Heavy metal band members jailed for Satanic murders
Two members of the Italian heavy metal band Beasts of Satan, who confessed to taking part in three ritual murders, were jailed today.
Andrea Volpe, Pietro Guerrieri had confessed to roles in the grisly killings of Chiara Marino, 19, and Fabio Tollis, 16, in woods outside Milan.
Five other members of their suspected Satanic cult have been ordered to stand trial in June.
Volpe, considered the mastermind of the ritual killings, was jailed for 30 years – 10 more than prosecutors had asked for.
Guerrieri was given 16 years and and Mario Maccione – who authorities said played secondary role in the murders – was cleared.
Prosecutors said the suspects belonged to an occult sect that carried out the January 1998 killings in a drug-fuelled Satanic ritual. Marino was stabbed to death and Tollis, her boyfriend, was killed and buried next to each other.
Authorities say they had tried once before to kill the two by burning them alive in a car on New Year’s Eve.
In the third murder, in January 2004, Mariangela Pezzotta – Volpe’s girlfriend - was shot and then buried alive. The Pezzotta case led authorities to the buried remains of Tollis and Marino.
The cult members also stand accused of pushing a boy to commit suicide.
Prosecutors asked for relatively light prison terms because the suspects co-operated with the investigation and expressed remorse.
Relatives of the victims expressed outrage that prosecutors did not seek life terms.
“They are murderers,” said Lina Marino, mother of Chiara Marino. “It’s not fair.”
The verdict comes amid growing concern in Italy that young people are turning to Satanism and the occult. A Vatican-linked university has started a course on diabolical possession and exorcism.
