by Jim Kouri, CPP
Members of a brutal Satanic cult were given stiff prison sentences on Tuesday for killing the lead singer of their rock band and two other women in brutal ritual murders that shocked Italy.
Nicola Sapone, one of the leaders of the “Beasts of Satan” rock band, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the double homicide in 1998 of lead singer Fabio Tollis and his girlfriend Chiara Marino. Four other followers of the band received sentences of between 24 and 26 years.
The group claimed that Marino, who was stabbed to death under a full moon, was the personification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She was 19 at the time of her murder.
When the Satanic band’s singer, Tollis, attempted to prevent the murder, he suffered a blow to his head with a hammer. Sapone then gagged Tolis to silence him and also slit his throat in what Reuters and the Italian media called “an orgy of bloodletting.”
After killing the two teenagers, the Satanic band pushed their lifeless bodies into a pit and urinated on them.
These convictions were the most recent for the members and followers of the Beasts of Satan. The convictions follow the high-profile conviction of band leader Andrea Volpe, who received a lighter sentence — 30 years — after taking police officers to the location of the bodies, and subsequently confessing to the murders.
Cult members were also convicted for murdering Volpe’s ex-girlfriend Mariangela Pezzotta in 2004. She was shot in the mouth and her body was savagely mutilated.
According to Reuters, the Satanic killings sparked fears in Italy of a spread of devil cults, and the Vatican last year started a course for Roman Catholic priests on Satanism and exorcism in response to what the Church said was a worrying interest in the occult, particularly among the young.
The files of a number of other mysterious murders and suicides in northern Milan, particularly those that occurred when the moon was full or new, are being re-opened to see if they are related to the this cult. Links have already been established in two of the cases: the murder of another of Volpe’s girlfriends, Maddalena Russo, which took place on Friday the 13th in September, 1995; and the supposed suicide of another band member, Giuseppe Bontade, in 2000.
According to the leading Catholic exorcist at the Vatican, Father Gabriele Amorth, 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.
Italy remains shocked at the brutality of the killings and Catholic Church officials at the Vatican say they are concerned over recent research that showed Satanism was on the increase.
Father Aldo Bonaiuto, one of the Vatican’s team of anti-occult priests, said, “This trial has shown that justice is taking its course. However, the cruelty and gruesomeness linked to the world of Satanism is also very apparent from this case.”
Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and he’s a staff writer for the New Media Alliance (thenma.org). He’s former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed “Crack City” by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations. He’s also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country. Kouri writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He’s a news writer for TheConservativeVoice.Com. He’s also a columnist for AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he’s syndicated by AXcessNews.Com. He’s appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. His book Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com. Kouri’s own website is located at http://jimkouri.us
