Hi Guys, another thread nearly got derailed with a discussion regarding this case, so I thought I'd do a thread on it.

From 1968 to 1985 a serial killer struck terror into the Tuscan Heartland murdering 16 people.
http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_k...lorence/1.html

The killer targeted couples making out in cars. He would engage in a blitz style attack, shooting them with a .22 beretta. He would then mutilate the female victims, taking their genitalia and left breast.
The killer also taunted investigators with letters, sending them a portion of his last victim's breast.
In 1993, bullish farmhand and convicted rapist & murderer Pietro Pacciani went on trial, mesmerizing the public with his loud theatrics and protestations of innocence.


Pacciani was convicted, then had his conviction overturned on automatic appeal. Meanwhile his pals Mario Vanni


And Giancarlo Lotti were arrested and sent to trial as Pacciani's accessories. Both were convicted, with Vanni getting life and Lotti getting 26 years due to availing of a "fast track trial" which is possible in Italy.

The prosecution successfully appealed Pacciani's conviction and while he was awaiting another appellate he died, apparently of a heart attack at home.

And then that's when the s*** started getting weird...

An autopsy revealed that Pacciani had died of ingesting a mixture of heart and asthma medicine. Evidence also existed that seemed to indicate that he was dragged by his feet after his death.
"Somebody was prescribing medicine that killed Pacciani rather than cured him" stated investigating magistrate Paolo Canessa.
Pacciani's death was investigated as a homicide.
In 2001 the cops re-opened the MOF case, claiming that an occult group, consisting of Doctors, artists, dermatologists and ambassadors had commissioned the murders for three decades and had gotten away with it.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/200...ll.theobserver
http://www.theguardian.com/world/200...08/rorycarroll

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/20...460294732.html

Said group were also blamed for a series of mutilated corpses turning up in 2002.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...tilations.html

In 2000, American crime novelist Douglas Preston went to Italy. Preston hooked up with journalist Mario Spezi and began investigating the MOF murders himself as he was planning to write a book on the case.
Preston and Spezi were convinced a group of sardinians were behind the murders. Both were arrested on suspicion of planting evidence in order to frame an innocent, to bolster their theory.

What happened then was a case of he said/she said. Preston claims he was persecuted due to a form of "Satanic panic" hysteria. The cops claimed Preston planted evidence. Preston left Italy and along with Spezi wrote a book claiming that the prosecutor who arrested them, Giuliano Mignini as well as the head of the MOF taskforce, Michele Giuttari were more evil than Hitler, Stalin and Emperor Caligula combined.
Spezi himself faced criminal charges for evidence planting. The statutes were dropped due to statutes of limitations expiring.
He was however taken to civil court by detective Michele Giuttari, who won a case for slander & defamation against Spezi, leaving his book legally slanderous and libelous in Italy anyway.
The guy who Spezi allegedly tried to frame can also bring a defamation case against Spezi, should he decide to.

Despite two finalized convictions and one trial pending, the case is still open. There were (and are) far too many loose ends.

Since the convictions, various theories as to who the killer was have been espoused
http://www.florencewebguide.com/mons...-florence.html

Creepy youtube vids have also been uploaded.


And the possibly occult aspect of the case is discussed on Italian tv, unfortunately with no subs, natch.




Overall it's probably the most bizarre serial murder case I've ever come across and unfortunately, the truth will probably never be known.

If anyone has any questions, I'll be happy to answer them to the best of my ability.
Thanks for reading.

Is this Italy-based murder case thread replacing the Am.an.da…Kn.ox. Italy-based murder case thread?

.22 = pro

No. Both cases are kinda broadly linked in the sense that both cases star some of the same players, but that's about it. I just think the MOF case is a really cool story.

I'm not familiar with guns but I heard before that the .22 wasn't a great weapon actually?

Pro doesnt need, in your words, a great gun.

... why do you equate a .22 weapon with being used by a pro so, if pros don't need (in my words) a great weapon?

A .22 is good for close-range shooting, especially in the head. The bullet doesn't go through. It just bounces around doing damage.

source: American.

Thanks for the heads up.

I'm American and I've also heard that.

Lol at calling this serial killing piece of **** a professional criminal. Not that there's high standards to be a card carrying member, but he doesn't even meet those. The pathology of this type is far more base, repulsive even to hardened criminals.

While I would readily agree with your last sentence, assuming that the cops were correct in their suspicions and some weird cult DID commission the murders, then the actual killer(s) were professional in the literal sense that they were committing the murders for payment.

it was you wasn't it?

No comment.

An aside, I always liked that Cus D'Amato line from the movie Tyson after he asked Iron Mike if he knew what a professional was: "It's got nothing to do with money. A professional is someone who performs, no matter what they're feeling inside."

As a further aside, I was impressed that for a tv film, it used the c-word. I also thought Paul Winfield was awesome in it.

HBO my man.

LOL, can't believe I forgot that, good call.

Forza Azzurri but damn if my motherland doesn't produce some sick twisted pieces of crap.

I'm amazed the case isn't actually more widely known outside of Italy, as if researched it's actually fascinating and quite possibly unique wrt serial murder. Yet only Preston's version of the story seems to exist outside Italy. In Italy, a six part mini series was made which went by the cops version of a cult. It's on youtube but unfortunately (for me) it's without subtitles.

Ya I read Gomorrah by Roberto Saviano (who will probably be under a protective detail for the rest of his life), he posits and shows proof that cancer rates and other diseases and illnesses are significantly higher in certain parts of Italy than the European average. The reason being because the Camorra will get rid of garbage and refuse and even nuclear waste in the cheapest and most ecologically damaging way possible. They essentially bury the **** all over the countryside and surrounding waters, allowing toxins to seep into the drinking water system, not too mention the (ruined) crops and farmland. I'll stick to bottled water when I visit.

I picked up a book about the MOF at a thrift store a few weeks back.. Not even sure who wrote it or anything but maybe I'll give it a read. Seems like an interesting case. As ******ed as some of those people in the Knox thread were, I still learned a lot from Oski and Henry/PR. Be cool to get a couple knowledgeable people in here to discuss and debate the case.

Was it called "The Monster of Florence. A True Story"?
If so, then it's Preston's book.

Anyway, I didn't want my OP to be too much of a lengthy wall of text, (as I said on another thread, the MOF case is nothing if not murky and complex) so I'll post part II here.

In 1985, the body of MOF suspect, gastroenterologist, Francesco Narducci was found floating face down in lake Trasimeno. His death was initially ruled as an accidental drowning.
In 2001 investigators came across reference to his death as a murder while conducting a wiretap on an unrelated case.
http://ricera.repubblica.it/repubbli...l-mistero.html
Pacciani's death was also apparently alluded to as a murder in this wiretapped convo. (Giuttari, The Monster: Anatomy of an Investigation, 2006)
Narducci's body was exhumed. Professor Giovanni Pierucci from the pavia university claimed that marks were found consistent with strangulation and drugs found in his system. Several fishermen came forward claiming that they'd seen Narducci on a boat with his hands bound.
All sorts of allegations followed including that Narducci's body had been swapped by his family in order to stymie the investigation.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mostro_..._caso_Narducci

Narducci's family lawyer Alfredo Brizioli along with journalist Mario Spezi, Narducci maid Emma Margerra, Narducci's dad Ugo and ex con and alleged Comorra member Luigi Rocco all ended up in court on suspicion of criminal association, criminal conspiracy, interfering with an investigation, obstruction of justice and concealment of a corpse.
Brizioli was acquitted. The rest had the charges dropped due to statutes of limitations expiring or "prescrizione" in Italian.
http://www.umbria24.it/mostro-di-fir...ri-302196.html

In 2007 Italian prosecutors brought friend of Mario Spezi, retired Pharmacist Francesco Calamndrei to trial for being one of the "commissioners" of the murders. He was also charged with ordering the murder of Narducci.
Calamandrei had originally been a suspect after his mentally ill wife had made a statement to the cops against him in 1988, alleging he was the monster who kept body parts in his fridge at a villa he rented. The tenant he rented it to was Dr Francesco Narducci. Calamandrei's wife then made a second statement to the cops in 1991, this time getting a lawyer to draft it up, claiming her husband was part of a depraved group who had destroyed his mind. The cops claimed she seemed perfectly lucid and aware when giving the statements.
In the early 2000s, the cops began a three year surveillance operation on Calamandrei, bugging his home and his phone.
They also bugged the home & phone of his friend and colleague, Dermatologist Achille Sertoli, who in 2004 was heard in a phone convo saying that Calamandrei was the "leader" or "executor" who gave the orders.
http://insufficienzadiprove.blogspot...e-sertoli.html
(the guy behind him in the pic is apparently a young Francesco Calamandrei)
He was also heard frantically telling his wife to stfu, after she told him upon returning from police questioning that not to worry, she'd told the cops nothing about he and Calamandrei's visit to "The Wizard of San Casciano".
This "wizard" was a convicted pimp from Sicily, Salvatore Indovino, who upon release from prison, re-modeled himself as a magician, tarot card specialist and all round mysterious dude and who allegedly held black magic themed orgies at his home. Calamandrei, Narducci, Pacciani, Lotti and Vanni were all alleged participants.
http://insufficienzadiprove.blogspot...-indovino.html

Calamandrei was brought to trial in 2007. He opted for a fast track trial. He was acquitted under paragraph 2 of article 530, which is more of an insufficient evidence acquittal as opposed to definitive although an acquittal nonetheless. The court however said it did find the prosecution's hypothesis "initially plausible".
http://insufficienzadiprove.blogspot...lamandrei.html



He then appeared on Italian tv and acted kinda creepy and evasive (according to my partner anyway, who translated for me) and said things like "They had no proof against me", "they had insufficient evidence to convict me" and "My lawyer was able to show that they had no concrete facts against me, nothing but hearsay".
(As opposed to "I was acquitted cuz I was completely innocent and never should have been brought to trial to begin with")


After his acquittal, no more progress was made in the MOF case.
Calamandrei died in 2012.

I want one of those cool names.

Call me the Pimp of Placer from now on, plz.

I'm in work atm so do n't have time to hunt about but over the next day or so I will be listing the suspected cult members and collateral deaths, suspected of being connected to the MOF, besides the murders themselves.