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In Roberto Mauri’s caper-leaning spaghetti-western trilogy, drifter-gunman Spirito Santo (Vassili Karis) is sprung to engineer a gold robbery in And His Name Was Holy Ghost (1971), then hired by Springfield to take down the masked bandit “Solitario,” enlisting Diego d’Asburgo’s ragtag crew in Gunmen and the Holy Ghost (1972). In Return of the Holy Ghost (1972) he’s set on a bullion-fraud scheme led by a faux Army colonel swapping real ingots for fakes, with Santo outwitting crooks and officials in a breezy mix of shootouts, cons, and comic reversals.
After gaining his freedom with the help of an old friend of his father, Spirito Santo/Holy Ghost recovers in an abandoned mine the gold fruit of a previous robbery and makes preparations for a new job recruiting a strange sacristan armed with a machine-gun. Meanwhile a Native American sheriff is on his trail.
The authorities of Springfield ask Spirito Santo/Holy Ghost, which in turn will require the help of Diego of Habsburg and his colourful gang, to eliminate the threat constituted by an elusive masked bandit – and arms dealer – known as Solitario.
A crook masquerading as an Army Colonel in charge of gold shipments, replaces gold ingots with fakes. Spirito Santo is recruited to solve the case and make sure the gold gets through.