadian real estate and companies were worth more than $100 million, a huge sum when one considers that it was prior to the inflationary ravages of the late '70s and early '80s. Sindona also used Canada in actual laundering transactions. He was especially adept at concealing illicit money flows inside apparently above-board commercial or financial transactions. One system, for example, was used to launder money belonging to either the Sicilian Mafia or the notorious P-2 Masonic Lodge. Funds would move through the Vatican bank to a Sindona-controlled bank in Geneva. From there, the money would pass through a now-defunct trading company in Montreal and then into the United States.