Accused of being involved in the mostro di Firenze murders, Francesco Calamandrei was recently exonerated by a Florence court for lack of evidence. Upon hearing the court’s ruling, the 68-year-old former pharmacist from San Casciano said he was ‘happy, of course, for the acquittal but the verdict is no compensation for what I have had to undergo in the last the 20 years’.
Calamandrei was arrested for his alleged involvement in the last four murders committed by the ‘monster of Florence’. Prosecutors accused Calamandrei of having struck an agreement with one of the accused murderers, Pietro Pacciani, to purchase items taken from the dead victims’ bodies. According to prosecutors, the items were then used in séances and magic rites held at a house in the town of Giogoli.
The accusations were first made in 1988 by Calamandrei’s ex-wife.
Denying any involvement in the serial murders that rocked Florence, Calamandrei told reporters, ‘I didn’t do anything. The entire argument posed against me was based on hearsay and not concrete facts’.
