March 7, 2024 • 47 mins
August 24th, 1968, Florence, Italy marks the beginning of a string of murders carried out by a serial killer ultimately dubbed the Monster of Florence.
He targeted and brutally attacked his distracted victims in their most intimate and vulnerable moments. Let's pack up a bowl and unpack this unsettling case.
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Episode Transcript
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Happy 420! I'm Kai and you are listening to Stone Cold Murder.
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Just a PSA, if you have any information to help solve a crime, go to www.crimestoppers.com
to report any information anonymously.
Thank you for tuning in for season 2, episode 5, The Monster of Flores.
This podcast contains material that may not be suitable for all audiences.
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Listener discretion is advised.
Hello everyone, it's your friendly neighborhood stoners here, bringing you another horrible
cold case.
It is just me, so we are not going to be chit chatting in the beginning of this episode.
I am Stone and we are going to get right to it.
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On the night of August 24th, 1968, 29-year-old Antonio Lo Bianco and 32-year-old Barbara
Lacossy were on a little date at the cinema garden in La Strazigna.
They saw a movie called Helga, The Miracle of Love, which was a German film.
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And Antonio was a mason worker.
Barbara was a homemaker.
Barbara had a young child that they decided to bring along with them that night, even
though the movie was said not to be really child friendly.
But probably couldn't get a babysitter or anything, so he brought the little kid with
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them.
Antonio and Barbara were married, but not to each other, so that's probably also why
they brought the little one with them.
Antonio was a father of three and married to a Sicilian woman named Rosalie Barciana.
Probably butchered that, I'm so sorry.
Barbara was married to Stefano Melle.
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Apparently it was known that she had multiple partners and that one of her exes actually
lived with them for a while, so it seemed like they had an open marriage type thing.
Antonio and Barbara are leaving the cinema to go home for the evening, and Antonio suggests
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to Barbara that, hey, maybe we'll park a while before we part ways.
Barbara's child was asleep in the back seat, so she agreed, which, whatever I guess.
But they pulled over near a cemetery in Cigna, and just as Antonio starts to undress Barbara,
they were attacked by an unknown person, shot with a.22 handgun.
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The child woke up and ran to the closest house to get help.
The house he ran to was a local farmer, and he was awakened by the knocks at his front
door.
When the man opened the door, the young boy was standing barefoot outside, and he said,
let me in, I'm tired, and my father is home sick.
You have to take me back home because my mommy and uncle are both dead in the car.
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Uncle was not actually related to him, but apparently referring to him as uncle is a
polite term for younger kids to address older people in Italy.
Both Antonio and Barbara died due to the gunshot wounds.
As investigators went over the cemetery crime scene, they discovered eight.22 caliber shells
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by the vehicle.
The car was a white Alfa Romero with a license plate of Providence of Arsino.
Man, I know I'm going to butcher all of these.
I'm so sorry.
I'm not good with the country names or any kind of anything.
I'm the worst, so please forgive me.
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So sorry.
I'm going to do my best.
A check of the vehicle's registration confirmed that I belonged to Antonio Lo Bianco.
Barbara was a native of Sardinia and had been well known in the town, receiving the nickname
Queen Bee, which I fucking love.
I wish people would be calling me Queen Bee because, you know, she's a badass bitch.
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Between six and seven in the morning, a police patrol car reached the home of Stefano Mele,
Barbara's husband.
Investigators made their way to Mele's front door and it opened abruptly.
He stepped outside with a suitcase, appearing to be in a hurry.
When he had little reaction to the news of his wife's murder, investigators' suspicions
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were definitely increased.
He was asked to talk with investigators and he hesitantly agreed and accompanied them
to the police headquarters.
At the police station, Stefano Mele told investigators that he had not felt well since the previous
day, and he had actually stayed home.
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While resting, two people had come to visit him, Carmelo Cantora and Antonio Lo Bianco,
both of whom had been his wife's lovers.
During the questioning, he also mentioned Francisco Vinci, another lover of his wife.
Francisco had been arrested in November of 1967 following accusations of adultery by
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his wife, which, didn't know you could be arrested on that, but I guess it was 67, so
makes sense.
As soon as Francisco was released from prison, he resumed the relationship with his lover,
and Barbara apparently had been the lover of all three Vinci brothers, who was Giovanni,
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Salvador, and Francisco.
Police decided to investigate some of Stefano's allegations, and he was asked to return the
following day.
The following day on August 23, 1968, after telling investigators that he considered his
wife's lovers to be possible suspects in the double murder, Stefano surprised everyone
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by confessing that he and Salvador Vinci had killed his wife Barbara and Antonio Lo Bianco.
During his confession, he stated that when his wife and son failed to return home by
11.20 pm on August 21, he went looking for them.
He eventually reached the town square in Cigna where he met Salvador, and he told him that
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Barbara had gone to the movies, perhaps with Antonio Lo Bianco, and had taken their child
with her.
Vinci scolded Stefano for allowing his wife to continually cheat on him and told him that
he should put a stop to the situation.
Vinci had a small weapon with him, and the two of them drove to Cigna.
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When the two men arrived, they discovered Antonio's Alfa Romero parked near the movie
theater.
Stefano and Salvador waited at the exit and eventually saw Antonio and Barbara, who had
the child in her arms, exit the theater.
Stefano and Salvador got into the car and followed them to the cemetery, just outside
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of town.
Stefano told investigators that when Antonio and Barbara began to make out, Salvador pulled
out a small pistol out of a bag and handed it to him.
Stefano said he walked up to the car and began firing until the gun was empty.
His son slept through the initial gunfire, but woke up immediately afterwards.
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When Stefano returned to Salvador's car, he told him that he had killed them.
The two men then drove to the Cigna bridge where they disposed of the gun, and a short
time later he went back home.
Stefano ended his confession by stating, I killed my wife and her lover because I was
tired of continually being humiliated.
My wife had been cheating on me for a number of years, but it was only a few months ago
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that I decided to do away with her.
While Stefano's story was lacking in many respects, he failed to mention if his son
had seen him or how he ended up at the farmhouse.
Stefano was quickly arrested and held pending official charges.
The following day on August 24th, 1968, police searched everywhere for the pistol with no
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luck.
A prosecutor questioned Stefano about the pistol, and he quickly changed his story, stating
that instead of throwing the weapon away, he had actually given it to Salvador, Binge.
A few hours later, Stefano completely retracted his entire confession and began accusing Salvador's
brother, Francisco.
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He stated that Francisco owned the weapon and that Francisco had killed his wife.
For the next three days, Stefano told police the opposite of what he had said previously.
Two years after the double homicide took place, Stefano Miele was found guilty as the lone
attacker and sentenced to 14 years in prison on the ground of partial insanity.
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However, six years later, while he was in prison, another couple was murdered, and apparently
with the same gun.
And we're going to take a smoke break.
And we're back.
You hear little toe taps, that's my dog in the background.
On Saturday, September 14th, 1974, investigators were called to the Borreo, San Lorenzo area,
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just north of Florence.
A passerby had discovered the bodies of 19-year-old Pasqueli Delancour, who was a barman, and
18-year-old Stefania Petini, who was an accountant.
They were found in a parked car, and they parked in Pasqueli's Fiat 127, not far from
the notorious disco-esque called the Teen Club.
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They were supposed to be spending the evening at the Teen Club with friends, but instead
they parked their car and they were making out and having sex right down the street.
Just like before, they were attacked while in their car.
They were both shot and killed, but Stefania was absolutely brutalized.
Upon arriving at the scene, investigators discovered the half-naked body of Pasqueli
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in the driver's seat.
He appeared to have been the victim of multiple gunshot wounds and no apparent evidence of
struggle, so he was probably attacked first.
At the rear of the car, investigators discovered the completely naked body of Stefania on the
ground.
A dealer had posed her corpse.
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Her arms and legs were spread eagle, and trigger warning, a vine branch was protruding from
her mutilated vagina.
So he had actually assaulted her with a branch.
At first sight, it appeared as though she had been stabbed to death, but during the
autopsy of the victims, it was soon revealed that both had been shot numerous times with
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a small caliber gun.
Public reports concluded the weapon was a Model 73 or 74 22 automatic Beretta, and that
the bullets were a distinctive Winchester type, manufactured in Australia during the 1950s.
While Pasqueli succumbed to five bullet wounds, Stefania had only been shot three times.
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Her death was ultimately the result of 96 stab wounds, which holy fucking shit.
96 stab wounds is absolutely unfathomable.
The knife was estimated to be around 10 to 12 centimeters long and about 1.5 centimeters
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wide, with a single edged blade.
Just a few hours before the murder, Stefania had disclosed to a friend that a weird man
was terrifying her.
Another friend of hers recalled that a strange man had followed and bothered the two of them
during a driving lesson a few days before.
Several of the lovers who parked in the same area where the murders occurred stated that
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particular area was frequented by voyeurs, a pair of them acting very oddly.
Investigators focused their attention on three men in particular.
53 year old Bruno McCall, a self-proclaimed healer, Gipsy Franchini, a mentally unstable
man who accused himself of the crime by coming to the police station of his own free will,
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and Guido Giovanni, a voyeur who had been identified by a number of witnesses as someone
who had been spying on couples in the area where the crime took place.
There was no evidence linking any of the men to the crime, and all three were eventually
ruled out as possible suspects.
Investigators concluded that the murder was manacle and asexual deviant.
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With no apparent leads or suspects, the case again goes cold.
Seven years later, so we're seeing a pattern here, on June 6, 1981, a police sergeant on
a country walk with his son accidentally discovered the bodies.
He first noticed a copper-colored car parked alongside the road.
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The doors to the vehicle were closed, but the woman's handbag was linked next to the
driver's side door, with the bag's contents scattered all over the ground.
The sergeant decided to move in for a closer look, and as he made his way to the vehicle,
he noticed that the driver's side window had been smashed in.
In the driver's seat was the body of a young man whose throat had apparently been splashed.
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The sergeant immediately left the scene to call the murder in.
Thirty-year-old Giovanni Foggi had recently gotten engaged to 21-year-old Carmela D. Coney.
Giovanni worked in a warehouse, and Carmela was a shop assistant.
The two were still in the honeymoon phase, and driving down a quiet country road, these
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two, like the other couples in the story, decided to find a spot to park and enjoy each
other's company.
Wink, wink.
While they were parked having sex in their car near Scandici, they were both shot and
stabbed.
Carmela's body was pulled out of the car while Giovanni's was left dead inside the
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front seat.
As investigators joined the sergeant at the crime scene, they soon discovered the body
of Carmela laying on the bottom of a steep bank, just 20 yards away from the red Fiat.
Her legs were spread apart, her t-shirt and jeans were slashed, and trigger warning, her
vagina had been removed.
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Unfortunately, there were no tracks or witnesses to the murder, and an autopsy revealed that
they had both died of multiple gunshot wounds while sitting in the vehicle.
Giovanni had received three stab wounds to his neck and a third to his chest, and the
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removal of Carmela's vagina had been performed with an extremely sharp tool, thus prompting
the pathologist to conclude that the killer had skill in using cutting instruments.
Ballistic reports indicated that both victims were killed by a minimum of seven gunshot
wounds from a.22 caliber automatic pistol with Winchester rounds, just like before.
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This finding quickly raised eyebrows of veteran detectives, and they requested that the bullets
be compared to the ones recovered in 1974's Double Murder of Pasqueli and Stefania.
A ballistics match was made, and investigators were beginning to realize that they had a
possible serial killer on their hands.
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The morning of June 6th, a young voyeur Enzo Spallati, a 30-year-old paramedic, had talked
with his wife about two bodies he saw in a copper-colored Ritmo automobile as early as
9.30 in the morning.
He told her that he had read about them in the paper, but the story did not actually
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come out in the paper until the day after Giovanni and Carmela's body had been discovered.
He actually spent three months in jail and was charged with this murder before he eventually
was exonerated because the true killer had killed again.
We're going to take a smoke break.
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And we're back on the 23rd of October, 1981.
26-year-old Stefano Baldi and his fiancee, 24-year-old Susana Gambi, had their car parked
in Calenzo.
It was described as a scenic outlook area, which sounds absolutely nice.
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Just like park with your fiance and this scenic outlook.
Enjoy your time together.
I'm sure that they were just taking advantage of the view and enamored with each other,
blissfully unaware that there was any danger lurking around them.
The pattern continued with Stefano and Susana being attacked while distracted, both being
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shot and stabbed and left for someone else to find.
A couple found Stefano and Susana and called the police.
As investigators arrived at the scene, they discovered a man laying next to a Volkswagen.
Stefano was half naked and appeared to have been shot and stabbed numerous times.
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Susana was laying on the opposite side of the vehicle while her wounds were similar
to Stefano when detail immediately struck investigators.
Her vagina had been removed in the same fashion as Carmela Denucci.
A pathologist concluded that both victims had been shot through the front window and
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that they were both still alive when the first of the numerous stab wounds were inflicted.
So that's absolutely horrifying.
The knife was believed to be a single edge and approximately 3 centimeters wide and 5
to 7 centimeters long.
The removal of Susana's vagina appeared to have been performed with the same instrument
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used in the previous case, but it was executed with significantly less precision and a much
larger area had been removed.
The abdominal wall had been cut through all its layers leaving a large area of abdominal
cavity exposed and part of the intestine punctured, suggesting that this murder was more likely
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rushed.
Ballistic tests revealed that the same Beretta 22 used in the previous crime was used in
the double murder.
The morning after Susana and Stefano's murder, an anonymous caller called Susana's mother
to talk to her about her daughter, which is absolutely scary.
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Her mother also recalled that Susana had told her that there was somebody tormenting her
and chasing her by car, which what the fuck.
That would be a horrible thing to hear as a mother and then for your daughter to then
be murdered in such a brutal way.
Like I couldn't even imagine.
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As the news of the murders reached the public, two separate couples came forward and reported
that they had seen a red Alpha GT with a lone male driver speeding away from the crime scene.
Investigators decided it was time to let the press in on the theory of the serial murderer,
who preyed on young couples.
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They had hoped that the extensive coverage would prompt others to come forward with possible
leads.
Unfortunately, no further clues were brought forward.
There was one clue, a size 44 shoe print found in the mud.
To those of us who don't know how big that is, it would be a size 11 here in the USA.
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Because of that, police were looking for an actual tall individual.
Investigators also decided to drop the charges against Enzo Spallotti for June 6, 1981 double
murder of Carmela De Nucci and Giovanni Foggi.
Since Spallotti had been behind bars at the time of this most recent murder, there was
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no way he could have committed the crimes and his trial was cancelled and he was released
from prison.
And we're going to take a smoke break.
And we're back.
On June 19, 1982, 22 year old mechanic Paolo Mendari and his fiancee 20 year old Antonella
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Margherani, a dressmaker, were having sex in a car on a country road.
The car was parked in a parking space near Via Nuva Reguilo, a provincial roadway.
Someone appeared out of the bushes and began shooting at the couple.
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Both Paolo and Antonella were struck by the initial gunfire and Antonella died almost
immediately.
Even though Paolo was seriously injured, he was able to start the car, turn on the headlights
and shift the vehicle into reverse.
The car ended up in a ditch and Paolo was unable to get it back out.
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The killer unfortunately wasted very little time and quickly shot out the vehicle's
headlights.
Then he emptied his pistol into the two victims.
After turning off the engine, the keys were pulled from the ignition and thrown into the
weeds.
The road they were on was a little bit more busy than the spots from the previous attacks.
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This is thought to be the reason that the killer did not mutilate Antonella's body,
like Carmela and Susanna.
All passing motorists had seen the car parked at the side of the road after its interior
light had been turned on.
Paolo was not discovered until the following morning and died just hours later, without
ever having a chance to tell anyone what happened that night.
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Later that same morning, Salvia Della Monica, assistant district attorney assigned to the
case, gathered various reporters in her office and asked them to spread a little lie.
They all wanted the press to report that Paolo Mandarie was still alive when he arrived at
the hospital and that he had time to give a description of the killer before he died.
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All of the reporters agreed and the information appeared in the afternoon paper.
Salvia Della Monica was hoping that the killer would become anxious and make a bad move.
Her little gamble did not make the killer nervous though.
Following the release of the afternoon paper, one of the Red Cross emergency workers who
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had accompanied Paolo Mandarie to the hospital received two telephone calls from a person
who claimed to be with the DA's office and then changed the story, identifying himself
as the murderer.
He wanted to know what the young man said before he died, which is insane.
That's some balls on that person.
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A few days later, after the murder of Paolo and Antonella, a police sergeant named Francisco
Flore recalled the murder of Barbara Ocasi and Antonio Lo Bianco, committed in 1968,
when he was assigned to Cigna.
Francisco began to wonder if there was a connection with those murders.
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On his insistence, the shells were compared to the tests revealed that the same weapon,
a Beretta.22 caliber pistol, fired all with Winchester bullets and that the shells all
came from a single box of 50 bullets.
So very much connected.
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The pistol used by the killer was the same weapon that killed Barbara and Antonio in
1968.
Fourteen years after the 1968 murders, it was immediately apparent that Stefano Melle, the
husband of the murdered woman, could not have been the monster of Florence since he was
in jail in both 1974 and 1981.
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At that point, investigators assumed that Melle had to have an accomplice, someone who
continued the killings after he was imprisoned.
At that point, the investigators assumed that Melle had to have an accomplice, someone who
continued to kill after he was in prison.
Regardless, Melle was still claiming he was innocent and refused to cooperate with investigators.
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On September 9th, 1983, about a year later, 24-year-old Wilhelm Frederick Wurstmeier and
24-year-old Jens U. Ruhsch, two students from Osbrock, West Germany, were visiting Italy
to celebrate a scholarship.
Wurstmeier just won.
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They were found shot to death while sleeping in their Volkswagen camper in Gazzalo.
The camper was parked just 19 miles south of Florence in a grassy clearing.
This is the only time that he shot two men.
And that was actually a little surprise to investigators.
There was no apparent mutilation to the victim's bodies, and investigators did not initially
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connect the murders to the monster of Florence, but ballistic tests proved that it was the
same.22 Beretta that had been used in the previous murders.
This baffled investigators.
Why did the killer change his pattern?
Perhaps the killer made a mistake?
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One of the victims did have very long blonde hair and may have been mistaken for a girl.
Upon realizing his mistake, the killer may have not wished to perform the usual mutilations
on a male.
Apart from the pistol and the bullets used by the killer, investigators were intrigued
by some of the common elements of each crime.
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All the victims had spent their last evening at the disco.
The murder usually struck on Saturdays, and he preferred to strike when the moon was hidden
by the clouds.
Which I don't know how they figured that one out.
Last detail could have some cryptic explanation, or simply be a precaution taken by the murderer
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to lessen his chances of being recognized.
It was thought that the killer rummaged through the female victim's belongings so that he
could take some sort of souvenir.
But I'm not sure if they discovered that any of the victims had any missing.
Following the press coverage of the most recent murders, Massimo Antrovini, a religious historian,
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came forward to talk with investigators about the crime.
Massimo told investigators that Florence, which partly inspired the poet Dante to write
his Inferno, had a long tradition of sorcery.
He went on to inform them that the occult sects were not necessarily Satanists, and
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that the ritual nature of the murders suggested fetishes were involved.
This of course sat well with investigators who had already began to suspect that the
genitalia taken by the killer may have been used in some form of like trophy by a religious
cult.
Remember our West Memphis 3 episode?
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Yeah same time frame here so keep that in mind.
The whole Satanic panic thing was a popular go to for a lot of people at this time.
So keep that in mind.
A short time after the murder of the two young campers, the Red Cross emergency worker who
had accompanied Paolo Mandarini at the hospital in 1982 was later contacted by the killer.
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They received another disturbing phone call while on vacation in Rimini.
Which is crazy that they called this person on vacation.
The killer continued to badger him about what Paolo told police before he died.
This shocked the police.
Who could have known that the worker was on vacation and how did they know how to contact
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him?
And we're going to take a smoke break.
And we're back.
On July 29th, 1984, almost a year later, 21 year old law student Claudio Stefanacci and
18 year old bar back and cheerleader Pia Gigaldi Ritani were shot and stabbed in Stefanacci's
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Fiat Panda that was parked in the woodland area of Lincijo.
There was reports of strange men who had been following them in the ice cream parlor some
hours before the murder.
Also crazy to me that this man was just blatantly following all of these people because this
is not the first couple that had reported being followed by a strange person.
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It's wild to me that this person was so bold to just follow people around and that none
of them like confronted him.
I'd absolutely confront someone following me.
I mean in a group, maybe not by myself, but if there's two of us, one of him in public,
I'm totally addressing that shit.
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You're not fucking following me or hell no.
A close friend of Pia's remembered that she had been bothered by an unpleasant man while
working at the bar.
Claudio's body was found on the back seat of his car wearing only his underwear and
a vest.
Not far from the car behind some bushes, Pia laid completely naked.
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She was post spread eagle with her vagina removed.
The only difference was the killer had also decided to remove her left breast and slashed
corpse over a hundred times.
Just absolutely fucking overkill on all of these.
Fucking angry that people are happy or something.
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Fucking insane.
An autopsy soon revealed that both victims had been shot through the car window before
being stabbed with a knife.
It was then dragged by her ankles and approximately 10 yards from the vehicle.
The weapon had been a.22 automatic Beretta and the bullets matched all of those used
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on previous victims.
The knife was also deemed to have been a single edged blade and matched the characteristics
as that of the previous crime scenes.
No fingerprints recovered at the crime scene and investigators theory was that the killer
wore surgical gloves during all of his crimes.
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Investigators were curious as to why the killer had removed the breast of the latest victim.
They admitted to the press that they had no leaps and were just as lost as before.
In a press release following the murders, Francisco Fury, the DA then in charge of the
investigation said that the man could be your respectable next door neighbor, a man above
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suspicion.
Which is always the scariest kind.
Other than the killer's underlying motives, there was no question about the targets.
The killer was obviously a sadistic individual who preferred to prey on random couples and
rule settings.
After almost two decades, they had no suspects, no substantial clues, and little hope of ever
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catching the monster of Florence.
On the night of September 7th, 1985, the last known victims were murdered.
25 year old Jean Michael Carvichelli, who was a musician and tradeswoman, and 36 year
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old Nadine Merat were both from Audicourt, France.
They were camping in the Woodland area near San Carino.
Nadine's body was discovered closed inside a tent and she had been shot four times.
The first three bullets had penetrated her skull while the fourth went through her throat.
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Four bullets had also hit Jean in the mouth, two in the upper arm, and one in the right
elbow.
According to reports by the pathologist, all the shots were fired at close range, no more
than 15 to 20 inches away.
Pathologists also thought that the couple had been making love at the time they were
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ambushed.
Jean was probably laying on his back with Nadine on top of him.
Nadine died from gunshot wounds while still inside the tent, but Jean, who was only superficially
wounded, attempted to escape.
He succeeded in getting out of the tent and was able to run about 30 yards before the
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killer stabbed him to death.
He was then thrown down a bank into bushes where he was later discovered.
The killer entered the tent, decisively removed the woman's vagina and left breast.
The pathologist estimated that the killer could have completed the operation within
a 10-minute period.
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Directly after the discovery of Jean, Michael, and Nadine, investigators thought that they
had their first real lead when a copper-jacketed Winchester bullet was found on the sidewalk
in front of a nearby hospital.
The hospital's proximity within the investigators' theory of the surgical gloves and the scalpel
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led them to question members of the hospital staff.
But no suspects were ever discovered and the lead went nowhere.
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And now we will take our last smoke break of the evening.
And I'm back.
Now we're going to get to the end of our story here.
On the following day of the latest murders, an envelope was delivered to the Public Prosecutor's
Office, addressed to the Assistant DA, Salvia del Toro Monica.
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The address on the envelope had been created using letters cut from a magazine or newspaper
and contained a single spelling mistake.
Okay, anytime that I hear a letter made from cut-up letters from a magazine or newspaper,
I'm always like, wow, that's so dramatic from the killer.
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Like, I totally get it because it's a handwriting analysis and all that kind of stuff, but like,
the drama.
I don't know, it seems dramatic to me.
Like a movie.
And also creepy in a way.
Like inside the envelope was a sheet of paper folded and glued at its edges.
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And inside the paper container was a small plastic bag.
The bag contained a cube of flesh from Nadine's left breast.
How fucking sick is that?
And I don't mean sick in a cool way, I mean sick in a disgusting way.
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I think I'm gonna throw up.
I would lose my goddamn shit.
The very next day after the murder, a man, his sister, and her boyfriend, and their dog,
had gone to Skippetti for a walk near the murder site.
I guess they were a little curious, I guess, and they wanted to go see where it happened.
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The dog yanked the owner forward in a bush where they found tissue, hair, and a surgeon's
glove.
I guess it's good they were curious.
They handed over the findings to Calabarni, who took charge of them.
The tissue was taken to Legal Medicine of Florence.
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Professor Riccardo Calesi, who on November 7, 1985, made a 13-page report.
It stated the material was human blood of group B, the hair fragments was human hair,
and the doctor had ruled out that the blood could not belong to the French victims because
(37:35):
Nadine was of group A and Jean was of group O.
The hair found is about 2 centimeters long, of brown color and smooth, and had a thin
scaled cuticle, similar to that which was found under the fingernail of Stefano Baldi,
who was killed with his girlfriend Susanna in 1981.
(37:58):
Two brown hairs were found, and Susanna was found holding a tuft of hair in one hand.
Over the course of the next eight years, investigators questioned more than 100,000, which seems
like an insane amount of people.
During the early 1990s, they began to focus on Petro Palassani, a 68-year-old semi-driver,
(38:22):
who was a farmer and enjoyed hunting and taxidermy.
He intrigued investigators because he had been arrested in 1951 for the murder of a
traveling salesman, who he had caught sleeping with his fiance.
After stabbing the man a total of 19 times and stomping him to death, he was arrested.
(38:43):
He was quickly convicted and sentenced to serve 13 years in prison for his crimes.
Following his release from prison, he married and settled down to raise a family.
He was again jailed between 1987 and 1991 for beating his wife and sexually molesting
his two younger daughters.
(39:04):
He with three other men, Mario Valvani, Giovanni Foggi, and Gianni Carlotti, alleged to have
participated in black masses, which used female body parts at the house of a supposed wizard.
A nurse at a clinic which had previously hired him as a gardener also came forward and claimed
(39:27):
that he told them a doctor presided over satanic ceremonies he attended.
Although the head of Florence Detective Forces, Mitchell Garty, believed that he was too sloppy
to have planned the crimes, he was arrested on June 17, 1993.
Petro's trial began almost a year later in November 1994, and prosecutors were dead
(39:51):
set on proving he was one of Europe's most prolific serial killers, and asked that the
trial be televised.
The public of course loves that kind of stuff, and almost everybody watched.
A Florentine newspaper even opened up a monster hotline so that readers could telephone in
(40:11):
on their opinions on the case.
The packed courtrooms, unsurprisingly, drew swarms of spectators, and there was an alarming
lack of evidence.
During the trial, a police guard actually collapsed because the evidence was actually
too gory for him to stomach.
From day one, Petro claimed his innocence and continued to do so during his whole trial.
(40:37):
The evidence against him was largely circumstantial, and he was convicted of committing seven of
the double homicides, and sentenced to life in prison.
When the verdict of guilty was pronounced, he was dragged from the court, howling that
he was as innocent as Christ on the cross.
On February 13, 1996, an appeals court overturned the conviction of 71-year-old Petro.
(41:04):
He cleared him as all fault, a ruling that came one week after a public prosecutor stated
that the evidence against him was unsound.
Few doubted that Petro, who in his youth had murdered the traveling salesman, was indeed
the monster of Florence, and his release caused a strong public outcry.
The release of Petro came just hours after the arrest of Petro's friend Mario Valany
(41:31):
and Donny Carlo Lotti for their involvement in the murders.
Acting on the new information, investigators began to suspect that not one killer, but
an entire gang of killers might have been responsible for the monster of Florence crimes.
They soon concluded that the gang must have been led by 71-year-old Petro Policini, and
(41:52):
would have included 70-year-old Mario Valany, 50-year-old Don Carlo Lotti, and 77-year-old
Giovanni Fagi.
And it appears as though the prosecutors were simply grasping at whatever they could keep
themselves looking like they had solved the case.
The Italian Supreme Court quickly overturned the decision to free Petro and on December
(42:18):
12, 1996, ordered a retrial in light of new evidence.
Lotti was said to have allegedly confessed to police that he and Petro had committed
the murders.
And on May 21, 1997, Mario Valany and Don Carlo Lotti went on trial for their involvement
in the five of the double murders.
(42:42):
Two of the men were convicted and sentenced to life and 26 years, respectively.
Petro never made it to his retrial for involvement in the monsters of Florence murders.
On February 23, 1998, he was found lying face down on the floor of his home with his pants
down around his ankles and his shirt up around his neck.
(43:03):
Although his face was blue and disfigured, the initial police opinion was that he had
died of cardiac arrest.
A post-mortem examination revealed that a combination of drugs had caused his death.
Paolo Canisa believed that Petro was silenced so that he didn't reveal the identity of
(43:24):
the real monster or monsters.
Since Petro was dead and Mario Vany and Gianni Carlo Lotti were behind bars, it seemed like
the murders were solved and all that was left to do was close the case of the monster of
Florence.
In August 2001, investigators again reopened inquiries into the monster of Florence murders.
(43:46):
While detectives are reluctant to discuss many of the details, they have said that there
are new suspects.
A source close to the public prosecutor's office had stated that the police now believe
that a group of 10-12 wealthy, sophisticated Italians orchestrated a ritualized murder
over the course of three decades and got away with it.
(44:07):
Investigators summarized that the religious sect required night-time executions of courting
couples, followed by mutilation with the help of a.22 Beretta revolver and a surgical
knife.
As investigators began removing their original files from storage, they were tipped off by
a series of undisclosed anonymous letters which believed to have named some of the suspects,
(44:32):
including an unknown doctor and a Swiss artist.
The artist reportedly left the area in 1997, but police are said to have drawings he made
of mutilated women and newspaper clippings he had saved.
One month later, in September 2001, Florence investigators raided the home and offices
(44:52):
of Ariello Matti, a psychiatrist with the Society Secret Service in Francisco Bruno,
Italy's leading criminal pathologist.
Letter disks, books, and notes about the killings were confiscated and both men were questioned
relentlessly for more than nine hours.
(45:15):
While neither of the men had been deemed a suspect in the murders, detectives believe
they may have withheld critical evidence from the original investigation.
In 2016, the Beretta.22 caliber, similar to that used by the monster of Florence for
the double murders of the couples, had never been tracked down, but was found by a tourist
(45:38):
during a walk near a stream in August.
Despite all of this, Vanni and Lottie remained incarcerated and investigators are continuing
to investigate and keep a tight lid on their search.
So I guess technically they think it's solved, but also they're still investigating it,
(46:00):
so clearly not solved.
I don't know.
I don't know what thoughts I have on this case other than holy fucking shit.
It's brutal and they attacked a lot of couples, so they really had a methodical plan with
(46:23):
each one to be able to get away with it and not leave any evidence behind.
I'm not super convinced it was those guys, but I'm also not convinced it wasn't.
So let me know what you guys think.
If you like the show, please consider giving us a five star rating wherever you're listening
or leave us comments and suggestions on the case or follow us on Instagram, Instagram,
(46:49):
Instagram and Stone Cold Moon.
Until next time, stay high, stay safe and thank you so much for listening.
Bye.
Happy 420! I'm Kai and you are listening to Stone Cold Murder.
(00:08):
Just a PSA, if you have any information to help solve a crime, go to www.crimestoppers.com
to report any information anonymously.
Thank you for tuning in for season 2, episode 5, The Monster of Flores.
This podcast contains material that may not be suitable for all audiences.
(00:30):
Listener discretion is advised.
Hello everyone, it's your friendly neighborhood stoners here, bringing you another horrible
cold case.
It is just me, so we are not going to be chit chatting in the beginning of this episode.
I am Stone and we are going to get right to it.
(00:55):
On the night of August 24th, 1968, 29-year-old Antonio Lo Bianco and 32-year-old Barbara
Lacossy were on a little date at the cinema garden in La Strazigna.
They saw a movie called Helga, The Miracle of Love, which was a German film.
(01:19):
And Antonio was a mason worker.
Barbara was a homemaker.
Barbara had a young child that they decided to bring along with them that night, even
though the movie was said not to be really child friendly.
But probably couldn't get a babysitter or anything, so he brought the little kid with
(01:41):
them.
Antonio and Barbara were married, but not to each other, so that's probably also why
they brought the little one with them.
Antonio was a father of three and married to a Sicilian woman named Rosalie Barciana.
Probably butchered that, I'm so sorry.
Barbara was married to Stefano Melle.
(02:03):
Apparently it was known that she had multiple partners and that one of her exes actually
lived with them for a while, so it seemed like they had an open marriage type thing.
Antonio and Barbara are leaving the cinema to go home for the evening, and Antonio suggests
(02:24):
to Barbara that, hey, maybe we'll park a while before we part ways.
Barbara's child was asleep in the back seat, so she agreed, which, whatever I guess.
But they pulled over near a cemetery in Cigna, and just as Antonio starts to undress Barbara,
they were attacked by an unknown person, shot with a.22 handgun.
(02:47):
The child woke up and ran to the closest house to get help.
The house he ran to was a local farmer, and he was awakened by the knocks at his front
door.
When the man opened the door, the young boy was standing barefoot outside, and he said,
let me in, I'm tired, and my father is home sick.
You have to take me back home because my mommy and uncle are both dead in the car.
(03:10):
Uncle was not actually related to him, but apparently referring to him as uncle is a
polite term for younger kids to address older people in Italy.
Both Antonio and Barbara died due to the gunshot wounds.
As investigators went over the cemetery crime scene, they discovered eight.22 caliber shells
(03:34):
by the vehicle.
The car was a white Alfa Romero with a license plate of Providence of Arsino.
Man, I know I'm going to butcher all of these.
I'm so sorry.
I'm not good with the country names or any kind of anything.
I'm the worst, so please forgive me.
(03:58):
So sorry.
I'm going to do my best.
A check of the vehicle's registration confirmed that I belonged to Antonio Lo Bianco.
Barbara was a native of Sardinia and had been well known in the town, receiving the nickname
Queen Bee, which I fucking love.
I wish people would be calling me Queen Bee because, you know, she's a badass bitch.
(04:23):
Between six and seven in the morning, a police patrol car reached the home of Stefano Mele,
Barbara's husband.
Investigators made their way to Mele's front door and it opened abruptly.
He stepped outside with a suitcase, appearing to be in a hurry.
When he had little reaction to the news of his wife's murder, investigators' suspicions
(04:46):
were definitely increased.
He was asked to talk with investigators and he hesitantly agreed and accompanied them
to the police headquarters.
At the police station, Stefano Mele told investigators that he had not felt well since the previous
day, and he had actually stayed home.
(05:08):
While resting, two people had come to visit him, Carmelo Cantora and Antonio Lo Bianco,
both of whom had been his wife's lovers.
During the questioning, he also mentioned Francisco Vinci, another lover of his wife.
Francisco had been arrested in November of 1967 following accusations of adultery by
(05:30):
his wife, which, didn't know you could be arrested on that, but I guess it was 67, so
makes sense.
As soon as Francisco was released from prison, he resumed the relationship with his lover,
and Barbara apparently had been the lover of all three Vinci brothers, who was Giovanni,
(05:52):
Salvador, and Francisco.
Police decided to investigate some of Stefano's allegations, and he was asked to return the
following day.
The following day on August 23, 1968, after telling investigators that he considered his
wife's lovers to be possible suspects in the double murder, Stefano surprised everyone
(06:15):
by confessing that he and Salvador Vinci had killed his wife Barbara and Antonio Lo Bianco.
During his confession, he stated that when his wife and son failed to return home by
11.20 pm on August 21, he went looking for them.
He eventually reached the town square in Cigna where he met Salvador, and he told him that
(06:39):
Barbara had gone to the movies, perhaps with Antonio Lo Bianco, and had taken their child
with her.
Vinci scolded Stefano for allowing his wife to continually cheat on him and told him that
he should put a stop to the situation.
Vinci had a small weapon with him, and the two of them drove to Cigna.
(07:00):
When the two men arrived, they discovered Antonio's Alfa Romero parked near the movie
theater.
Stefano and Salvador waited at the exit and eventually saw Antonio and Barbara, who had
the child in her arms, exit the theater.
Stefano and Salvador got into the car and followed them to the cemetery, just outside
(07:22):
of town.
Stefano told investigators that when Antonio and Barbara began to make out, Salvador pulled
out a small pistol out of a bag and handed it to him.
Stefano said he walked up to the car and began firing until the gun was empty.
His son slept through the initial gunfire, but woke up immediately afterwards.
(07:42):
When Stefano returned to Salvador's car, he told him that he had killed them.
The two men then drove to the Cigna bridge where they disposed of the gun, and a short
time later he went back home.
Stefano ended his confession by stating, I killed my wife and her lover because I was
tired of continually being humiliated.
My wife had been cheating on me for a number of years, but it was only a few months ago
(08:06):
that I decided to do away with her.
While Stefano's story was lacking in many respects, he failed to mention if his son
had seen him or how he ended up at the farmhouse.
Stefano was quickly arrested and held pending official charges.
The following day on August 24th, 1968, police searched everywhere for the pistol with no
(08:28):
luck.
A prosecutor questioned Stefano about the pistol, and he quickly changed his story, stating
that instead of throwing the weapon away, he had actually given it to Salvador, Binge.
A few hours later, Stefano completely retracted his entire confession and began accusing Salvador's
brother, Francisco.
(08:49):
He stated that Francisco owned the weapon and that Francisco had killed his wife.
For the next three days, Stefano told police the opposite of what he had said previously.
Two years after the double homicide took place, Stefano Miele was found guilty as the lone
attacker and sentenced to 14 years in prison on the ground of partial insanity.
(09:13):
However, six years later, while he was in prison, another couple was murdered, and apparently
with the same gun.
And we're going to take a smoke break.
And we're back.
You hear little toe taps, that's my dog in the background.
On Saturday, September 14th, 1974, investigators were called to the Borreo, San Lorenzo area,
(09:39):
just north of Florence.
A passerby had discovered the bodies of 19-year-old Pasqueli Delancour, who was a barman, and
18-year-old Stefania Petini, who was an accountant.
They were found in a parked car, and they parked in Pasqueli's Fiat 127, not far from
the notorious disco-esque called the Teen Club.
(10:03):
They were supposed to be spending the evening at the Teen Club with friends, but instead
they parked their car and they were making out and having sex right down the street.
Just like before, they were attacked while in their car.
They were both shot and killed, but Stefania was absolutely brutalized.
Upon arriving at the scene, investigators discovered the half-naked body of Pasqueli
(10:28):
in the driver's seat.
He appeared to have been the victim of multiple gunshot wounds and no apparent evidence of
struggle, so he was probably attacked first.
At the rear of the car, investigators discovered the completely naked body of Stefania on the
ground.
A dealer had posed her corpse.
(10:49):
Her arms and legs were spread eagle, and trigger warning, a vine branch was protruding from
her mutilated vagina.
So he had actually assaulted her with a branch.
At first sight, it appeared as though she had been stabbed to death, but during the
autopsy of the victims, it was soon revealed that both had been shot numerous times with
(11:13):
a small caliber gun.
Public reports concluded the weapon was a Model 73 or 74 22 automatic Beretta, and that
the bullets were a distinctive Winchester type, manufactured in Australia during the 1950s.
While Pasqueli succumbed to five bullet wounds, Stefania had only been shot three times.
(11:38):
Her death was ultimately the result of 96 stab wounds, which holy fucking shit.
96 stab wounds is absolutely unfathomable.
The knife was estimated to be around 10 to 12 centimeters long and about 1.5 centimeters
(11:59):
wide, with a single edged blade.
Just a few hours before the murder, Stefania had disclosed to a friend that a weird man
was terrifying her.
Another friend of hers recalled that a strange man had followed and bothered the two of them
during a driving lesson a few days before.
Several of the lovers who parked in the same area where the murders occurred stated that
(12:23):
particular area was frequented by voyeurs, a pair of them acting very oddly.
Investigators focused their attention on three men in particular.
53 year old Bruno McCall, a self-proclaimed healer, Gipsy Franchini, a mentally unstable
man who accused himself of the crime by coming to the police station of his own free will,
(12:50):
and Guido Giovanni, a voyeur who had been identified by a number of witnesses as someone
who had been spying on couples in the area where the crime took place.
There was no evidence linking any of the men to the crime, and all three were eventually
ruled out as possible suspects.
Investigators concluded that the murder was manacle and asexual deviant.
(13:15):
With no apparent leads or suspects, the case again goes cold.
Seven years later, so we're seeing a pattern here, on June 6, 1981, a police sergeant on
a country walk with his son accidentally discovered the bodies.
He first noticed a copper-colored car parked alongside the road.
(13:35):
The doors to the vehicle were closed, but the woman's handbag was linked next to the
driver's side door, with the bag's contents scattered all over the ground.
The sergeant decided to move in for a closer look, and as he made his way to the vehicle,
he noticed that the driver's side window had been smashed in.
In the driver's seat was the body of a young man whose throat had apparently been splashed.
(14:01):
The sergeant immediately left the scene to call the murder in.
Thirty-year-old Giovanni Foggi had recently gotten engaged to 21-year-old Carmela D. Coney.
Giovanni worked in a warehouse, and Carmela was a shop assistant.
The two were still in the honeymoon phase, and driving down a quiet country road, these
(14:24):
two, like the other couples in the story, decided to find a spot to park and enjoy each
other's company.
Wink, wink.
While they were parked having sex in their car near Scandici, they were both shot and
stabbed.
Carmela's body was pulled out of the car while Giovanni's was left dead inside the
(14:44):
front seat.
As investigators joined the sergeant at the crime scene, they soon discovered the body
of Carmela laying on the bottom of a steep bank, just 20 yards away from the red Fiat.
Her legs were spread apart, her t-shirt and jeans were slashed, and trigger warning, her
vagina had been removed.
(15:05):
Unfortunately, there were no tracks or witnesses to the murder, and an autopsy revealed that
they had both died of multiple gunshot wounds while sitting in the vehicle.
Giovanni had received three stab wounds to his neck and a third to his chest, and the
(15:26):
removal of Carmela's vagina had been performed with an extremely sharp tool, thus prompting
the pathologist to conclude that the killer had skill in using cutting instruments.
Ballistic reports indicated that both victims were killed by a minimum of seven gunshot
wounds from a.22 caliber automatic pistol with Winchester rounds, just like before.
(15:53):
This finding quickly raised eyebrows of veteran detectives, and they requested that the bullets
be compared to the ones recovered in 1974's Double Murder of Pasqueli and Stefania.
A ballistics match was made, and investigators were beginning to realize that they had a
possible serial killer on their hands.
(16:15):
The morning of June 6th, a young voyeur Enzo Spallati, a 30-year-old paramedic, had talked
with his wife about two bodies he saw in a copper-colored Ritmo automobile as early as
9.30 in the morning.
He told her that he had read about them in the paper, but the story did not actually
(16:39):
come out in the paper until the day after Giovanni and Carmela's body had been discovered.
He actually spent three months in jail and was charged with this murder before he eventually
was exonerated because the true killer had killed again.
We're going to take a smoke break.
(17:00):
And we're back on the 23rd of October, 1981.
26-year-old Stefano Baldi and his fiancee, 24-year-old Susana Gambi, had their car parked
in Calenzo.
It was described as a scenic outlook area, which sounds absolutely nice.
(17:20):
Just like park with your fiance and this scenic outlook.
Enjoy your time together.
I'm sure that they were just taking advantage of the view and enamored with each other,
blissfully unaware that there was any danger lurking around them.
The pattern continued with Stefano and Susana being attacked while distracted, both being
(17:47):
shot and stabbed and left for someone else to find.
A couple found Stefano and Susana and called the police.
As investigators arrived at the scene, they discovered a man laying next to a Volkswagen.
Stefano was half naked and appeared to have been shot and stabbed numerous times.
(18:07):
Susana was laying on the opposite side of the vehicle while her wounds were similar
to Stefano when detail immediately struck investigators.
Her vagina had been removed in the same fashion as Carmela Denucci.
A pathologist concluded that both victims had been shot through the front window and
(18:28):
that they were both still alive when the first of the numerous stab wounds were inflicted.
So that's absolutely horrifying.
The knife was believed to be a single edge and approximately 3 centimeters wide and 5
to 7 centimeters long.
The removal of Susana's vagina appeared to have been performed with the same instrument
(18:51):
used in the previous case, but it was executed with significantly less precision and a much
larger area had been removed.
The abdominal wall had been cut through all its layers leaving a large area of abdominal
cavity exposed and part of the intestine punctured, suggesting that this murder was more likely
(19:13):
rushed.
Ballistic tests revealed that the same Beretta 22 used in the previous crime was used in
the double murder.
The morning after Susana and Stefano's murder, an anonymous caller called Susana's mother
to talk to her about her daughter, which is absolutely scary.
(19:34):
Her mother also recalled that Susana had told her that there was somebody tormenting her
and chasing her by car, which what the fuck.
That would be a horrible thing to hear as a mother and then for your daughter to then
be murdered in such a brutal way.
Like I couldn't even imagine.
(19:55):
As the news of the murders reached the public, two separate couples came forward and reported
that they had seen a red Alpha GT with a lone male driver speeding away from the crime scene.
Investigators decided it was time to let the press in on the theory of the serial murderer,
who preyed on young couples.
(20:15):
They had hoped that the extensive coverage would prompt others to come forward with possible
leads.
Unfortunately, no further clues were brought forward.
There was one clue, a size 44 shoe print found in the mud.
To those of us who don't know how big that is, it would be a size 11 here in the USA.
(20:38):
Because of that, police were looking for an actual tall individual.
Investigators also decided to drop the charges against Enzo Spallotti for June 6, 1981 double
murder of Carmela De Nucci and Giovanni Foggi.
Since Spallotti had been behind bars at the time of this most recent murder, there was
(21:00):
no way he could have committed the crimes and his trial was cancelled and he was released
from prison.
And we're going to take a smoke break.
And we're back.
On June 19, 1982, 22 year old mechanic Paolo Mendari and his fiancee 20 year old Antonella
(21:23):
Margherani, a dressmaker, were having sex in a car on a country road.
The car was parked in a parking space near Via Nuva Reguilo, a provincial roadway.
Someone appeared out of the bushes and began shooting at the couple.
(21:44):
Both Paolo and Antonella were struck by the initial gunfire and Antonella died almost
immediately.
Even though Paolo was seriously injured, he was able to start the car, turn on the headlights
and shift the vehicle into reverse.
The car ended up in a ditch and Paolo was unable to get it back out.
(22:05):
The killer unfortunately wasted very little time and quickly shot out the vehicle's
headlights.
Then he emptied his pistol into the two victims.
After turning off the engine, the keys were pulled from the ignition and thrown into the
weeds.
The road they were on was a little bit more busy than the spots from the previous attacks.
(22:27):
This is thought to be the reason that the killer did not mutilate Antonella's body,
like Carmela and Susanna.
All passing motorists had seen the car parked at the side of the road after its interior
light had been turned on.
Paolo was not discovered until the following morning and died just hours later, without
ever having a chance to tell anyone what happened that night.
(22:51):
Later that same morning, Salvia Della Monica, assistant district attorney assigned to the
case, gathered various reporters in her office and asked them to spread a little lie.
They all wanted the press to report that Paolo Mandarie was still alive when he arrived at
the hospital and that he had time to give a description of the killer before he died.
(23:12):
All of the reporters agreed and the information appeared in the afternoon paper.
Salvia Della Monica was hoping that the killer would become anxious and make a bad move.
Her little gamble did not make the killer nervous though.
Following the release of the afternoon paper, one of the Red Cross emergency workers who
(23:33):
had accompanied Paolo Mandarie to the hospital received two telephone calls from a person
who claimed to be with the DA's office and then changed the story, identifying himself
as the murderer.
He wanted to know what the young man said before he died, which is insane.
That's some balls on that person.
(23:56):
A few days later, after the murder of Paolo and Antonella, a police sergeant named Francisco
Flore recalled the murder of Barbara Ocasi and Antonio Lo Bianco, committed in 1968,
when he was assigned to Cigna.
Francisco began to wonder if there was a connection with those murders.
(24:18):
On his insistence, the shells were compared to the tests revealed that the same weapon,
a Beretta.22 caliber pistol, fired all with Winchester bullets and that the shells all
came from a single box of 50 bullets.
So very much connected.
(24:38):
The pistol used by the killer was the same weapon that killed Barbara and Antonio in
1968.
Fourteen years after the 1968 murders, it was immediately apparent that Stefano Melle, the
husband of the murdered woman, could not have been the monster of Florence since he was
in jail in both 1974 and 1981.
(25:01):
At that point, investigators assumed that Melle had to have an accomplice, someone who
continued the killings after he was imprisoned.
At that point, the investigators assumed that Melle had to have an accomplice, someone who
continued to kill after he was in prison.
Regardless, Melle was still claiming he was innocent and refused to cooperate with investigators.
(25:24):
On September 9th, 1983, about a year later, 24-year-old Wilhelm Frederick Wurstmeier and
24-year-old Jens U. Ruhsch, two students from Osbrock, West Germany, were visiting Italy
to celebrate a scholarship.
Wurstmeier just won.
(25:45):
They were found shot to death while sleeping in their Volkswagen camper in Gazzalo.
The camper was parked just 19 miles south of Florence in a grassy clearing.
This is the only time that he shot two men.
And that was actually a little surprise to investigators.
There was no apparent mutilation to the victim's bodies, and investigators did not initially
(26:09):
connect the murders to the monster of Florence, but ballistic tests proved that it was the
same.22 Beretta that had been used in the previous murders.
This baffled investigators.
Why did the killer change his pattern?
Perhaps the killer made a mistake?
(26:30):
One of the victims did have very long blonde hair and may have been mistaken for a girl.
Upon realizing his mistake, the killer may have not wished to perform the usual mutilations
on a male.
Apart from the pistol and the bullets used by the killer, investigators were intrigued
by some of the common elements of each crime.
(26:51):
All the victims had spent their last evening at the disco.
The murder usually struck on Saturdays, and he preferred to strike when the moon was hidden
by the clouds.
Which I don't know how they figured that one out.
Last detail could have some cryptic explanation, or simply be a precaution taken by the murderer
(27:16):
to lessen his chances of being recognized.
It was thought that the killer rummaged through the female victim's belongings so that he
could take some sort of souvenir.
But I'm not sure if they discovered that any of the victims had any missing.
Following the press coverage of the most recent murders, Massimo Antrovini, a religious historian,
(27:39):
came forward to talk with investigators about the crime.
Massimo told investigators that Florence, which partly inspired the poet Dante to write
his Inferno, had a long tradition of sorcery.
He went on to inform them that the occult sects were not necessarily Satanists, and
(28:00):
that the ritual nature of the murders suggested fetishes were involved.
This of course sat well with investigators who had already began to suspect that the
genitalia taken by the killer may have been used in some form of like trophy by a religious
cult.
Remember our West Memphis 3 episode?
(28:23):
Yeah same time frame here so keep that in mind.
The whole Satanic panic thing was a popular go to for a lot of people at this time.
So keep that in mind.
A short time after the murder of the two young campers, the Red Cross emergency worker who
had accompanied Paolo Mandarini at the hospital in 1982 was later contacted by the killer.
(28:47):
They received another disturbing phone call while on vacation in Rimini.
Which is crazy that they called this person on vacation.
The killer continued to badger him about what Paolo told police before he died.
This shocked the police.
Who could have known that the worker was on vacation and how did they know how to contact
(29:08):
him?
And we're going to take a smoke break.
And we're back.
On July 29th, 1984, almost a year later, 21 year old law student Claudio Stefanacci and
18 year old bar back and cheerleader Pia Gigaldi Ritani were shot and stabbed in Stefanacci's
(29:30):
Fiat Panda that was parked in the woodland area of Lincijo.
There was reports of strange men who had been following them in the ice cream parlor some
hours before the murder.
Also crazy to me that this man was just blatantly following all of these people because this
is not the first couple that had reported being followed by a strange person.
(29:56):
It's wild to me that this person was so bold to just follow people around and that none
of them like confronted him.
I'd absolutely confront someone following me.
I mean in a group, maybe not by myself, but if there's two of us, one of him in public,
I'm totally addressing that shit.
(30:17):
You're not fucking following me or hell no.
A close friend of Pia's remembered that she had been bothered by an unpleasant man while
working at the bar.
Claudio's body was found on the back seat of his car wearing only his underwear and
a vest.
Not far from the car behind some bushes, Pia laid completely naked.
(30:38):
She was post spread eagle with her vagina removed.
The only difference was the killer had also decided to remove her left breast and slashed
corpse over a hundred times.
Just absolutely fucking overkill on all of these.
Fucking angry that people are happy or something.
(31:00):
Fucking insane.
An autopsy soon revealed that both victims had been shot through the car window before
being stabbed with a knife.
It was then dragged by her ankles and approximately 10 yards from the vehicle.
The weapon had been a.22 automatic Beretta and the bullets matched all of those used
(31:20):
on previous victims.
The knife was also deemed to have been a single edged blade and matched the characteristics
as that of the previous crime scenes.
No fingerprints recovered at the crime scene and investigators theory was that the killer
wore surgical gloves during all of his crimes.
(31:40):
Investigators were curious as to why the killer had removed the breast of the latest victim.
They admitted to the press that they had no leaps and were just as lost as before.
In a press release following the murders, Francisco Fury, the DA then in charge of the
investigation said that the man could be your respectable next door neighbor, a man above
(32:07):
suspicion.
Which is always the scariest kind.
Other than the killer's underlying motives, there was no question about the targets.
The killer was obviously a sadistic individual who preferred to prey on random couples and
rule settings.
After almost two decades, they had no suspects, no substantial clues, and little hope of ever
(32:31):
catching the monster of Florence.
On the night of September 7th, 1985, the last known victims were murdered.
25 year old Jean Michael Carvichelli, who was a musician and tradeswoman, and 36 year
(32:52):
old Nadine Merat were both from Audicourt, France.
They were camping in the Woodland area near San Carino.
Nadine's body was discovered closed inside a tent and she had been shot four times.
The first three bullets had penetrated her skull while the fourth went through her throat.
(33:16):
Four bullets had also hit Jean in the mouth, two in the upper arm, and one in the right
elbow.
According to reports by the pathologist, all the shots were fired at close range, no more
than 15 to 20 inches away.
Pathologists also thought that the couple had been making love at the time they were
(33:36):
ambushed.
Jean was probably laying on his back with Nadine on top of him.
Nadine died from gunshot wounds while still inside the tent, but Jean, who was only superficially
wounded, attempted to escape.
He succeeded in getting out of the tent and was able to run about 30 yards before the
(33:58):
killer stabbed him to death.
He was then thrown down a bank into bushes where he was later discovered.
The killer entered the tent, decisively removed the woman's vagina and left breast.
The pathologist estimated that the killer could have completed the operation within
a 10-minute period.
(34:21):
Directly after the discovery of Jean, Michael, and Nadine, investigators thought that they
had their first real lead when a copper-jacketed Winchester bullet was found on the sidewalk
in front of a nearby hospital.
The hospital's proximity within the investigators' theory of the surgical gloves and the scalpel
(34:44):
led them to question members of the hospital staff.
But no suspects were ever discovered and the lead went nowhere.
(35:05):
And now we will take our last smoke break of the evening.
And I'm back.
Now we're going to get to the end of our story here.
On the following day of the latest murders, an envelope was delivered to the Public Prosecutor's
Office, addressed to the Assistant DA, Salvia del Toro Monica.
(35:26):
The address on the envelope had been created using letters cut from a magazine or newspaper
and contained a single spelling mistake.
Okay, anytime that I hear a letter made from cut-up letters from a magazine or newspaper,
I'm always like, wow, that's so dramatic from the killer.
(35:47):
Like, I totally get it because it's a handwriting analysis and all that kind of stuff, but like,
the drama.
I don't know, it seems dramatic to me.
Like a movie.
And also creepy in a way.
Like inside the envelope was a sheet of paper folded and glued at its edges.
(36:07):
And inside the paper container was a small plastic bag.
The bag contained a cube of flesh from Nadine's left breast.
How fucking sick is that?
And I don't mean sick in a cool way, I mean sick in a disgusting way.
(36:30):
I think I'm gonna throw up.
I would lose my goddamn shit.
The very next day after the murder, a man, his sister, and her boyfriend, and their dog,
had gone to Skippetti for a walk near the murder site.
I guess they were a little curious, I guess, and they wanted to go see where it happened.
(36:54):
The dog yanked the owner forward in a bush where they found tissue, hair, and a surgeon's
glove.
I guess it's good they were curious.
They handed over the findings to Calabarni, who took charge of them.
The tissue was taken to Legal Medicine of Florence.
(37:14):
Professor Riccardo Calesi, who on November 7, 1985, made a 13-page report.
It stated the material was human blood of group B, the hair fragments was human hair,
and the doctor had ruled out that the blood could not belong to the French victims because
(37:35):
Nadine was of group A and Jean was of group O.
The hair found is about 2 centimeters long, of brown color and smooth, and had a thin
scaled cuticle, similar to that which was found under the fingernail of Stefano Baldi,
who was killed with his girlfriend Susanna in 1981.
(37:58):
Two brown hairs were found, and Susanna was found holding a tuft of hair in one hand.
Over the course of the next eight years, investigators questioned more than 100,000, which seems
like an insane amount of people.
During the early 1990s, they began to focus on Petro Palassani, a 68-year-old semi-driver,
(38:22):
who was a farmer and enjoyed hunting and taxidermy.
He intrigued investigators because he had been arrested in 1951 for the murder of a
traveling salesman, who he had caught sleeping with his fiance.
After stabbing the man a total of 19 times and stomping him to death, he was arrested.
(38:43):
He was quickly convicted and sentenced to serve 13 years in prison for his crimes.
Following his release from prison, he married and settled down to raise a family.
He was again jailed between 1987 and 1991 for beating his wife and sexually molesting
his two younger daughters.
(39:04):
He with three other men, Mario Valvani, Giovanni Foggi, and Gianni Carlotti, alleged to have
participated in black masses, which used female body parts at the house of a supposed wizard.
A nurse at a clinic which had previously hired him as a gardener also came forward and claimed
(39:27):
that he told them a doctor presided over satanic ceremonies he attended.
Although the head of Florence Detective Forces, Mitchell Garty, believed that he was too sloppy
to have planned the crimes, he was arrested on June 17, 1993.
Petro's trial began almost a year later in November 1994, and prosecutors were dead
(39:51):
set on proving he was one of Europe's most prolific serial killers, and asked that the
trial be televised.
The public of course loves that kind of stuff, and almost everybody watched.
A Florentine newspaper even opened up a monster hotline so that readers could telephone in
(40:11):
on their opinions on the case.
The packed courtrooms, unsurprisingly, drew swarms of spectators, and there was an alarming
lack of evidence.
During the trial, a police guard actually collapsed because the evidence was actually
too gory for him to stomach.
From day one, Petro claimed his innocence and continued to do so during his whole trial.
(40:37):
The evidence against him was largely circumstantial, and he was convicted of committing seven of
the double homicides, and sentenced to life in prison.
When the verdict of guilty was pronounced, he was dragged from the court, howling that
he was as innocent as Christ on the cross.
On February 13, 1996, an appeals court overturned the conviction of 71-year-old Petro.
(41:04):
He cleared him as all fault, a ruling that came one week after a public prosecutor stated
that the evidence against him was unsound.
Few doubted that Petro, who in his youth had murdered the traveling salesman, was indeed
the monster of Florence, and his release caused a strong public outcry.
The release of Petro came just hours after the arrest of Petro's friend Mario Valany
(41:31):
and Donny Carlo Lotti for their involvement in the murders.
Acting on the new information, investigators began to suspect that not one killer, but
an entire gang of killers might have been responsible for the monster of Florence crimes.
They soon concluded that the gang must have been led by 71-year-old Petro Policini, and
(41:52):
would have included 70-year-old Mario Valany, 50-year-old Don Carlo Lotti, and 77-year-old
Giovanni Fagi.
And it appears as though the prosecutors were simply grasping at whatever they could keep
themselves looking like they had solved the case.
The Italian Supreme Court quickly overturned the decision to free Petro and on December
(42:18):
12, 1996, ordered a retrial in light of new evidence.
Lotti was said to have allegedly confessed to police that he and Petro had committed
the murders.
And on May 21, 1997, Mario Valany and Don Carlo Lotti went on trial for their involvement
in the five of the double murders.
(42:42):
Two of the men were convicted and sentenced to life and 26 years, respectively.
Petro never made it to his retrial for involvement in the monsters of Florence murders.
On February 23, 1998, he was found lying face down on the floor of his home with his pants
down around his ankles and his shirt up around his neck.
(43:03):
Although his face was blue and disfigured, the initial police opinion was that he had
died of cardiac arrest.
A post-mortem examination revealed that a combination of drugs had caused his death.
Paolo Canisa believed that Petro was silenced so that he didn't reveal the identity of
(43:24):
the real monster or monsters.
Since Petro was dead and Mario Vany and Gianni Carlo Lotti were behind bars, it seemed like
the murders were solved and all that was left to do was close the case of the monster of
Florence.
In August 2001, investigators again reopened inquiries into the monster of Florence murders.
(43:46):
While detectives are reluctant to discuss many of the details, they have said that there
are new suspects.
A source close to the public prosecutor's office had stated that the police now believe
that a group of 10-12 wealthy, sophisticated Italians orchestrated a ritualized murder
over the course of three decades and got away with it.
(44:07):
Investigators summarized that the religious sect required night-time executions of courting
couples, followed by mutilation with the help of a.22 Beretta revolver and a surgical
knife.
As investigators began removing their original files from storage, they were tipped off by
a series of undisclosed anonymous letters which believed to have named some of the suspects,
(44:32):
including an unknown doctor and a Swiss artist.
The artist reportedly left the area in 1997, but police are said to have drawings he made
of mutilated women and newspaper clippings he had saved.
One month later, in September 2001, Florence investigators raided the home and offices
(44:52):
of Ariello Matti, a psychiatrist with the Society Secret Service in Francisco Bruno,
Italy's leading criminal pathologist.
Letter disks, books, and notes about the killings were confiscated and both men were questioned
relentlessly for more than nine hours.
(45:15):
While neither of the men had been deemed a suspect in the murders, detectives believe
they may have withheld critical evidence from the original investigation.
In 2016, the Beretta.22 caliber, similar to that used by the monster of Florence for
the double murders of the couples, had never been tracked down, but was found by a tourist
(45:38):
during a walk near a stream in August.
Despite all of this, Vanni and Lottie remained incarcerated and investigators are continuing
to investigate and keep a tight lid on their search.
So I guess technically they think it's solved, but also they're still investigating it,
(46:00):
so clearly not solved.
I don't know.
I don't know what thoughts I have on this case other than holy fucking shit.
It's brutal and they attacked a lot of couples, so they really had a methodical plan with
(46:23):
each one to be able to get away with it and not leave any evidence behind.
I'm not super convinced it was those guys, but I'm also not convinced it wasn't.
So let me know what you guys think.
If you like the show, please consider giving us a five star rating wherever you're listening
or leave us comments and suggestions on the case or follow us on Instagram, Instagram,
(46:49):
Instagram and Stone Cold Moon.
Until next time, stay high, stay safe and thank you so much for listening.
Bye.
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