by Satish Sekar © Satish Sekar (May 12th 2014)
Vindication
The Cardiff Five were the first victims of a British miscarriage of justice to be vindicated in the DNA age in Britain by the conviction of the real killer. It had elsewhere several times. It took a lot to shock the late Yusef Abdullahi after all he had been through, but I believe that he would have been as shocked and appalled as I am over one of the most ineptly handled investigations of all time.
There have been books, documentaries, numerous column inches and films in the pipeline, but despite the vindication of at least three wrongfully convicted men – four really and at least one more wrongly accused – the terrible saga of il Mostro di Firenze (the Monster of Florence) is no nearer resolution. But it should have been. There is simply no excuse for the disgraceful investigations and prosecutions that have occurred in this inquiry – ones that have had the dreadful consequence of ensuring that il Mostro has yet to be brought to justice.
Serial Killerʼs Reign of Terror Begins
Il Mostro is the most prolific serial killer in Tuscan history – only Genoa-based killer Donato Bilancia – il Mostro di Liguria – surpassed his total between 1997-98 with 17 victims. The investigation that resulted in Bilancia’s conviction in 2000 and sentence never to be released was everything the investigation into Florence’s monster should have been. Il Mostro di Firenze used the same gun a .22 Beretta to kill 16 people between 1968-85. He preyed on young lovers.
On August 21st 1968 Antonio lo Bianco and Barbara Locci were surprised by a gun-wielding psychopath in Signa – a small Tuscan town west of Florence. It was the beginning of il Mostro’s reign of terror that would end as abruptly as it began. Locci’s six year-old son Natalino Mele was asleep in the back-seat of the car. He woke up and fled, eventually getting help. He was severely traumatised. His mother was well-known for having a string of lovers.
Natalino’s father Stefano was convicted of the killings and was the first of the suspects wrongly thought to be il Mostro. Mele could not have been the serial killer. He served six years in prison and during his incarceration the killings continued. Investigators discovered eight .22 calibre shell casings at the scene of crime – a potentially crucial discovery, or at least it should have been.
Stefano Mele soon confessed to the murders and was convicted two years later. He was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment, but there were discrepancies –serious ones, as time would eventually tell.
Further Atrocities
Six years later (September 15th 1974), while Mele was still incarcerated, teenagers Pasquale Gentilcore and his girlfriend Stefania Pettini were murdered in Borga San Lorenzo a commune near Florence. Pettini had been stabbed 97 times as well as being shot with the killer’s .22 Beretta. Her corpse had been violated with the stalk of a grape-vine as well and her body had been staged too – spread-eagled and penetrated by the stalk. Three initial suspects were investigated and quickly ruled out. The investigation stalled.
A further seven years elapsed before the killer struck again. On June 6th 1981 the bodies of Giovanni Foggi and Carmela di Nuccio were discovered in another commune near Florence – called Scandicci. Il Mostro had cut out di Nuccio’s vagina. His depravity and brutality were escalating. The second innocent man would soon be jailed – Enzo Spalletti discussed aspects of the killings before it had been announced. He spent just over three months in prison. He was proved innocent when il Mostro struck again at another commune near Florence – Calenzano – during Spalletti’s incarceration.
On October 23rd 1981 Stefano Baldi and Susanna Cambi became il Mostro’s seventh and eighth victims. Both had been shot and stabbed repeatedly. Cambi’s vagina had also been cut out. Il Mostro was proficient with both gun and knife. It was plain that Mele was not il Mostro and despite Spalletti’s false claim that he had read details of the killing of Foggi and di Nuccio in press reports, he could not be the killer either. Investigators dropped the charges against Spalletti. This meant that they conceded the murders were the work of the same deranged killer.
Eight months later (June 19th 1982) il Mostro struck again in another commune near Florence, Montespertoli. Paolo Mainardi and Antonella Migliorini were shot as with the others in or near their car. As with other victims they were lovers. Mainardi was alive when found, but subsequently died from his injuries. The genital mutilation of the previous two female victims didn’t happen and the killer tried to drive Mainardi’s car, but lost control and abandoned the attempt. The prosecutor investigating this crime persuaded media to report that Mainardi had given a description of the killer. It appeared to worry the killer. The hospital was contacted by a man demanding details of what Mainardi had said, but he was not identified.
Significant Development
A police officer involved in the 1968 atrocity thought that the recent murders were similar to that of lo Bianco and Locci. Francesco Fiore insisted on comparing the ballistic evidence. It revealed that the weapon used by il Mostro was the same weapon that had been to kill lo Bianco and Locci. It also proved that the bullets all came from a box of 50.
Rather than admit that Mele plainly was not il Mostro, it was suggested that he had an accomplice who carried on the killings when Mele was in jail. Mele refused to cooperate with investigators, which was hardly a surprising stance given the reluctance – refusal even – to contemplate, let alone accept that the evidence vindicated Mele or should have done.
Almost a year elapsed before il Mostro struck again. It broke the pattern as both victims were male, but German tourists Horst Wilhelm Meyer and Jens Uwe Rüsch were shot dead in their camper on September 9th 1983 in Galluzzo a suburb of Florence. At first the crimes were not thought to have been committed by il Mostro, but the ballistic evidence proved that the same Beretta and ammunition had been used. Il Mostro had claimed his eleventh and twelfth victims and the authorities were no nearer to catching him – there would be at least four more. They were, however, on the verge of adopting a bizarre case-hypothesis.