Monster of Florence: who are the principals? How did they set up Pacciani? Where did he live?

The crimes of monster of Florence they terrorized the area around the Tuscan capital for well over a decade, between the seventies and eighties. Among the leads of the investigators, to identify who killed the eight couples ferociously, that of the principals was followed. Let’s find out more about a story that has fully entered the Italian mysteries, between misdirections and conspiracies.

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Monster of Florence: who are the principals?

The investigation launched by the Florence prosecutor’s office led to the definitive conviction in 2000 of two men identified as the material perpetrators of four double murders, the so-called snack companions Mario Vanni And Giancarlo Lotti (I confess). The third, Pietro Pacciani, sentenced in first instance to multiple life sentences for the double murders committed from 1974 to 1985 and subsequently acquitted on appeal, died before being subjected to a new appeal trial.

The prosecutors of Florence and Perugia have been involved in numerous investigations to identify the perpetrators responsible for four double murders. During the research some traces emerged that led investigators to hypothesize the existence of instigators of the crimes. Hypothesis based on some statements by Lotti, according to which the fetishes extracted from female bodies were bought by a unknown doctor. The discovery next to the bodies of the victims of a truncated pyramid in colored granite, considered an esoteric symbol, led the investigators to think about the world of satanic sects.

Frequencies of Pacciani

The friendships of Pacciani and Vanni during the years of the murders fueled a line of inquiry into possible esoteric motives and rites linked to Satanism at the basis of the crimes. The two frequented a fortune teller, Salvatore Indovino, at a farmhouse located in the countryside of San Casciano, where, according to many, orgies and rituals connected to occultism were consumed. During the searches carried out by the State Police at Pacciani’s home, at least three books were found that can be linked to black magic and Satanism. There esoteric track it is also linked to the large sums of money that Pacciani came into possession of during the years of the crimes, which gave rise to the idea that the snack companions acted on behalf of unknown personalities and interested in obtaining fetishes from mutilated bodies.

Convictions for fellow snacks

The sentences condemning i snack companions they were mainly based on the much discussed testimonies of Lotti. This prevented the identification of an organic and global motive, valid for all crimes. In fact Lotti, before mentioning the mysterious doctor, had changed the version several times on the reasons why Pacciani and Vanni had killed. Lotti initially stated in 1996:

the crimes had been acts of anger over sexual approaches that the victims would have rejected.

Instead a year later, he provided another version of the motive, stating that Pacciani’s will was to kill and then feed the fetishes to the daughters. The debate on Lotti’s reliability remains open in public opinion, despite his intervention being decisive in obtaining definitive judicial rulings on the matter.

In 2010 the former chief prosecutor of Florence, Pier Luigi Vigna, declared himself skeptical about the existence of a possible second level of principals, demonstrating that the investigations subsequent to those of the snack companions did not have any developments. Also Piero Tony, Deputy Attorney General at the appeal trial against Pacciani, ironically defined:

hot air the hypothesis of the principals.

How did they set up Pacciani?

After the last murder of the series, that of 1985, the investigators’ investigations continued but, until 1991, there were no significant developments. SAM was established, la Anti-Monster Squad, a pool of law enforcement agencies who had been investigating exclusively the murders of the monster since 1984, with the policeman at the helm Ruggero Perugini. Pietro Pacciani he became the prime suspect in 1991, during his time in prison for the rape conviction of his two daughters. It was an anonymous letter dating back to 1985 that directed investigators to investigate him. The Perugini pool, in addition to the anonymous letter, he had the name of Pacciani registered in the computer among the many people with the characteristics to be the serial killer.

Who was Pacciani?

Nicknamed the Vampa because of his irascible character and his youthful past as a fire eater for village fairs Pietro Pacciani has been described as a choleric, depraved and brutal man, regardless of the allegations concerning the crimes of Monster of Florence. In 1951, at the age of 26, he killed the man with whom he had surprised his then girlfriend, Miranda Bugli, in intimate attitudes. After the crime he had forced the girl to have sexual intercourse with him next to the corpse. He was arrested and during the trial he declared something that would later lead him back to the crimes of the monster of Florence.

Pacciani had confessed, in fact, that the homicidal madness in him was triggered after seeing Miranda undress her left breast (the same one that in the last two crimes was removed from the female victims of the multiple murderer). For that murder he was sentenced to 13 years in prison which he served entirely in prison. The analogy of this crime with those of the monster it will be the main clue and the queen intuition that will lead the investigators to seriously investigate Pacciani.

During the investigation, the investigators became convinced of the thesis that Pacciani could be the serial killer: he allegedly killed couples to relive, as the winner, the crime of 1951, raging on the woman, the symbol of the ex-girlfriend who betrayed him.

The clues against Pacciani

The clues that led the investigation to Pacciani as guilty were several:

• he wrote the word Republic with only one B, as written in the envelope with the breast flap sent by the murderer in 1985;
• he had written on a sheet of paper a license plate number of a car belonging to a couple who were staying in the Scopeti area, the scene of the September 1985 crime;
• he owned newspapers and magazines that spoke of the crimes of the Monster of Florence and photos with pubes marked in pencil;
• he had ties to all the places where the eight double murders took place, including he had worked in the two areas where the monster he had hit the Mugello and Val di Pesa more often.

Evidence objects

With probative value there were three objects in Pacciani’s possession:

• a cartridge found in the garden, possibly inserted into the killer’s weapon;
• a drawing pad
• a soap dish.

What people thought of the monster of Florence

Public opinion was essentially split in two over his guilt regarding the murders. Even if Pacciani considered himself totally unrelated to crimes, he wanted to give himself the image of a good and simple person, dedicated to agricultural work. In the village, however, everyone knew him as a violent, arrogant and quarrelsome man: many fellow villagers were very afraid of him and did not frequent him.

What is certain is that Pacciani was a rather particular character: chronic liar, self-taught poet and painter. Over the years, his violent nature spilled over to his wife, Angiolina Manni, a semi-mentally ill woman, beaten and forced into sexual relations. He did not even spare their two daughters, Rosanna and Graziella, kept segregated at home, fed with dog food, beaten, raped.

Where did the monster of Florence live?

Pietro Pacciani lived in Mercatale Val di Pesa, at the gates of Florence. The medieval village has jumped to the honors of the Italian crime news because he lived there, accused of being one of the perpetrators of the crimes of the so-called Monster of Florence.

He died on February 22, 1998 before a final sentence.

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