A poor devil 
NOTICE Most of the news reporting I have drawn from the book by Antonella Beccaria "Children of Satan." If there are inaccuracies or errors in the reconstruction of the facts and describes how the role of certain characters of the story I invite you to report it in the comments or by writing to my email (rdm@dimarzio.it).
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This piece was inspired by a book that was reported a few days ago and have read with great interest even stealing a few hours sleep.
This is the book
Portal says, about 10 years later, the judicial Marco Dimitri, president of the Children of Satan.
A timely and concise reconstruction of the story is also the thesis of Simone Zanin, published on the website of CESNUR , which carry a
extracted in this blog. A Card on Children of Satan is published on the website CESNUR .
Antonella Beccaria's book reconstructs the story from a well established fact :
the Children of Satan was a case of miscarriage of justice, a legal matter
incredible, built on nothing, which had as its protagonist a Satanist. Reading this book reminded me of stories I have personally experienced
why, in 1996, when the legal problems began to Dimitri and other people close to him, I was associated with the GRIS a couple of years. The association was still called the "Group for Research and Information on the Sects" (today the word "cult" has disappeared and was replaced with the word "socioreligiosa). I was a novice and I could not even get your bearings in a complicated world and also so full of mystery, pain and evil. It was a world for me still "dark" in all senses. When the case broke Dimitri I considered it, as all who were involved in the GRIS, a wild case of Satanism, one of the few finally come to light where the leader and his followers had been exposed due to the courageous testimony of regretted the leakage and also the commitment of members of the board of which I was part of the association.
was right and proper that the police and the judiciary did clarify the facts and punish criminals properly Satanists. In association rumors that people engaged in the Bologna Center, together with other priests and exorcists of the place, had collaborated in the unmasking of the satanic cult, but there was no official statements.
At least I did not know anything more.
Personally, I interpreted the silence and the reluctance of people in the GRIS, which from time to time I turn to for information, as a sign of the importance of maintaining the confidentiality of information during the investigation. What I did not understand was, however, the huge mass of news that were published in the newspapers about the allegations and evidence of supertestimone, the interviews by members of the Bologna GRIS and exorcists known as Father Amorth.
short, it seemed that everyone knew all the newspapers were on superinformati Dimitri and his "ritual murder", the expert interviews were the order of the day, everyone was talking about, testified as published.
My questions, however, seemed of place and did not get answered. I was a newbie: ask for explanations to learn and understand, to understand what was happening and what was the role of the association of which I was part in the affair. The very simple question that I addressed more than once to experts that plays a direct role in the GRIS was this: "Really, Dimitri has done what it says in the papers? you really know the witness as the newspapers say and little Frederick, who was put in the coffin with the corpse of Margaret? "
The answer was evanescent: "We know, we know there are witnesses. Dimitri? It 's a Satanist: Something must have made ... not for us to say whether he is guilty. We think justice" .
Despite the evasive answers and left half of the sentences in the meantime Maria Radio broadcast a program conducted by the section on Satanism and Giuseppe Ferrari PM Lucia Musti was interviewed during the program, the Osservatore Romano is directly involved publishing some articles on the topic, including one signed by the PM himself, just as the trial began Dimitri. short, he could not speak, but everyone talks about. In
GRIS there was a climate of satisfaction with what was happening. Finally, a Satanist was being sentenced for the terrible crimes of which he had spotted.
I remember in particular one night when I was quite impressed by the image of Dimitri that stood on a giant screen as he was being interviewed at a known transmission Television, in conjunction with Bologna. It seemed a really strange person, a disreputable individual (as those are my standards of "person recommended). Dimitri, visibly "furious" and unable to control his mood, accused in a note directed anthropologist, well known in Italy, who was in the studio: he says the anthropologist had said (or written) a lie: that the walls of his apartment were covered with dung. The response to this accusation by the anthropologist was that the news had been "passed" by a third person.
Certainly the themes of "debate" diquella transmission were also others, but this example says long on the reliability of certain sources "anti-Satanism" or better, then, "antidimitri.
fact is that a newbie like me that transmission did not provide any clarification on the matter: to contribute, however, be reinforced the negative image that I already had Marco Dimitri and his sect.
use the word "image" because that's what was going on everything is based on an image,
ie, an "impression, idea that a character gives himself to the public based on the way or the way in which it occurs. "
was only one image, that of Dimitri, and I thought it was reality.
Satanism is something personally repugnant to me, no sympathy Dimitri does not inspire me even today, but what has happened in my opinion is still very serious.
Today I realize that to believe the truth of that "image" I was not alone and were not the only ones to share GRIS but millions of people: all those who read newspapers, listen to the radio and watched television.
Antonella Beccaria reading the book, which I will quote some parts between brackets and in different colors, today I was able to reflect on those years and I've also included a lot of More on what happened then and the role of GRIS in the case.
Antonella Beccaria reports that the first contact between the GRIS and the protagonists of this story " dates back to August 1995, when the father of Elizabeth Dozza (ed. the supertestimone), which would be made to attend Satanists asked the association to its Via del Monte (editor's note the Bologna Center of the GRIS is in Via del Monte) information about Marco Dimitri and his group. In October, then when you start to assume that Federico (ed child three years who was raped by Dimitri and cronies and then placed in the coffin with the corpse of Margaret) was a victim of satanic ritual abuse, the child's mother turns to Father Dermine. At the same time also the mother of Elizabeth returns to ask for support for her daughter. The psychologists recommended for families are indicated by the study group " .
From the reconstruction of the author it seems that everything would begin with the reporting of family members who had problems with their children (Elizabeth and Frederick), give them Dimitri and his sect and are aimed at a local counseling centers for help: requests for help like many others who come to counseling centers. The family, in this case, were concerned about their children alleged "victims "a satanic cult. The story begins, So how many more the like of which I spoke in the first step . In his reconstruction
Antonella Beccaria continues: ".
.. when you made the first elements of an offense, the seat of Gris became an obligatory stop for the police, as confirmed by depositions of Marshal Cabras dated February 1996, which will make use of experts who are here to make their own advisors. In addition, the Gris already knew the Children of Satan, having been the subject of some jokes by telephone Dimitri, but - more important - getting the fanzines that Satanists cared about preaching. Following contacts with the police were often characterized by requests for information and literature on the subject about the relationship that existed between the satanic cults operating in Italy
. This is also a script that is repeated continuously when you assume offenses occurred within religious groups and para. The information comes mostly from groups of victims: the use made of it depends very much by the court and the investigating prosecutor. As I clarified in the Fourth Tile the problem of the reliability of the information and the use they make of the judges and law enforcement is a very serious problem. Dimitri's case it is a prime example.
Dimitri ends up in jail at the end of January 1996 and then again for 400 days in June of that year. His lawyers will not have much difficulty in " demonstrate that the dates of the alleged violence (ed rape of Elizabeth) are unlikely, you can not pack a mo 'candy under a curse almost as big as a wall to take it in around a view of yet another black mass. Or that the bodies of victims of a ritual sacrifice could not get into a camp stove used, according to the prosecution's story, as a makeshift crematorium because its size was not sufficient even to bake a wedding cake. "" There is no trace even of the report drawn up by the emergency room doctor who had visited Elizabeth Dozza night of violence, which had used the real name or false ".
Every detail revealed by the girl turns out to be baseless. For example, the" Master ": the rape of Elizabeth also participated in a mysterious character named" Maestro. "You will understand after the elusive Master Damian Berto is a slightly sui generis " to round, gives private tuition to students blockheads. With these Words explains the origin of the nickname, the "Master . However, the day of the alleged rape Berto was not even in Italy, but in Thailand.
Date rape is shifted by one week but this time things go wrong: In the night of the alleged rape Elizabeth did not suffer any violence but is out with her boyfriend. The test is that it takes a fine, while in the car with her, to be passed with the red light.
Soon comes the second accusation: Dimitri has a child of three years, Fred, was in a coffin where the body of a woman, Margaret, after raped him with others.
Who is Fred? Frederick is a child who began to show strange behavior: he wants only milk, not solid food, do not want the diaper to be changed, if it irritates to accurdirlo is the father, wakes up scared in the night, denotes anxiety and becomes uncontrollable when mother, a psychologist, goes off to work.
Federico initiating therapy and at home with him at that time, there is still the baby sitter, a lively fourteen-year-cousin of Frederick. This , which has since established a sister,
improves. The baby sitter is sent away and later be accused of bringing the child (Dimitri's prey) in sect. As Fred's family is convinced that the child is affected or possessed by the devil, it relies on a local exorcist. Federico is exorcised and, subsequently, he will also deal with another cleric who already is dealing with the recovery of Elizabeth.
Meanwhile, the number of suspects arrive at nine, among them also Efrem Del Gatto (Satanist Roman), the Marquis Bevilacqa and baby sitter of Frederick, who will then be regarded as completely unrelated to the facts. The "poor" Efrem Del Gatto will be pulled back into play even after the acquittal of Dimitri and the other, in a subsequent investigation in 1999, when he was already dead from a heart attack three years.
But back to the investigation. Antonella Beccaria, in his book continues: " Then, pulling the strings, Federico has strange behavior and this follows from the violence, Elizabeth confirmed the saying that it had participated personally in the rites and to enhance the words of the girl comes in. the exorcist, Father Clement Leonardi. The evidence, beyond the words of witnesses, not even the shadow .
The press, however, proceeds in the amplification of panic and raises the bar: With Resto del Carlino comes the "Children of Satan Corporation: news rituals and satanic groups working under the auspices of Dimitri coming in from all over Italy: Pompeii , La Spezia, Rome, etc. Sondrio. "I
Children of Satan will be held responsible for ritual sacrifices, brutal murders consumed with unexpected characters in their palatial homes. The victims were an immigrant, Roma children and perhaps even without a fixed home. Too bad that you can not find even a shred of the corpse in order to substantiate these stories
. But it's easy to find an explanation for the lack of corpses were burned and, to substantiate this thesis, we assume that both used the "infamous" stove of the house of Dimitri. The last step in the argument of megacomplotto is made: there is a "third level". Within satanic, in fact, have involved high officials and dignitaries. A prime example of these alleged people untouchable and powerful is the unfortunate Ariosti Ippolito Bevilacqua, a marquis of Bologna, which "learns in November 1996 of its involvement in a the Children of Satan" from the rest of the Carlino . Turns out to be investigated for murder and his house was searched. It is located only a black cloth that could be evidence of Satanism. In reality it was a cloth used to cover the piano and that was only used by the servant. will always be the same newspaper that the Marquis will know, in August 1998, Archive of the branch of investigation which he is called into question. "Really the proceedings as I'm concerned has been filed? It gives me a good news, I did not know yet. Even if I suspected, given the outcome of the first comment on the process itself Marquis."
Returning the "third level". I well remember that in those years was often speak of the existence of a "third level" in anti-cult circles and within groups to assist victims. They told me that it was unexpected and powerful people who were leading the ranks of Satanism in Italy and around the world, all linked together and powerful. How says Antonella Beccaria: " In other words, Dimitri and his associates would be too scalzacani to be more than mere mercenaries of the occult that, ultimately, would act with the sole purpose of selling human flesh, preferably children . At this point, the fear is palpable ... a pedophile. "
I I was terrified that there was a third level of importance than Dimitri and his group if they were criminals so they could do what those who were at the top of the pyramid? What no one could explain
because it was passed from the first level (that of Dimitri and cronies) on the third level by omitting the second (who was on the second floor / level?). I never knew until I discovered that it had never existed any level. This and more I discovered some time later, when I began to study and not reliable "in toto" to second-hand information. Dimitri The conclusion of the story is an example: returns a bit of confidence in justice. He was acquitted the first time
June 20, 1997.
The Board law judges who sentenced his acquittal verdict for the defendants "because the crime does not exist" for all the accusations as "satanic." " 2000 is the year of absolution in the second degree for Marco Dimitri: January 25, in fact, the Court of Appeal upheld the first instance of two and a half before finally closing the legal chapter of the Children Satan come even without the Supreme . In the new ruling, similar to that issued by Judge Sergio Cornia, affirming the innocence of Dimitri, Bonora, Luongo and the other defendants. It also confirmed the unreliability of supertestimone while Elizabeth Dozza , regarding the little Federico, back to say that perhaps the baby suffered some form of violence, but more likely he was given notice the silence after seeing her cousin baby sitter to have sex with her boyfriend at the time.
The president of the Children of Satan have been one hundred thousand euro in cash as compensation for wrongful imprisonment, money that is came from state coffers, that is out of our pockets. After more than ten years what happened to the Children of Satan? According to Antonella Beccaria "Children of Satan
currently include more or less than 1200 members. But the activists do not go beyond twenty. Most of those who are affiliated to the online and
not pay even the membership fee, fifty euro per year. Meanwhile, the site has grown to collect documentation on Satanism and pagan esoteric culture. " So, the story has caused much suffering, marked the lives of innocent people on both sides but did not eliminate Dimitri and the Children of Satan from the face of the earth, as some would have liked. contrary: it has given them more visibility. not even need to prevent other crimes in other satanic groups other thickness criminal fine as that of the Beasts of Satan, where the police intervened when the victims were already unfortunately.
I do not know what was the fate of supertestimone and his family nor that of Frederick and his family hope that their problems will be solved, but if it was it was certainly not for the scandal and the witch-hunt caused by people who (I persist in thinking) were in good faith and did only what they thought was their duty.
would be nice, however, that the story Dimitri had taught us something, especially to us that we are committed to giving help, advice and reliable information for families concerned about their relatives affiliated with any religious group "weird."
In his thesis Simone Zanin cites Jenkins (1992), which "at the end of his study of moral panics in England in the late '80s and early '90s, he thinks that the alarms Social concerning "women" and "children" will continue to spread, mainly because of the irreversible path of family change in its traditional sense and the sense of discomfort associated with this process social
"and another scholar,
Stanley Cohen (1980), the which "calls upon the
f ine a famous book: who is next? " . I or transform its application to the plural: Who will be the next? Dimitri After we had other" demons "and" witches "put on trial and there
still others, today, put on the gallows media. We can not delude ourselves: there will always be because, as Lucas says in the preface Antonella Beccaria's book:
"
is also on this morbid fascination of evil and deviant that
book is sobering. On that anxiety excitement that makes us run for newspapers every time we read the word, satanic, almost absurdly we wish to see come true our worst fears, instead of asking what exactly that word, based on what actually the right to evoke, and fairness and professionalism expected by the user. And then, perhaps, extend this caution to many other words also abused by the news and our imagination. "
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