Nicola Sapone

Case overview

Nicola Sapone was one of the members of the suspected satanic cult “The Beasts of Satan” in Italy. Members of the group committed three ritual murders over six years. Fabio Tollis and Chiara Marino were murdered in 1998, and Mariangela Pezzotta was murdered in 2004.

Timeline

• January 1998 — Chiara Marino, 19, and her boyfriend Fabio Tollis, 16, were killed in the woods near Somma Lombardo, northwest of Milan.
• September 1998 — Andrea Bontade drank heavily and killed himself by crushing with his car.
• January 2004 — Mariangela Pezzotta, 27, was shot and then buried alive in a greenhouse in the nearby of Golasecca not far from Somma Lombardo.
• February 22, 2005 — Andrea Volpe and Pietro Guerrieri were sentenced in Busto Arsizio to 30 and 16 years respectively.
• June 2005 — Five more members of the group went to trial.
• Early 2006 — Five members received long prison terms.
• January 31, 2006 — Nicola Sapone received a life sentence.
• 2007 — The Court of Appeal confirmed the life sentence for Sapone and improved the convictions for other members.
• May 2008 — The Court of Cassazione confirmed all the Appeal’s decisions.

The offence

First murders (January 1998)

In January 1998, a double homicide occurred in the woods near Somma Lombardo, northwest of Milan. Chiara Marino, a 19-year-old shop assistant, and her boyfriend Fabio Tollis, a 16-year-old student and heavy-metal musician, were killed in a drug-fueled occult rite that involved sex and heavy metal music. They were sacrificially stabbed and beaten.

The couple had spent a normal Saturday night drinking beer and listening to heavy metal music at Midnight Pub, described as the center of the city’s metal scene, and they never returned home. Both Tollis and Marino were stabbed to death by their friends Andrea Volpe, Nicola Sapone, and Mario Maccione.

Fabio Tollis was described as desperately trying to defend himself and Chiara but there was nothing he could do. After the killing, Maccione, Sapone, and Volpe later buried the corpses in a large grave in the woods and danced on the graveyard, laughing and screaming: " Now you're both zombies! Try to get out of this hole, if you dare! ".

Authorities initially concluded that the victims had run away together for a love affair, based on a story suggested by a friend. That explanation was not accepted by Fabio’s father, Michele Tollis.

Third murder (January 2004)

In January 2004, the third murder involved Mariangela Pezzotta, a 27-year-old shop assistant, described as further girlfriend of group member Andrea Volpe. She was first shot and later buried when still alive in a greenhouse into the nearby of Golasecca not far from Somma Lombardo.

Andrea Volpe was arrested shortly after with his young fiancée, a 18-year-old student named Elisabetta Ballarin. Both Volpe and Ballarin were upset because of alcohol and drug addiction.

Volpe confessed that he invited Mariangela Pezzotta for dinner but had already decided to kill her because she knew too many details about the sect and the murders of Tollis and Marino. After a violent fight, Volpe shot Mariangela Pezzotta.

Volpe then called Nicola Sapone. It was described that they realized she was still alive, with Volpe recalling that Sapone accused him: " You can't even kill a person! "

They then tried to hide Mariangela Pezzotta in the greenhouse of Ballarin’s parents’ home. Sapone came back home and pretended nothing had happened. Hours later, Volpe and Ballarin took a heavy dose of cocaine and heroin and decided to get rid of Mariangela’s car by drowning it in a river into the nearby. They had a car crash and were arrested.

The police investigation of the Pezzotta murder, and interrogation of Volpe using information provided by Michele Tollis, led to the discovery of the buried bodies of Marino and Tollis and the revelation of the sect’s existence.

Additional conduct alleged in connection with the group

Mario Maccione, described as presenting himself as “the medium” of the group and as having been regarded by Tollis as his best friend, confessed to having beaten Fabio Tollis to death with a hammer after Volpe and Sapone had stabbed him and Chiara Marino.

Additionally, sect members were accused of pushing their drummer, Andrea Bontade, to commit suicide because he refused to join Volpe and Sapone at Somma Lombardo and help them killing Marino and Tollis. It was described that in September 1998 Andrea Bontade drank heavily and then killed himself by crushing with his car.

Investigation

Michele Tollis, Fabio Tollis’s father, began his own investigation after the initial explanation that his son had run away together was not accepted. Over six years, he steadily constructed a file on the victims’ activities and the bands in which they had played.

Just a few hours before the murder, Nicola Sapone had forced Fabio Tollis to call home to his father and say he did not mean to come back home because he preferred sleeping with his girlfriend.

Michele Tollis noticed something strange and immediately reached the Midnight Pub to have a word with his son. It was described that it was too late: Fabio and Chiara had already left with their presumed friend for Somma Lombardo and never came back.

Michele Tollis discovered how deeply they had become involved in satanism and the occult, and he became convinced of a connection between satanism and their disappearance. When the third murder occurred, Tollis took his findings to the police. Police used them to link all three murders to Andrea Volpe and the wider satanic sect.

Arrests and confessions

Andrea Volpe was arrested shortly after the January 2004 murder of Mariangela Pezzotta, with his fiancée Elisabetta Ballarin, a 18-year-old student. Volpe confessed to inviting Mariangela Pezzotta for dinner and to deciding to kill her, and he described calling Nicola Sapone when he realized she was still alive.

It was described that Volpe later led police to where Fabio and Chiara were buried. Mario Maccione confessed to having beaten Fabio Tollis to death with a hammer after the stabbing by Volpe and Sapone.

Trial

Sentencing of Andrea Volpe and Pietro Guerrieri (February 22, 2005)

On February 22, 2005, Andrea Volpe and Pietro Guerrieri were sentenced in the northern city of Busto Arsizio to 30 and 16 years respectively. Volpe, in addition to the 1998 murders, was found guilty of the 2004 slaying of Pezzotta. The sentence in Volpe’s case was described as a decade longer than prosecutors requested.

A third suspect, Mario Maccione, had confessed to the murders but was cleared due to his secondary role in the crimes. Reactions were described as mixed among victims’ families.

Michele Tollis said: "Today justice rewarded me." Lina Marino, mother of Chiara, was outraged at what was described as relatively light sentences for Volpe and Guerrieri, stating: "They are murderers. It's not fair."

Sentencing of remaining members including Nicola Sapone (June 2005 to early 2006; life sentence on January 31, 2006)

Five more members of the group went to trial in June 2005 and were sentenced to long prison terms in early 2006.

Nicola Sapone, described as leader of the group and the person suspected as the mastermind behind the killings, received a life sentence.

The other four named were Paolo Leoni, Marco Zampollo, Eros Monterosso, and Elisabetta Ballarin. Their sentences were described as between 24 and 26 years for their role in all three murders.

In February 2005, the BBC reported that Andrea Volpe was handed down a longer prison sentence than prosecutors had requested. The BBC report also noted that Pietro Guerrieri was to serve 16 years and that a third man was acquitted.

Appeals

In 2007, the Court of Appeal confirmed the life sentence for Sapone and improved the convictions for other three members of the group:

• Paolo Leoni: from 26 years to a life sentence.
• Marco Zampollo: from 26 years to 29 years and 2 months.
• Eros Monterosso: from 24 years to 27 years and 3 months.
• The sentence for Elisabetta Ballarin was reduced from 24 years and 3 months to 23 years.

On May 2008, the Court of Cassazione confirmed all the Appeal’s decisions.

Outcome

Nicola Sapone was sentenced to life in prison on January 31, 2006.

Andrea Volpe was sentenced to 30 years and Pietro Guerrieri was sentenced to 16 years on February 22, 2005, with Volpe found guilty of the 1998 murders and the 2004 murder of Pezzotta.

The other members sentenced in early 2006 received terms between 24 and 26 years, with subsequent improvements and reductions by the Court of Appeal in 2007.

Reaction and aftermath

The crimes occurred amid growing concern in Italy about satanism and the occult among Italian youth.

In February 2005, a Roman Catholic university connected to the Vatican began offering a two month course on diabolical possession and exorcism for priests and seminarians.

In reaction to the crimes, priest Don Aldo Buonaito called for death metal to be banned, stating: "If music makes itself an instrument of nefarious deeds and death it should be stopped."

It was described that, in light of the revelations from the Beasts of Satan investigation and trial and growing public concern, Italian police intended to create a special unit focusing on new religious sects, particularly Satanists and other violent ritualistic groups, coordinating nationwide investigations. The planned unit was described as including psychologists and a priest expert on the occult.

A separate report described that, on February 4, 2006, Nicola Sapone was sentenced to life imprisonment for the double homicide in 1998 of lead singer Fabio Tollis and his girlfriend Chiara Marino, and that four other followers received sentences between 24 and 26 years. The report described Marino as 19 at the time of her murder and stated that Tollis attempted to prevent the murder, suffering a blow to his head with a hammer; Sapone then gagged Tollis to silence him and slit his throat, which Reuters and Italian media called "an orgy of bloodletting." It also described that, after killing the two teenagers, the band pushed their lifeless bodies into a pit and urinated on them.

That report also stated that the convictions followed the conviction of band leader Andrea Volpe, who received a lighter sentence of 30 years after taking police officers to the location of the bodies and subsequently confessing to the murders. It further stated that cult members were convicted for murdering Volpe’s ex-girlfriend Mariangela Pezzotta in 2004, described as shot in the mouth and savagely mutilated.

Another report stated that the bodies of the young couple were only found in woods northeast of Milan after Mariangela’s body was found in 2004. It also quoted Chiara Marino’s mother Lina stating: "Leoni, you're going to pay, you're a murderer, 26 years is too little." It quoted Mariangela Pezzotta’s father saying: "Justice has triumphed."

A BBC report dated June 8, 2004 described the discovery of the bodies and stated that witness statements and descriptions included allegations of sexual violence, and also described the murdered girl’s bedroom as containing black candles and goats’ skulls. That report also described uncertainty about what happened next as being “still the subject of investigation,” and it described fears about links to other satanic cult activity.

Another BBC report included an account of Michele Tollis’s search for his missing son and described statements including:

"No one can contradict me when I say that heavy metal and satanism are closely linked. They're inseparable," he says.

The BBC report also quoted Teniente Enzo Molinari of the carabinieri, stating:

"It was a strange story, the one Michele Tollis told."
"But he didn't only tell a story; he backed it up with a very convincing body of paperwork and photographs which he had gathered over the past six years."
"He had carried out a true investigation on the disappearance of his son and his son's girlfriend, all on his own."

In the same BBC account, Mario Maccione confessed to beating Fabio to death with a hammer, and it stated that Andrea Bontade was terrorised into committing suicide.

The BBC report also described Father Gabriele Amorth explaining two types of Satanists:

"There are two types: those who adore the Devil, celebrate Satanic masses, have their own priests and hierarchy; and those who don't believe in Satan, but engage in actions that are either iniquitous or against nature."
"The latter is more dangerous," said Fr. Amorth in an interview with journalist A.S. Guimaraes.

Finally, a BBC report dated February 22, 2005 quoted Michele Tollis on Italian television:

"Today, justice rewarded me," Michele Tollis, the father of Fabio, told Italian television, "even if it leaves me quite bitter that our son Fabio will not return."

Other details

Michele Tollis was described as a Roman Catholic country father who began attending metal concerts and festivals across Europe, handing out leaflets and quizzing Fabio’s friends.

The victims were described as last seen alive leaving a pizzeria with other members of their heavy metal rock band, called the Beasts of Satan.

The investigation and reporting described links being re-opened to see if other mysterious murders and suicides in northern Milan were related to the cult, including:

• The murder of another of Volpe’s girlfriends, Maddalena Russo, which took place on Friday the 13th in September, 1995.
• The supposed suicide of another band member, Giuseppe Bontade, in 2000.