Aftermath

In March 2004 a new investigation was ordered. Inspector Giuttare, the head of the serial murder squad, believed that Pacciani was too unsophisticated to have both orchestrated such brutal killings and to have evaded capture for so long. He speculated that there was a mastermind behind him or even a larger ‘satanic cult’. Investigations still centred around Pacciani’s village but now more ‘respectable’ and professional people were interviewed.In 2006, Francesco Calamandrei, a bespectacled, overweight retired pharmacist was informed by Italian prosecutors that he was the alleged mastermind behind the Monster of Florence. It was said that he ordered Pietro Pacciani, Mario Vanni and Giancarlo Lotti, the three men convicted of the murders, to obtain pieces of female bodies.In 2008, 20 years after his ex-wife first accused him of the murders, Calamandrei was exonerated because of a lack of evidence.That same year, authors Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi, release ‘The Monster of Florence’ and say that they have definitively identified the killer. The man named denies the accusation. It will be interesting to see how Hollywood tells the story. George Clooney is set to play the inquisitive author, Douglas Preston, in a forthcoming movie.