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July 16, 2025 37 mins
In the late 1990s, Italy was worried that Satanism was on the rise. There were whispers of cults and worshippers performing dark rituals to appease the devil and citizens were flocking to their churches worried about their immortal souls and the safety of their loved ones. This fear was not completely unfounded. In the outskirts of Milan, in Busto Arsizio, was a heavy metal band that had taken the idea of Satanic worship and twisted it until their desire to appease Satan turned them into killers. The Beasts of Satan terrorized the community from the shadows for years, and at least 3 people were killed in the name of the Devil, until it all came crashing down in 2004. 

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ABC News. (2005, February 22). Italian rocker gets 30 years for satanic killings. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2005-02-23/italian-rocker-gets-30-years-for-satanic-killings/1523594Alessiacornali. (2020, November 23). Elisabetta Ballarin: la rinascita delle Bestie di Satana. Pinkblog. https://www.pinkblog.it/2020/11/15/elisabetta-ballarin-la-rinascita-delle-bestie-di-satana/Baker, A. (2004, June 20). Italian Police Look to a Cult In ’98 Killings Of Teenagers. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/20/world/italian-police-look-to-a-cult-in-98-killings-of-teenagers.htmlBBC NEWS | Programmes | This World | Investigating the “death metal” murders. (n.d.). http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/this_world/4446342.stmBivins, J. C. (n.d.). How a music genre known as black metal came to be related to church burnings. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/how-a-music-genre-known-as-black-metal-came-to-be-related-to-church-burnings-115533Campbell, R. (2018, April 11). Church of Satan History: The Church of Satan. Church of Satan. https://churchofsatan.com/cos-church-of-satan/Del Frate, C. (2024, May 4). La verità di Maccione, medium-assassino delle Bestie di Satana: «Tutto ruotava intorno alla donna. Io non mi sono mai sentito un mostro». Corriere Della Sera. https://www.corriere.it/sette/attualita/24_maggio_04/la-verita-di-maccione-medium-assassino-delle-bestie-di-satana-tutto-ruotava-intorno-alla-donna-io-non-mi-sono-mai-sentito-un-mostro-3067fce8-9152-4499-81a4-fd3687532xlk.shtml?refresh_ceDemetriou, D. (2005, January 14). Beasts of Satan’s killing spree has Italy transfixed | The Independent. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/beasts-of-satan-s-killing-spree-has-italy-transfixed-486599.htmlDoland, A. (2005, February 26). Italian University launches course on exorcism. Chron. https://www.chron.com/life/houston-belief/article/Italian-university-launches-course-on-exorcism-1505645.phpFuqua, L. M. (2022, May 25). Beast of Satan Murders in Italy | True Crime - True crime Addiction - Medium. Medium. https://medium.com/true-crime-addiction/beast-of-satan-murders-in-italy-true-crime-5b1a7c1cc8a1Giacomazzo, B. (2025, January 6). The Beasts of Satan and their cult murders that shocked Italy. All That’s Interesting. https://allthatsinteresting.com/beasts-of-satanGravereviewer. (2022, April 2). Beasts of Satan: An Italian band gone wrong - Grave reviews - True crime. Grave Reviews. https://gravereviews.com/2020/09/17/beasts-of-satan-an-italian-band-gone-wrong/Hooper, J. (2018, March 4). Beasts of Satan band members jailed for killings. The Guardian<
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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Every story has a beginning, but not everyone has an ending.
In the shadows of headlines and buried police reports lay
the voices of the missing, the murdered, and the forgotten,
waiting to be heard and have their stories told. This
is The Book of the Dead, a true crime podcast

(00:22):
where we remember forgotten victims of heinous crimes, reopen cold cases,
re visit haunting disappearances, and uncover the truths buried beneath
the years of silence. I'm your host, Courtney Liso, and
every week we turn to another chapter, one victim, one mystery,

(00:44):
one step closer to justice. Brought to you by Darkass
Network in Deep Podcasts with the Twist.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Scottish Murders is hosted by Me Dawn and as a
multi award shortlisted victim focused podcast covering the murders of
those from or living in Scotland. We tell each victim's
story in a respectful, sensitive, unsensational and unopinionated way. So
why not join us whenever you listen to your podcasts
and ensure you never miss an episode of Scottish Murders.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
Hello, Hello, Welcome to the next chapter in the Book
of the Dead. As the insanity of the Satanic panics
started to die down in America across the ocean. In Italy,
it was only just beginning. In the nineteen nineties. Cities
such as Torren and Milan were gaining a reputation for

(02:02):
being the alleged home of Satan and his followers, something
that was truly terrifying for its citizens, as Catholicism so
deeply influences Italy as a whole. Touran alone is the
resting place of so many saints and the home of
the Shroud of Tourin. The Pope himself resides in Vatican City,

(02:23):
and while many other religions have a place in Italy,
Catholicism is what shapes the country and is so deeply
ingrained in its history. The sudden rise in the worship
of Satan had become so much of a concern for
the Vatican during this time that Torn was appointed six
exorcists and Milan was appointed eight to combat the growing

(02:46):
weariness the public had regarding demonic possession and what was
seemingly an ever increasing devotion to Satan and the performance
of dark rituals. This fear, though some may think is
vicually now, was a little bit ridiculous was not completely unfounded.
Some people had taken this idea of worship and performing

(03:10):
rituals to appease Satan and warped it until their actions
led to murder. This is the story of the Beasts
of Satan. Now, before we get into the case, we
have to speak a little bit about Satanism. I've touched
on it briefly in the past that Satanism in and
of itself is not necessarily a bad thing, and how

(03:32):
because of a variety of reasons, the average person's idea
of what Satanism is is a little bit warped. However,
while much of Satanism is rooted in what many people
could consider to be a good thing, there's a version
that is closer to how people view it to really be.
That's because today there are two primary types of Satanism,

(03:56):
the Church of Satan or Leaveyan Satanism and the Satanic Temple.
Contrary to what many people believe, one is not necessarily
synonymous with the other. They are both formed from the
same idea, but they don't follow the same principles. The
Satanic Temple is what I would at least primarily consider

(04:18):
to be the antithesis of what most people consider Satanism
to be their mission. Statement says that they work to quote,
encourage benevolence and empathy, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense,
oppose injustice, and undertake noble pursuits. They actively work to
abolish corporal punishment in schools that still practice it, and

(04:40):
provide religious exemption and legal protection for those who pursue abortion.
They are active in protesting various injustices and emphasize knowledge
and expanding ones horizons. The Satanic Temple also follows seven
fundamental tenants, which act as guidelines for how they lead
their followers, all of which could really be looked at

(05:03):
as tenants any good person would follow. Quote. One should
strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures
in accordance with reason. The struggle for justice is an
ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
One's body is inviolable, subject to one's own will alone.

(05:24):
The freedom of others should be respected, including the freedom
to offend. To wilfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms
of another is to forego one's own believes should conform
to one's best scientific understanding of the world, and one
should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit
one's beliefs. People are fallible. If one makes a mistake,

(05:47):
one should do one's best to rectify it and resolve
any harm that might have been caused, and every tenant
is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility and action
and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should
always prevail over the written or spoken word. The Satanic
Temple is also very vocal about how they are not

(06:10):
the same as the Church of Satan. In fact, they
say quote the Church of Satan expresses vment opposition to
the campaigns and activities of the Satanic Temple, asserting themselves
as the only true arbiters of Satanism, while the Satanic
Temple dismisses the Church of Satan as irrelevant and inactive.
Speaking of which, the Church of Satan was found by

(06:32):
Anton Levy during the Spring equinox on April thirtieth, nineteen
sixty six, and Levey declared this to be year one
anno satanis the first year of the reign of Satan.
According to A. Blanche Barton, who was Levey's partner and
successor after his death, wrote about the founding of the
Church of Satan. She said, quote, we established a Church

(06:54):
of Satan, something that would smash all concepts of abstinence
that had been built up until then. We didn't want
it to be an unforgiving, unwelcoming place, but a place
where you could go to have fun, and thus was
initiated two revolutions which have carried over into today, One
the integration of magic and logic, and two a religion

(07:14):
based on self indulgence, carnality here and now instead of
there and then, and pleasure instead of self denial. Other
ego affirming human potential programs drew from the groundbreaking attributes
and techniques of the Church of Satan. Now. LaVey's reasoning
for founding the Church of Satan was that because Man
created all of the gods to essentially absolve themselves of

(07:36):
the guilt associated with giving into desire, the worship of
gods is the worship by proxy of who created them
in the first place. So Man Satan is believed they
are their own gods, and as self proclaimed deities can
quote offer love to those who deserve it and deliver
wrath within reasonable limits upon those who wish to cause

(07:58):
them or those they cherish harm. Anton LaVey is also
the reason that the sigil of baphomett is used as
the primary symbol for Satanism. According to the Church of
Satan's website, this was not the original symbol associated with
the devil until LaVey adopted it for his church's use.
And if you're curious about the symbolism behind the sigil,

(08:19):
which is a goatthead set into a pentagram within two
circles with the word Leviathan written in Hebrew around it,
and why LaVey used it as the church's emblem, the
link to their website is in the source notes. The
Church of Satan has nine core statements, eleven Satanic rules
of the Earth or commandments if you want to get
technical and draw comparisons to Christianity, and nine Satanic sins

(08:44):
which could be most closely compared to mortal sins that
Anton wrote about to guide his followers in their face.
Some of these quote unquote guidelines are all well and good.
Don't harm children, don't give unsolicited opinions or advice, don't
kill animals unless for food or in self defense, although

(09:05):
to clarify that one, they do specify that you shouldn't
kill non human animals, but I digress, don't take things
that don't belong to you, etc. They also emphasize responsibility
to the responsible, meaning if you commit a crime, they
don't believe in saying the devil made me do it,

(09:25):
or God will grant you forgiveness if you ask for it.
Actions have consequences. Some of these Satanic sins are hard
to take seriously, such as herd conformity, to which they
say quote it's all right to conform to a person's
wishes if it ultimately benefits you, but only fools follow
along with the herd, letting an impersonal entity dictate to you.

(09:49):
The key is to choose a master wisely, instead of
being enslaved by the whims of the many, pretentiousness, self, deceit, stupidity,
ignorance is one thing, but don't be stupid and be
by some much tricks, and my personal favorite, lack of aesthetics.
Quote an eye for beauty for balance is an essential
Satanic tool and must be applied for greatest magical effectiveness.

(10:13):
It's not what's supposed to be pleasing, it's what is
esthetics is a personal thing reflective of one's own nature,
but there are universally pleasing and harmonious configurations that should
not be denied. With this being said, though, there are
guidelines where you could argue Satanism gets its bad reputation
from that they're all about sex, murder, and worshiping the devil.

(10:34):
According to Anton Levy, some of these guidelines say, quote,
if a guest in your lair annoys you, treat him
cruelly and without mercy. When walking in open territory, bother
no one. If someone bothers you, ask him to stop
if he does not destroy him. Satan represents vengeance instead
of turning the other cheek. He represents indulgences instead of abstinence.

(10:56):
Satan represents kindness to those who deserve it instead of
lovely on ingrates. They also perform rituals, but these rituals
are more for emotional purging than serving as an offering
to the devil. There are three basic types that Livey
talks about in a Satanic Bible, which are for compassion, lust,

(11:17):
and destruction, which are typically performed by a single person.
And then there are rituals performed in a group setting,
but animal or human sacrifice isn't involved, contrary to what
many people would like to believe. Regardless of how you
feel about Satanism or religion in general, anyone can and
they have perverted a religion to justify their own actions.

(11:40):
In the case of the Beasts of Satan, appeasing the
devil was their primary reason for murder. The group itself
is a bit of an enigma. They called themselves a band,
and maybe they were, but they could also be considered
a Satanic cult where all of the members of which
there were at least twelve, had come together originally due

(12:00):
to their love of heavy metal music. Formed sometime in
the late nineties, all of the members of this group
ranged in age from mid teens to late twenties, and
they spent much of their time at the midnight pub
Imports of Romano, Milan, which is a very popular place
to listen to this music in the area, especially considering
Milan had a huge underground heavy metal music scene. But

(12:24):
the group was based primarily in Busta Arcizio, which is
then the outskirts of the city. The group was led by,
depending on the source, either a young man named Andrea Volpe,
a man named Nicola Sapone, or, according to The Independent,
a man named Paolo Leoni. All three of these men
were involved in the group, but who the true leader

(12:45):
was is a little bit more up in the air,
although most people do tend to believe that Nikola was
the main leader. According to an episode for Occult Crimes,
the group started out playing covers of black Sabbath songs
and soon after allegedly started vandalizing graves at different cemeteries
with the purpose of using what they stole as props

(13:06):
for their shows. While music brought all of them together,
things quickly devolved as the Beasts of Satan experimented with
hard drugs and alcohol, which only fueled their negative ideals
about the world. They all came from lower class families
and lived in more run down areas of the Lombardi region,
and they struggled with feeling less. Then they listened to

(13:28):
music that glamorized Satanism and sang his praises, but eventually
that wasn't enough. They wanted to bring their fixation to
the real world. They created a warped version of Satanism,
a version that was so far removed from what Anton
Lavay first wrote about and used this as an excuse
to cross moral boundaries. According to journal entries released by

(13:53):
The Independent that were written by Andrea Volpei, the group
did originally focus on music, writing lyrics such as quote
blood and death, blood, writing down blood, bathing all my
body blood, thirsty for blood. He also wrote down believes
that the group had about friends and strangers alike, saying
quote crush those who are friends or who would like

(14:14):
to be but aren't up to it. Crush them and laugh.
When I covered the Farmville murders, I spoke about how
lyrics like this aren't necessarily indicative of someone being a killer,
and how genres like heavy metal or death metal get
a really bad reputation for being the music of satanister killers.
And I still stand by that. But you can see

(14:35):
why the argument for this is made when you have
a situation where the lyrics people write focus on murder
and blood or devil worship, and then they turn around
and actually commit murder. Eventually, though, just writing and singing
about murder and the devil wasn't enough for the Beasts
of Satan, and they started delving into their own version

(14:57):
of Satanic rituals. Most of which were performed while high
on LSD and other substances. Andrea Volpe's journal contained detailed
instructions on how to perform various rituals, as well as
warning of perceived risks, like quote, madness is always one
of the risks. It is necessary to maintain concentration on hatred,

(15:19):
as well as various notations claiming quote we are wicked individuals.
We plague the people and play with their lives. Pitiless,
we eliminate and cleanse, donating the ashes of our enemies
to he who sits on the throne. While it's impossible
to know what actually happened during these rituals, what is
clear is that at some point the group was not

(15:41):
satisfied with the rituals they were performing, and they decided
that in order to truly please Satan, a sacrifice would
have to be made. On January seventeenth, nineteen ninety eight,
Michelle Tallis received a late night phone call from his
sixteen year old son Fabio, saying that he wouldn't becoming
as he wanted to spend time with his girlfriend, Kiata Marino.

(16:04):
Kiato was three years older than Fabio and hung around
with the members of the Beasts of Satan, while Fabio
was the lead singer of the band. This mong call
was a bit unusual to Michelle. Fabia was considered to
be responsible and didn't typically stay out all night. Michelle
told his son that he would prefer him to come
home and that staying out gallivanting all over Milan to

(16:24):
hang out with a girl wasn't very appropriate, especially because
he believed Kiata to be the same age as the
son and didn't want any trouble with her parents. However,
Fabio insisted. According to an interview that Michelle gave for
an episode of Occult Crimes, Fabio didn't sound like himself
on the phone. He sounded very hesitant and nervous, almost

(16:46):
as if someone was telling Fabio what to say, or
maybe he was under the influence of something. Michelle urged
his son to come home, telling Fabio that he would
even pick him up from the train station if he
had had too much to drink, and when they hung up,
Michelle was concerned enough that he got dressed to go
find Fabio at the midnight pub. At the pub, Michelle

(17:09):
asked around looking for Fabio, running into Paolo Leoni. Paolo
told Michelle that Fabio and Kiata had left to go
to the bistro next door to make a phone call,
and when asked, the owner of the bistro confirmed that
Fabio and Kiata had come by, but the owner couldn't
recall if anyone else was with them. According to a
Cult crimes, Paolo offers to drive around with Michelle to

(17:31):
look for Fabio and Kiata, and Paolo tells him that
Kiata is a friend of his and lives in the
same town as him with her parents. Pallo also provides
Michelle with Kiata's phone numbers, suggesting that maybe the two
had made it back to her house and her saints.
Michelle calls and explains that he was looking for his son,
but Lena Marino tells Michelle that her daughter had left

(17:51):
the house with Paolo and she expected her daughter to
return home with him, not Fabio. Either way, neither one
of them made it back to the house. As the
hours passed, other members of the Beasts of Satan, Pietro
Guerrei and Mario Machione, joined the search as well, visiting
more secluded areas that Fabio and Kiata could have possibly been,

(18:12):
but there was no trace of them that morning. After
searching all night and even visiting the Medino home to
double check that Fabio and Kiata had to meet it
back there, Michelle went to the police and attempted to
report his son missing, but the police weren't convinced that
anything was wrong, telling Michelle that Fabio being gone for
one night was not enough of a concern and that

(18:33):
Fabio would probably return home soon. They told Michelle that
he would have to wait forty eight hours to report
his son missing. Frustrated, Michelle went home and called around
to everyone he could think of that could possibly tell
him where Fabio had gone, including calling all of the
members of the Beasts of Satan. All of the members

(18:53):
of the group told Michelle this same story, down to
the very last detail that Paolo had given the night before,
saying that Fabio and Kiata had gone to the bistro
and no one saw them. After that, Michelle arranged to
meet up with the members of the group at a
local park in the hopes that they could all spread
out and search the area to find the couple. It

(19:14):
was at the park that Michelle met Andrea Volpe and
Nicholas Apone for the first time, and they seemed concerned
about Fabio and Kiat as well being. The search they
conducted produced no information on where the couple could be,
and after forty eight hours, the police finally began an
investigation into their whereabouts, but it seemed as if they
were operating under the assumption that Kiata and Fabio had

(19:36):
run away. According to Michelle, they didn't even bother coming
to his home to look around Fabio's room for any
clue as to where he could have gone. Michelle was
the one that had to bring things he believed to
be relevant to the police himself and provide them with
information on Fabio's friends and habits, as the police weren't asking. However,
the police did search Kiata's room and found an altar

(19:59):
shia set up in homage to Satan, complete with inverted
crosses and goats heads, but there was nothing to point
to anything nefarious going on. The police told Michelle Tallis
and Lena Marino that they believed their children had run
off due to the stigma of their relationship given the
age gap, and to just wait for them to call home. Michelle,

(20:21):
of course couldn't accept this and did everything in his
power to try and locate his son. He put up
flyers all over Milan and Corsico and travels to various
heavy metal concerts in the area, hoping that someone there
might know something about Fabio and Kiata, and he learns
that the Beasts of Satan are heavily involved in Satanism.

(20:43):
Michelle tries to tell the police that the members of
this group all seem to have identical stories about the
night Fabio and Kiata disappeared, and he even told them
about showing up at Paolo Leoni's home and how Paolo's
rooms filled with demonic paraphernalia goats, skulls, virtualistic goblets, demonic sims,
but the police continued to dismiss Michelle's concerns. Frustrated with

(21:05):
him for badgering them, Michele and the Marino family started
relentlessly for their missing children, but no trace of them
could be found until January twenty fourth, two thousand and four,
when the police in Somo Lombardo and Adraz received a
phone call from a local business owner. The caller claimed
that they had seen a young man stumbling down the road,

(21:27):
dazed and talking to himself. When police arrived, they find
Andrea Vulpe delirious walking down the road and they ask
him what happened and if he's all right, and he
has quite the story to tell them. Andrea tells police
that he had been driving down the road followed by
his girlfriend, eighteen year old and Elizabeta Ballerin. Andrea tells

(21:50):
police that he had taken a cocktail of heroine, cocaine
and other drugs, and that after briefly losing control of
his car, he checked behind him and Elizabeta was no
longer following, and he was afraid she had been assaulted.
According to an article for Weird Italy, Andrea claimed that
he and Elizabeta had been accosted by a group of
men near Belarossi Stream. Police are led by Andrea to

(22:13):
where he had left his car and find Elizabetta's Honda
Accord with Elizabetta inside in the midst of an overdose,
and immediately rush her and Andrea to the hospital. While
Elizabetta and Andrea are being treated at the hospital, police
searched Andrea's Fiat and discovered that it doesn't belong to him,
but rather it belongs to a woman named Anna Maria Pizzada.

(22:37):
They call and explained that they found her car and
that Andrea Volpe had been driving it. Hearing this, Anna
Maria is immediately concerned. She tells police that her daughter,
Marie Angela, had dated Andrea for a number of years
until recently, and the day before her daughter had taken
the car to visit her friends but hadn't returned. Meanwhile,

(22:58):
at the hospital, Elizabeta has regad consciousness and is crying
and screaming incoherently about blood and rituals and death, and
the hospital staff is concerned that something terrible had happened. Police,
based on the information from Anna Maria, start looking into
Elizabeta and Andrea, and learned that while Andrea is currently

(23:20):
unemployed and has been frequently in trouble with police for narcotics,
possessions and dealing, Elizabeta is from a very well off
political family from Porza. When Elizabeta turned eighteen, she dropped
out of school and she and Andrea moved into her
family's cottage in Goliseca. Police rushed to the cottage and
in the greenhouse, partially buried is the body of twenty

(23:42):
seven year old Marie Angela Pizata. She had been shot
in the mouth at close range and beat with a shovel.
Police also believed that she was still alive when she
was buried. Police confront Andrea about mariy Angela's murder and
he confessed to everything. According to the Irish Independent, Andrea
and Elizabeta lord Marie Angela to the cottage and Goliseca

(24:06):
because she was witnessed to a double murder that had
been committed in nineteen ninety eight and she was going
to go to the police. Andrea said, quote, mari Angela's
death happened during dinner. I asked Elizabeta to take the
rifle and make sure that Marie Angela did not leave
the room. Before killing her, we toasted each other. He
also claimed that Marie Angela understood that she was likely

(24:28):
to die that night and had screamed at Andrea forgiving
her ten years of hell. After shooting her, Andrea called
Nicola Sapone and told him what he had done. When
Nikola arrived at the cottage, he was the one to
deal the final blows to made Angelo when he realized
she was still alive, beating her with a shovel before
burying her. Of course, police asked Andrea why he would

(24:51):
want to kill his ex girlfriend. The motive for Marie
Angela's murder was the fear that she was going to
go public with information she had that incriminated on Ja
Andrea Bulpey and other members of the Beasts of Satan
in the murders of a young couple in nineteen ninety eight.
While Andrea was originally not forthcoming with details on what
had happened that year, when Michelle Tolas read about Marie

(25:13):
Angelo's murder and Andrea's arrest, he went to the police
with all of the notes and information he had compiled
on the Beasts of Satan over the last six years
and urged them to investigate the members for their involvement
in his son's disappearance. Finally, after years of begging police
to listen to him, they did. Enzo Molinari of Italy's

(25:35):
National Police the Carabignetti said quote it was a strange story,
the one Michelle Tallis told. But he didn't only tell
a story, he backed it up with a very convincing
body of paperwork in photographs which he had gathered over
the past six years. He had carried out a true
investigation on the disappearance of his son and his son's girlfriend,

(25:56):
all on his own. As the police investigated Michelle's claimed,
they were baffled to discover that the fears of Satanism
being on the rise in Milan were very much rooted
in truth, and they were even more horrified when Andrea
Volpe finally revealed what had happened to Fabio and Kiata.
According to Andrea, on January seventeenth, nineteen ninety eight, Paolo

(26:17):
Leoni coerced Fabio into calling his father and telling him
that he would not be returning home in order to
spend the night with Kiata. The couple was then lured
to the woods, where members of the Beasts of Satan,
including Andrea Bulpe, Pietro Guerretti, Mario Macchione, Marco Zompolo, Ros Montroso,
and Marie Angelo Pizzato, were waiting your a grave that

(26:38):
had been dug by Pietro and a man named Andrea Pantare,
who did not show up at the woods that night.
The group were already drunk and high and prepared to
carry out a ritual to sacrifice Kiata, who they believed
to be the reincarnation of the Virgin Mary to Satan
underneath the full moon. They were also prepared to kill Fabio,

(26:58):
who they believed was attempting to be the leader of
the group. Fabio Toolis, while much larger than many of
the men in the woods that night, was overpowered trying
to protect Kiata and killed after being beaten with a hammer,
and Kiyoto was stabbed through the heart. Before being buried.
Nicolas Soapone put chestnut leaves in their mouths and dipped

(27:18):
a cigarette in their blood, smoking it as he danced
around their grave, saying quote, now you're both zombies. Try
to get out of this hole if you dare. Their
bodies were thrown in the waiting grave, and Andrea, after
they were buried, poured ammonia and bleach over the ground
to obscure the scents and keep animals away from it.
Andrea told police that buried in the woods in Somo Lombardo,

(27:40):
just outside of Bustarsizio, they would find the remains of
Fabio Toolis and Kiata Marino, and he would lead the
police to the exact spot in an effort to receive
leniency in his sentencing. Buried twenty five miles outside of Milan,
police found their remains, as well as bits of leather
and cloth, a broken spade, and the knife they believed
was used to kill Kiata. According to the Ventura County Star,

(28:05):
the chief investigating Magistrate, Antonio Pizze said of the murders,
I've done investigations for thirty five years. I have never
seen in my career such brutal and ferocious assassins as this.
The men involved were all arrested for Fabio and Kiata's murders,
and Elizabetta and Andrea were also charged with mady angelis. However,

(28:27):
there were other deaths that police suspected were linked to
the Beasts of Satan as well, although they were ultimately
never able to prove it. There was suspicion that Andrea
Binade was harassed into committing suicide. He had been under
the influence of drugs and had driven his car into
a wall in nineteen ninety eight after allegedly being pressured
to kill himself by members of the group for being

(28:48):
too cowardly to participate in Fabio and Kiata's murders. They
were all suspected of the hanging death also ruled. A
suicide of a man named Andrea Ballerin, who was a
neighbor and friend of Andrea Vulta. The police also looked
into their involvement in the disappearance of twenty three year
old Christian Fragerio, who disappeared on November fourteenth, nineteen ninety six,

(29:10):
and whose body had never been found. He was believed
to be a former member of the Beasts of Satan.
Their involvement was suspected in the burning death of twenty
one year old cemetery caretaker Angelo Lombardo on December fourteenth,
nineteen ninety nine, the hanging death of twenty six year
old Dorianomola on December twenty seven, two thousand, twenty one

(29:31):
year old Luca Colombo, a friend of Nicolo Soppone, who
was found hanged on May fifth, two thousand and four,
and eighteen year old's Alberto Scatamuzzino, whose remains were found
in his burning car on May twenty third, two thousand four.
Mario Maccione actually accused the Beasts of Satan of being
involved in at least fourteen deaths in and around Milan,

(29:52):
but there was never enough evidence to support this claim.
As news of the murders started to break in the media,
the public panicked at the thought of Satanism being on
the rise, although experts in the field tried to mitigate
this sphere by explaining that drug use was just as
much a part of the murders as the devil was,
but the Roman Catholic Church strongly believed that the beasts

(30:13):
of Satan were proof that trouble teens were turning away
from God and toward the Occult in double worship. In fact,
the Vatican was so deeply concerned about this issue that
they offered a special two month program to priests in
the spring of two thousand and five at Rome's Regina
Apostolorum that would focus on the history, theology and sociology
of Satanism and black magic, and the cleansing ritual of exorcisms.

(30:39):
According to the La Times, Carlo Clemati, who taught the course,
said that the program was designed as an answer to
priest questions about understanding Satanism and how to combat it
after parents in the Lombardi region flocked to their churches
out of concern for their children. He said, quote, there
is a growing interest in Satanic cults among youth today.
They hear it in music, they find it on the internet.

(31:02):
Ten years ago, when young people wanted to find out
about Satanism, it was difficult. Now it is very easy.
It would be a big mistake to see the devil everywhere.
There's no reason to panic. What we are teaching is
how to know the language of Satanism, how to identify
where the phenomenon is and where it is not. In
two thousand and five, the Beasts of Satan went to trial,

(31:23):
and Andrea Volpe, Pietro Guereri and Mario Macchione opted for
a fast track judicial procedure, which was designed to help
unblock the congested Italian legal system. According to the Guardian,
this meant that those that cooperated with investigators and expressed
genuine remorse could expect to see more lenient sentences. This
type of trial allows only limited evidence to be presented

(31:47):
in a closed door hearing. The trial started on February
twenty first and only lasted two days, with Andrea Volpe
fully confessing his involvement in the murders of Fabio Chiata
and Marie Angela. Prosecution requested twenty years for his role
in the murders, but the judge sentenced him to thirty
due to the sheer ferocity of the crimes. Pietro Guerretti,

(32:09):
who confessed to being the one to beat Fabiotolus to
death with a hammer, was sentenced to sixteen years in
prison due to being a miner at the time of
the crime, and Mario Machione was acquitted of murder as
his role in the crime was considered to be aiding
in a betting and conspiracy to murder. While Michelle Tallis
was satisfied with the sentencing, stating that justice had been served,
Lina Medino was outraged that leniency was shown to her

(32:32):
daughter's killers due to their cooperation. In June of two
thousand and five, five other members of the Beast Subsaion
went to trial. Nicholas Opone was found guilty of murder
and sentenced to life in prison for masterminding the killings,
although his lawyer of Francesca Cramus, tried to argue an
insanity defense, claiming that nicholas heavy drug use and love

(32:53):
of heavy metal warked his mind and led to the murders.
She said quote they listened to death metal and satanic
music that pushes people towards Satan, toward killing people. These
are guys that have severe problems, and they convinced themselves
that they were in contact with Satan and that they
had the power to kill others. It was born as
a game and ended in tragedy. Paolo Leoni, Marco Zimpolo,

(33:16):
and Rosmontroso were all given between twenty four and twenty
six years for their roles in the murders, and Elizabeta
Ballerin was given thirty years for her involvement in Marie
Angelo's murder. However, in two thousand and seven, these sentences
were changed after appeal, but not in the group's favor.
Paolo Leoni's sentence was upgraded to life, Marco Zimpolo's sentence

(33:39):
was increased from twenty four to twenty six years in
two months, and Erosmontoso's sentence was increased from twenty six
to twenty nine years and three months. Nicholas Soponi's sentence
would stand, and Elizabetta's sentence was actually the only one
reduced from thirty years to twenty three. Andrea Volpe was
released from prison after serving sixteen years in twenty twenty

(34:01):
and went on to study science, and Elizabetha Ballerin was
just released and seems to be laying low living abroad.
Mario Macchione seems to have shown great remorse and even
went on an Italian podcast to discuss the crimes and
the terrible impact it had on the tallest Marino and
Pizata families. Whether you believe these murders were the result

(34:22):
of drug fueled insanity, heavy metal music, or a twisted
interpretation of what Satanism is, the Beasts of Satan case
emphasized just how dangerous on a wavering belief in something
could become, and Italy was left reeling in the aftermath
of the trials. However, while easily considered one of Italy's

(34:43):
most disturbing crimes, so few people even really know about it,
which is a disservice to Fabio talus Kiata, Marino, mari
Angelo Pizzata, and any of the other alleged victims of
this cult. The Beast of Satan started out as something
relatively innocent. It's it's hard to say when and how
things really started to go wrong. At the end of

(35:05):
the day, though, saying the devil made me do it
wasn't good enough, and at least some semblance of justice
was served in the aftermath of the trials and the
revelations of what happened to his son, Michelle Tollis at
least found some semblance of peace during the six years
he's spent investigating his son. He found community and camaraderie

(35:29):
within the heavy metal community, and still to this day,
spends a lot of time going to heavy metals shows
and connecting with his son in the only way that
he really can, and that at least is something. As always,
thank you so much for joining me and listening to
this episode. It has been three weeks in the making,

(35:49):
but I'm glad it is finally here. As always, I
hope you have a wonderful week and I will see
you in the next chapter of the Book of the Dead.
Bye guys, Another page closed. But the story isn't over
for the families left behind. The pain doesn't end when

(36:10):
the headline's fade. And for the victims, we owe them
more than silence for our on soalvet cases. If you
have any information, please reach out to local authorities or
visit our show notes for links and resources. Someone out
there knows something, maybe it's you. Thank you for listening

(36:32):
to the Book of the Dead. If this story moved
or spoke to you in some way. Talk about it,
share it, keep their names alive until next time. I'm
Courtney Liso. Stay safe, stay curious, and stay vigilant. And
remember the dead may be gone, but their stories will

(36:53):
not be forgotten. Many area in
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