The real Hannibal?

Thanks to Thomas Harris’ bestseller, the character of Hannibal Lecter, a murderous psychiatrist with cannibalistic tendencies, played by Anthony Hopkins in the film adaptation, is world famous. The author was inspired by a sensational series of murders that took place between 1968 and 1985 in the Florence area, targeting couples in love. The murders are said to have been committed by farmer Pietro Pacciani, better known as the Monster of Florence. He is said to have shot eight couples and mutilated the women’s genitals as if in occult rituals. However, to this day there are considerable doubts that Pacciani was the sole perpetrator, who died under mysterious circumstances shortly before a retrial following a sensational acquittal on appeal after a life sentence. Could this have been a coincidence? On February 22, 1998, 73-year-old Pacciani was found dead in his apartment by the police. He had taken a lethal cocktail of medications that led to heart failure. But why would Pacciani, who had heart disease, take medications that he should never have taken together? Was a Satanic cult responsible for his death, on whose behalf he was supposed to have committed the murders, or had the real monster of Florence murdered him so that the truth about the mysterious series of murders would never come to light? It all began with the murder of 32-year-old Barbara Locci and her 29-year-old lover Antonio Lo Bianco, who were shot dead in their white Alfa Romeo Giuletta on August 21, 1968. Barbara’s son was spared when the killer took him to a nearby farm, where the owner called the police. This double murder was committed with a .22 caliber Beretta, as were the later murders, but Barbara’s husband Stefano Mele was convicted of the double murder, which he had presumably committed with the brothers Giovanni, Salvatore, and Francesco Vinci, all of whom had had affairs with Barbara. In the course of the investigation, they were arrested several times. The Carabinieri assumed that Salvatore had hidden the murder weapon, which his son Antonio had used during a burglary in 1974 and then lost. This weapon was used to commit the subsequent murders of lovers in the Florence area, which is why the double murder was mistakenly attributed to the Monster of Florence and investigated in the direction of the husband and his friends. Due to the Sardinian origins of the husband and the brothers, this line of investigation was referred to as “la pista Sarda,” the Sardinian trail. Years passed after the double murder until, on September 14, 1974, a passerby discovered the bodies of 18-year-old Stefania Pettini and her 19-year-old boyfriend Pasquale Gentilcore in a Fiat 127 not far from Borgo San Lorenzo. The lovers had been shot. Pettini’s body had 96 stab wounds in the genital area. Had a satanic ritual been performed on her? Seven years later, on June 6, 1981, a police officer found the bodies of 21-year-old Carnela De Nuccio and her 30-year-old boyfriend Giovanni Foggi in a red Fiat Ritmo near Scandicci. The 21-year-old Carnela’s pubic area had been cut out with surgical precision using an extremely sharp object. Just a few months later, on October 23, 1981, the bodies of 24-year-old Susanna Cambi and her 26-year-old boyfriend Stefano Baldi were found in a Volkswagen Golf near Catenzano. They had been shot several times through the windshield. Both were still alive when the perpetrator stabbed them. Susanna’s pubic area was also mutilated. Just under a year later, on June 19, 1982, the bodies of 21-year-old Paolo Mainardi and his 20-year-old girlfriend Antonella Migliorini were discovered shot dead in a Fiat 147 near Montepertoli. Another year later, on September 9, 1983, 24-year-old Horst Wilhelm Meyer and Jens-Uwe Rüsch, who was the same age, were found shot dead in their Volkswagen T1 bus in Galluzzo. The Carabinieri suspected that the murderer had mistaken Jens-Uwe Rüsch for a woman because of his long blond hair. On June 24, 1984, the bodies of 21-year-old Claudio Stefanacci and his 18-year-old girlfriend Pia Rontini were discovered in a Fiat Panda not far from Vicchio in Mugello. Both had been shot. Pia’s pubic area had been mutilated and her left breast cut off. The last murders took place on September 8, 1985, and involved a French couple. The perpetrator shot 25-year-old Jean Michel Kraveichvili and his 36-year-old girlfriend Nadine Mauriot, whose body had been mutilated with a knife. The murder weapon was always a Beretta caliber 22, which had already been used in the first double murder in 1968. For over eight years, the Carabinieri investigated intensively and questioned over 100,000 people in order to catch the perpetrator. The latter was so brazen that in 1985 he even sent evidence to the public prosecutor’s office, mocking them for their incompetence. Interior Minister Oscar Luigi Scalfaro offered a reward of 500 million lire to finally catch the Monster of Florence. In the early 1990s, investigators turned their attention to 68-year-old farmer Pietro Pacciani, who had stabbed, kicked to death, and robbed a businessman in 1951. He had spent 13 years in prison for this crime. After his release, he married and became the father of two daughters. However, Pietro Pacciani was arrested again between 1987 and 1991 for beating his wife and sexually abusing his daughters. He allegedly belonged to a group consisting of Mario Vanni, Giovanni Faggi, and Giancarlo Lotti, who held black masses in which they sacrificed female body parts. During a search of Pacciani’s home, the Carabinieri found pornographic drawings and newspaper articles about the lovers’ murders, a painting allegedly painted by Pacciani that had satanic features, and a matching bullet casing. In 1992, Pacciani was denounced by anonymous tipsters. On January 16, 1993, he was finally arrested and sentenced to 14 life sentences in Florence on November 1, 1994. Pacciani appealed and was acquitted on February 12, 1996, due to considerable doubts that he had acted alone and numerous pieces of evidence suggesting that the murders had been committed by several perpetrators. This was a sensation. However, on December 12, 1996, the Supreme Court overturned the acquittal and ordered a new trial. But this never took place, as Pietro Pacciani was found dead in his apartment on February 22, 1998. Could it be a coincidence that he died shortly before a new trial? The head of the Florence homicide division, Michele Giuttari, still claims that evidence was suppressed and that the perpetrator committed the murders on the orders of clients who are still at large. It is also suspected that the doctor Francesco Narducci was involved in the series of murders, as he was found dead in Lake Trasimeno a few weeks after the last murder. In 2004, the apartment of pharmacist Calamandrei from San Casciano was searched three times. He had come under suspicion due to accusations made by his then wife, who had seen a Beretta in the refrigerator. He was believed to be the person who had ordered the murders and sacrificed the female body parts in satanic rituals. In 2007, a trial was held in which Calamandrei was acquitted by the Florentine court in 2008. In total, there were three suicides and seven further murders in connection with the investigation into the series of murders. In addition, files repeatedly disappeared, which is why rumors persist that influential figures behind the scenes are still being protected by parts of the judiciary to this day. Perhaps the truth will come to light at some point after all.