Pasolini killer Pelosi dies (4)

(ANSA) - Rome, July 20 - 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.