Pino Pelosi, a former rent boy
convicted in the 1975 murder of writer and director Pier Paolo
Pasolini, died of cancer in a Rome hospital aged 58 Wednesday
night.
Pelosi confessed to murdering Pasolini the day after his
death on November 2, 1975 but several years later retracted his
confession, fuelling conspiracy theories that the iconic leftist
gay novelist, poet and filmmaker had been assassinated by
political opponents.
Pelosi was found guilty in 1976 of murder along with unknown
others; the court ruled he was not alone.
An appeals court confirmed the murder conviction but not the
role of any accomplices.
This sentence was confirmed by the supreme Court of Cassation
in 1979.
In 1983 he was released on parole.
Two years ago a Rome judge shelved the latest, and probably
last, investigation into Pasolini's murder.
Rome prosecutors asked to shelve the fresh probe into the
murder after experts said they couldn't put names to five DNA
samples recently found on the clothes he was wearing on the
night of his death at Ostia near Rome.
The circumstances surrounding Pasolini's death remain a
mystery for many.
He was killed by being run over several times with his own
car after taking Pelosi to Ostia's Idroscalo (Lido).
Pelosi was caught by police at the wheel of the victim's
blood-smeared car and immediately confessed to murdering
Pasolini.
But in 2005 Pelosi retracted his confession, saying
Pasolini was beaten to death by a group of thugs who wanted to
"teach him a lesson".
Pelosi, now in his 50s and out of jail, said he had decided
to "tell the truth" because his parents were no longer alive and
therefore could not be the victims of retaliation by those who
actually killed the director.
Magistrates subsequently reopened their files on the
murder but shelved the case in November 2005 saying they had
found no new evidence.
A fresh push by Pasolini fans resulted in the latest probe,
which found the previously unobtainable DNA.
The investigation was ordered by then justice minister
Angelino Alfano in March 2010, at the behest of former leftwing
Rome mayor and film buff Walter Veltroni.
Pasolini's friends, colleagues and admirers have never
accepted the theory that Pelosi acted alone.
Many are adamant that he was murdered for the radically
"dangerous" political views he expressed in his novels, books
and newspaper editorials.
As part of a continuing drive to revive Pasolini's legacy,
a recent film by Abel Ferrara with Willem Defoe in the lead role
left question marks over the killing.
The previously rundown seaside locale south of Rome where
the controversial cultural great was killed has been turned into
a "literary park".
Born in Bologna in 1922, Pasolini's first film was
Accattone which came out in 1961.
With its violent depiction of the life of a male pimp in
the slums of Rome, the film caused an instant sensation.
His next film, Mamma Roma, also made waves with its
portrayal of a middle-aged whore in Rome played by Anna
Magnani.
But another of his earlier films, the black-and-white
1964 Il Vangelo Second Matteo (The Gospel According to St.
Matthew) was made with the Catholic Church's support and is
hailed by many critics as the best cinematic adaptation of
the life of Jesus.
Pasolini's later movies were sex-laden adaptations of
classics such as Il Decameron (The Decameron, 1971), I
Racconti di Canterbury (The Canterbury Tales, 1972) and Il
Fiore delle Mille e una Notte (Arabian Nights, 1974).
The director also wrote critically acclaimed novels and
poetry.
His first book Ragazzi di Vita, published in 1955,
resulted in obscenity charges being brought against him and
was denounced by the Vatican and the Italian Communist Party,
of which Pasolini was a member.
Attempts to prosecute Pasolini for the book failed and
it ended up as a finalist for the Strega Prize, Italy's
leading literary award.
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