Naman Shrestha
In Netflix’s ‘The Monster of Florence,’ the primary focus is on the double murders committed by the Monster of Florence, haunting several areas in Italy between 1968 and 1985. During the investigation, the authorities connected the killings to multiple suspects, including Francesco Vinci, Salvatore Vinci, and others. In the later phases, they also zeroed in on Pietro Pacciani and his two alleged accomplices — Giancarlo Lotti and Mario Vanni.
Pietro Pacciani, Giancarlo Lotti, and Mario Vanni Were Allegedly Members of a Group Called Snack Buddies
Born on January 7, 1925, in Vicchio di Mugello, Italy, to a poor farmer, Pietro Pacciani joined the Italian army after earning his elementary school diploma. During World War II, he carried a wounded man on his back while being fired at by the German army, making him a war hero. It also helped him learn about weapons. When he was 26 years old, he was reportedly engaged to a 17-year-old girl named Miranda Bugli. Upon allegedly finding her in an affair with a street vendor, he reportedly stabbed the latter to death before raping his fiancée. For his crimes, he was convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison. However, Pietro was released from prison in 1964 on good behavior.
In the following years, he took on petty jobs as a gardener, plasterer, and a fire-breather at local fairs, besides being a farmer. By 1965, he tied the knot with Angiolina Manni, with whom he shared two daughters — Rosanna and Graziella. Eventually, he became violent and physically abusive towards his wife and reportedly sexually abused his two daughters from a young age. When Rosann and Graziella grew up, they filed a complaint against Pietro, who was sentenced to eight years in prison for rape and domestic abuse against his wife and daughters in 1987. Giancarlo Lotti and Mario Vanni were residents of San Casciano in Val di Pesa, Italy, and were later alleged to be members of Pietro’s “Snack Buddies.”
Pietro Died Before His Retrial, While Giancarlo and Mario Died While Serving Their Sentences
While Pietro Pacciani was incarcerated, the Anti-Monster task force found similarities between the Monster killings and the murder he had committed in 1951. Moreover, when the authorities found some .22-caliber cartridges of the same brand that the Monster used in the murders at his house, they charged him with the murders. In 1994, he was eventually found guilty of seven of the eight double homicides and sentenced to 14 life terms in prison. However, he appealed his conviction and was acquitted due to a lack of evidence in 1996. In December of the same year, a new trial was ordered by the Supreme Court of Cassation.
Upon digging deeper into the case, the police suspected that the Monster killings were conducted by a group called “Snack Buddies,” which was allegedly led by Pietro. Before he could stand trial again, the 73-year-old suspect passed away on February 22, 1998, in Mercatale in Val di Pesa, Italy. Initially, the detectives believed he had died of a heart attack, but further inspection hinted that he had taken his own life by ingesting large amounts of medication. Following his death, the investigators zeroed in on two of his alleged accomplices, Giancarlo Lotti and Mario Vanni.
In the same year, the former reportedly confessed to the murders and revealed that Pietro and Mario were his accomplices. Despite there being multiple inconsistencies in his confession, Giancarlo and Mario were convicted of four and five of the eight double murders, respectively, in 1998. Later, while the former was sentenced to 28 years in prison, Mario was sentenced to life in prison for the murders they reportedly committed between 1981 and 1985. A few years down the line, Giancarlo passed away in prison in 2002, followed by Mario in 2009.
Read More: Paul Hutchinson: What Happened to the Suspected Killer?
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