Monster of Florence
The Monster of Florence is the name coined by the Italian press for a serial killer active within the former province of Florence between 1968 and 1985. The Monster murdered sixteen victims, usually young couples secluded in search of privacy, in wooded areas during new moons. Although none of the murders were committed in the city of Florence proper, the name of the killer, initially referred to as the Maniac of Couples, was chosen due to the murders being committed in the surrounding countryside. After an investigation was launched in the early 1990s by the Florence Prosecutor's Office, several connected persons were convicted for involvement in the murders, yet the exact sequence of events, the identity of the main perpetrator and the motive remain unclear.
Multiple weapons were used in the murders, including a.22 caliber handgun and a knife, and in half of the cases a large portion of the skin surrounding sexual organs was excised from the bodies of the female victims. The Monster represented the first known case of serial murders against couples in Italy; often being called the country's first modern serial killer case; and received a vast media coverage both at the time of the crimes and during the various trials against the alleged perpetrators, to the point of influencing the habits and daily life of the entire Florentine population, who began to avoid secluding themselves in isolated places. The fact that the victims were young couples also stimulated debate in the media on granting adolescents the opportunity to find privacy at home more freely, thus avoiding the lure of isolated and dangerous places.
Law enforcement conducted several investigations into the murders over many years. In 1996, Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation in final instance annulled the acquittal on appeal of Pietro Pacciani and sent the case back to another section of the Florence Court of Assizes of Appeal for a new second-instance trial, which was not held due to Pacciani's death in 1998. In 2000, the Supreme Court of Cassation convicted in final instance Mario Vanni and Giancarlo Lotti for five and four of the eight double murders, respectively. They had been charged with being part of an alleged group of murderers that became known in the popular press as the Snack Buddies following the courtroom protestation of Vanni that the group were merely friends who would frequently get together in local bars and restaurants for meals. Lotti had confessed to the murders and called in Pacciani and Vanni as accomplices; Lotti and Fernando Pucci's testimonies were decisive for the convictions, while Giovanni Faggi was acquitted.
Beyond what was established by the final sentence of 2000, physical evidence such as DNA and fingerprints attributable to the Monster's accomplices have never been found at the numerous crime scenes, the killer's firearm has never been traced and the anatomical parts removed from some of his female victims have not been found; in 1985, the Florence Prosecutor's Office received a letter including the breast flap of a victim. Since the 1990s and 2000s, prosecutors in Florence and Perugia have engaged in numerous investigations aimed at identifying both the material perpetrators and possible instigators of the murders. The investigations have also focused on a possible motive of an esoteric nature, which would have pushed one or more people to commission of the crimes, without arriving at any objective confirmation. Despite the many investigations and hypotheses made over the years, including in the 2010s and 2020s, the case remains unsolved.
Overview
Of the more than 4,000 serial killers documented since the 1950s, only about ten have chosen to target couples. Of these ten, only four have adopted a similar if not identical modus operandi and victimology : the "Couples Killer" Werner Boost, the Zodiac Killer, the "Son of Sam" David Berkowitz, and the Monster of Florence. Between 1974 and 1985, seven double murders were committed, all of which had in common the fact that the victims were killed at lovers' lanes, or couples who were secluded or in any case settled in an isolated place in the wooded areas of the province of Florence; the weapon used was always a.22 caliber Beretta handgun with the same type of bullets, namely Winchester ammunition marked with the letter H on the base of the cartridge case, and they were always committed on dark nights during summer weekends and new moons, or in any case before a non-working day. As a result of the serial murders, the attitude of the population living in the province of Florence changed as the authorities appealed to the local population to be careful and avoid lovers' lanes, including flyers telling couples to avoid having sex in cars, as the Monster could kill again.A double murder with the same modus operandi was committed in 1968 to which Stefano Mele, the husband of one of the two victims, had confessed and was definitively convicted in 1973; however, due to the dynamics and the weapon used, it was later hypothesized that it could instead be connected to the Monster of Florence and the serial murders of the 1970s and 1980s. In 1982, cartridge cases and bullets fired from the serial killer's handgun were found attached to the file on the 1968 double murder where it is believed that the same handgun had been used, a discovery that led to the connection with the murders attributed up to that point to the Monster. In each crime, the male victim was hit first. Next, the killer focused on the female victim, who was then generally taken out of the car and stabbed with a knife and subjected to excisions in the pubic area and left breast; in four of the double murders, the killer removed the pubic area of the female victims using a bladed weapon, and in the last two cases he also cut off and removed the left breast from the bodies. Often the victims, especially the male ones, also suffered post-mortem stab wounds.
The crimes were committed on dirt country roads or hidden wooded areas frequented by couples in the surroundings of Florence. The investigations were long and complex, and led to the identification of two perpetrators for the crimes of 1982, 1983, 1984, and 1985, Mario Vanni and Giancarlo Lotti, who were respectively definitely sentenced in 2000 to life imprisonment and 26 years; another suspect, Pietro Pacciani, was acquitted on appeal in 1996 and died in 1998, before being able to undergo a new trial. Many people, including journalists and magistrates, disagree with the sentences, that the perpetrators were caught, or that the case is closed, and thus consider that the real perpetrator has not been found and that the case remains unsolved; the case itself is not officially closed due to further investigations.
Murders
Lo Bianco and Locci
On the night of 21 August 1968, masonry worker Antonio Lo Bianco and homemaker Barbara Locci were shot to death with a.22 caliber handgun in Signa, a small town west of Florence. The couple were attacked in their car while Locci's son, Natalino Mele, lay asleep in the back seat. Upon waking up and finding his mother dead, the child fled in fright and reached a nearby house. Locci, a native of Sardinia, had been well known in the town, receiving the nickname ape regina. Her older husband, Stefano Mele, was eventually charged with the murder and spent six years in prison. While he was imprisoned, another couple was murdered, apparently with the same gun. Several lovers of Locci's were suspected to be perpetrators of the crime. Mele stated on several occasions that one of them had killed Locci but no evidence was found, as other murders were committed while they were in prison; after he was convicted in 1970 and sentenced to 14 years for the double murder by the Perugia Court, Mele was released after this murder was connected to the Monster of Florence.In 1982, the murders of Lo Bianco and Locci were linked to the subsequent double murders based on a tip from an anonymous writer, who had possibly signed himself Un cittadino amico in a letter to police. On 20 July 1982, examining magistrate Vincenzo Tricomi found five bullets and five shell casings inappropriately stored in a folder among records of Mele's case file. Authorities were unable to reconstruct the chain of custody of those pieces of evidence and did not request a scientific comparison, even though it would have been necessary to check whether they matched the ballistic report from 1968. As the spent cartridges were fired by a gun used in four similar crimes, their presence in Mele's case file suggested to law enforcement officers that the perpetrator of the double murders in the 1970s and 1980s was connected with them.