– (Dudu Torres)
SUGGESTION Mirela, Jardinópolis, SP
CRIMINAL RECORD
Name leonard Cianciulli (1894-1970)
place of business Correggio Region, Italy
deaths 3
1) Result of an alleged rape and an unwanted pregnancy, leonard He attempted suicide twice during his teen years. Her parents tried to get rid of their daughter arranging a marriage with a prominent merchant once she was of “good” age (about 15 at the time). But she didn’t accept it and resisted until she was 23.
two) In 1917, eager to get out of her parents’ house, she married Rafaelle Passardi, a clerk in civil records. Revolted, her mother cursed her. Soon, the misfortunes began. In 1927, Rafaelle was arrested for fraud and, in 1930, the couple’s home was destroyed by a earthquake. Was it the effect of the curse? leonardwho was already superstitious, became more brooding.
3) The Italian visited a psychic, who made a terrible prediction: she would lose all her children before she died. Trying to prepare for this dark future, she also sought help from a gypsy woman. Reading her palms only made the situation worse: right hand was his prison and on the left a criminal asylum.
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4) No sooner said than done: leonard got pregnant 17 times. She suffered three miscarriages and ten children died before adolescence, victims of diseases. There were only four left, which she was overprotective of. And her favorite, the eldest, Giuseppe, he was drafted into the Army in 1939 – World War II was about to break out.
5) Willing to do anything to save him, leonard arrived at the following logic: her son would be saved if someone else was sacrificed “in his place”. For this, he appealed to his reputation as a seer with spiritual gifts: his victim she could have been one of the many ladies in the Correggio area who were also superstitious and consulted with her.
6) The first was Faustina Setti. leonard said that, to materialize the husband that Faustina wanted so much, she should go to Pula (in present-day Croatia) and send a letter to her relatives as if she were already living there, happily married. It was the perfect alibi: as soon as Faustina complied with the order, the assassin gave her wine with tranquilizers and killed her with a ax.
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7) She used the victim’s blood to make cookies, served to the other women who consulted her (even Giuseppe liked the delicacy!). She chopped the body into nine parts, dissolved it in lye and dumped it into a septic tank. Finally, the psychopath also found a way to get hold of Faustina’s money and assets.
8) But, still worried about her son, she didn’t stop there. In September 1940, in less than 30 days, she killed two other clients, who were looking for a new job. The system was the same: the false cards, the intoxicating wine and the axe. But this time, she mixed the blood with fat and perfume to make soap.
9) Again, she kept the goods and jewelry of these women. But the last victim’s sister-in-law became suspicious of the disappearance and called the police. leonard confessed at the first interrogation. She was tried in 1946, got 30 years in prison and three years of treatment in a criminal asylum.
WHAT END DID IT TAKE?
Both predictions came true: leonard outlived all of her children, was arrested and spent in a criminal asylum, where she died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 76
SOURCES Autobiography An Embittered Soul’s Confession: leonard Cinaciulli’s Memoir; websites The New York Times, Team It is BBC