The Monster of Florence

To fully understand the Monster of Florence's motives and nature one must look to the evening of August 21, 1968. It is here that the story begins with the murder of Barbara Locci and her lover Antonio Lo Bianco. One point of information that must be called to attention would be that Ms. Locci was married and had a child. Nonetheless this did not stop her from gaining the name Queen Bee for her promiscuity. On this particular day Ms. Locci, her child and Mr. Lo Bianco were returning from the movies when one of the two adults suggested a quick rendezvous at the local cemetery.

The child asleep in the backseat they left to find a secluded spot where they began to take off their clothes. It is at this time that the killer chose to act and killed the couple with a gun. He then proceeded to take the child to a local farmer's house where he left him; the farmer then called local police and alerted them as to what had happened according to the child. When police arrived at the crime scene they found eight .22 caliber shells by the car. Around six to seven a.m. police arrived at Stefano Mele's house, upon reaching his house they found Mr. Mele in a sort of rush leaving with a suit case. He seemed indifferent when told that his wife was killed but showed signs of hesitation when asked to come in for questioning.

While in custody Mr. Mele mentioned seeing Antonio Lo Bianco and Carmelo Cutrano who both were lovers of Ms. Locci. He also mentioned Francesco Vinci who was previously arrested for adultery and also happened to be one of the many lovers of Ms. Lucci. This sparked interest in the search for suspects but through further questioning the police found that the alibi of Mr. Mele continued to change and were inconclusive until the following day where he stated that himself and Mr. Salvatore Vinci murdered Ms. Lucci and Mr. Lo Bianco due to tiredness of seeing his wife cheat on him. For reference Ms. Locci dated all Vinci brothers. But when asked about the murder weapon he first stated that he threw it away and then that he gave it to Mr. S. Vinci. He then began to change his story stating that it was all Francesco Vinci's fault. Two years later Stefano Mele was found guilty for being the lone killer and sentenced to fourteen years in prison, he pleaded partial insanity.

Six years later on September 14, 1974 a similar double murder occurred in the Borgo San Lorenzo area. A man half naked and a woman completely naked were found in a car. Bullet casings were found surrounding the car. But what was most disturbing was the fact that the woman's genitalia were mutilated and her body spread in an eagle formation. The victims were Stefania Pettini and Pasquale Gentilcore. The Pettini murder under examination with ballistics and autopsy showed that a knife 10 to 12 inches long was used to kill the girl with 96 stab wounds, a .22 caliber Beretta was thought to be the weapon used to shoot Gentilcore and Pettini. No suspects though could be rightfully accused thus the case went cold.

Seven years passed and another murder happened, June 6, 1981 this was found by a police sergeant and his son on a walk. Carmela De Nuccio and Giovanni Foggi were found shot to death and stabbed in a car. The difference in this crime scene was that Ms. De Nuccio's genitalia were completely removed from her body by some sort of sharp object. The Murder weapon was yet again a 10 to 12 inch knife and a .22 caliber Beretta.

It is interesting to find that by this point there was a sort of method and care applied to the killing of the victims. First the killer would choose a night where the moon did not shine. He then chose a popular lovers spot and would camp out on Saturdays. When he would find a prospective victim he would shoot out the headlights and then kill the people within. He would then get to work on the woman by stabbing her, mutilating her body, and then rummaging through her purse to get a sort of memento, as if taking her genitalia wasn't enough. The murder weapons were both the same, a sort of knife 10 to 15 inches long and a .22 caliber Beretta with Winchester type bullets. Over the course of seventeen years there were eight double murders all committed in the same manner as the first Monster of Florence murder with a more calibrated and sickening symbolic artistry. The method changed with first starting out with a simple shooting, then an actual planned attack with a general thought of what to do with the bodies afterward.

Throughout the murders The Monster of Florence would periodically show signs of interest and uneasiness. Certain aspects would lead investigators to form an even narrower search. For instance, the person who was the killer had skills with a sort of scalpel indicating that he had some sort of medical background, also the fact that during a fake release of a statement concerning a victim, a hospital worker was constantly being badgered by an odd man, even while on vacation. This also indicated that the person had a sort of inside contact to the hospital.

Eventually investigator began to build a case against Pietro Pacciani. Mr. Pacciani had previously attacked and killed a man that slept with his fiancée, after killing the man he had then raped the body. He was also charged with battery and harassment of his wife and two daughters. Some other facts that made Mr. Pacciani fit into the Monsters mold was that he had skills in taxidermy and was supposedly involved in a cult. These cult members were also known to spy on unsuspecting lovers as a pass time. Pacciani was also alleged with taking part in black masses, or demonic rituals. Another piece of evidence against Pacciani was that he was previously a gardener for the hospital giving him access to the storage rooms where he could get the tools. All these factors pointed in favor to placing Pacciani with potential motives to actually carry out the murders.

Even though there was not a lot of hard evidence against Mr. Pacciani he was arrested on January 17, 1993. The majority of evidence against him was circumstantial since there were not many witnesses if any. No hard proof such as the actual weapons or body parts. The reason in part of the lack of evidence was due to a sloppy processing of evidence and contamination of the crime scene. Florentine police were ill equipped and ill prepared to handle such gruesome and complicated cases. Also many of those that would come forward to aid in some way or those that were questioned often had skewed recollections. Nonetheless he was convicted.

While being dragged out after the case the most famous line was, "as innocent as Christ on the cross." On February13, 1996 Pacciani was acquitted by a court of appeals but his acquittal was short lived when on December 12 the Court of Cassation cancelled the acquittal and placed for a new trial. While awaiting retrial Pacciani died. Some speculation has arisen from the death of Pietro Pacciani, some saying it was a cover up by his former cult mates or a true overdose on drugs. Many debate although the autopsy did indicate a high level of drugs in the body.

It seems that the Italian judicial system did not require a lot of evidence to convict a person. Much of the trial was based solely off of pictures and logic not actual evidence that directly linked the murderer to the suspect. If the suspect seemed a possible killer he could easily be sent to prison similar to Stefano Mele who was still not released when another killing happened. Apart from Pietro Pacciani there were others that were also suspected and placed in jail. Among these were Mario Vanni, Giovanni Faggi, and Giancarlo Lotti who together with Pacciani were called the "compagni di merende" or picnic mates who were all suspected of taking part in the killings. No one will know for sure since the collection of evidence was either contaminated or non-existent. Another interesting fact that doesn't have much of an impact would be that the story of The Monster of Florence inspired the novel Hannibal and its settings.

Bibliography

Lohr, David. "All about the Monster of Florence by David Lohr." 1-15. .

Summers, Chris. "The Monster of Florence." 1-5. 1/December/2006 .

"Pietro Pacciani." Wikipedia. 2006. Wikipedia. 4 Jan 2007.