An Italian film director and a
screenwriter have filed a joint plea with prosecutors to reopen
the file on the 1975 murder of director and writer Pier Paolo
Pasolini, asking for three DNA traces found at the scene of the
crime at Ostia by police in 2010 to be re-examined.
The November 2, 1975 murder of the iconic poet, novelist,
director and leftist political commentator is still a riddle to
many of his admirers who suspect he was killed by political
opponents.
Director David Grieco and screenwriter Giovanni Giovannetti have
now asked for the case to be reopened on the basis of the 2010
DNA evidence.
Their lawyer, Stefano Maccioni, in January launched an online
petition to reopen the file that has garnered thousands of
signatures.
Maccioni, who in 2010 managed to get the case reopened before it
was again shelved, and a former attorney for Pasolini's cousin,
are behind the petition.
The fresh initiative is linked to a December statement to the
parliamentary anti-mafia commission from former Magliana Gang
associate Maurizio Abbatino, who said the murder was linked to
the theft of a movie Pasolini was working on.
Pasolini's murder may have been linked to the theft of the
original film of some scenes of his movie 'Salo, or the 120 Days
of Sodom', which was still in production at the time, according
to a report by the parliamentary anti-mafia commission released
on December 16.
The writer-filmmaker may have gone to the beach at the Rome
seaside district of Ostia, where he was killed, to try to
recover the film, the report based on Abbatino's testimony said.
The commission said "major criminal gangs," such as the Banda
della Magliana, may have been involved in the murder.
The report said it was unlikely that justice would ever be
brought to Pasolini's killers but argued that it was still
important to get to the truth for the history books.
The iconic leftist gay poet, novelist and filmmaker's many
admirers have always suspected there was more to his murder than
the action of a rent boy who was convicted of it saying he had
been repulsed by Pasolini's advances, only to retract his
confession years later.
The former rent boy, Pino Pelosi, died of cancer in a Rome
hospital aged 58 in August 2017.
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 Pasolini 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.
in 2015 a Rome judge shelved the latest investigation into
Pasolini's murder, which had been thought to have put an end to
the story before Abbatino's recent testimony.
Rome prosecutors asked to shelve the last 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 last 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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