The Monster of Florence
Page 32
The fatal mistake that Spezi and I made was in assuming that the Monster of Florence case would follow this pattern. Instead, these were murders without motive, theories without evidence, and a story with no end. The process of discovery has led investigators so far into a wilderness of conspiracy theory that I doubt they will ever find their way out. Without solid physical evidence and reliable witnesses, any hypothesis about the Monster case will remain like a speech by Hercule Poirot at the end of an Agatha Christie novel, a beautiful story awaiting a confession. Only this is not a novel, and there won’t be a confession. Without one, the Monster will never be found.
Perhaps it was inevitable that the investigation would end up in a bizarre and futile search for a satanic sect dating back to the Middle Ages. The Monster’s crimes were so horrific that a mere man could not possibly have committed them. Satan, in the end, had to be invoked.
After all, this is Italy.
1At the time, many people considered the 1968 double homicide to have been the Monster’s first murders—hence twelve victims, not ten. (back to text)
1Translation from the Greek by George Barbanis. (back to text)
1Here and elsewhere I have translated the word indagato as “charged” or “indicted.” To be more precise, to be indagato is to be formally named as the official suspect of a crime, your name recorded in a book along with the reasons why. It is one step short of an actual indictment in the American sense, although in Italy it amounts to much the same thing, especially in terms of public opinion and the effect it has on the person’s reputation. (back to text)