Rotten Mango - #177: The LifeGuard Murder In Italy (Case of Marco Vannini)

Episode Date: July 3, 2022

Summer in Italy - where else would you want to be? Marco was a lifeguard working at one of Italy’s beautiful seaside resorts. After his shift, he rushed over to his girlfriend’s house, and ate din...ner with her entire family. They all got along. It’s like he was part of the family already. Even after dinner, Marco wanted to wash the scent of saltwater off his body and asked if he could take a bath. Of course they let him. And in that little bathroom, Marco would die. The house was filled with people. How did nobody know what happened? Or maybe, they all have their own secrets to protect. Full Source Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Rambles. Whether you're doing a dance to your favorite artist in the office parking lot, or being guided into Warrior I in the break room before your shift, whether you're running on your Peloton tread at your mom's house while she watches the baby, or counting your breaths on the subway. Peloton is for all of us, wherever we are, whenever we need it, download the free Peloton app today. Peloton app available through free tier, or pay to description starting at $12.99 per month. Butta Bing, butta Bing.
Starting point is 00:00:32 Welcome to this week's mini-sode of Rotten Mango. I'm your host Stephanie Sue. And they were kind of like one of those sitcom families. Do you know what I'm talking about? Mark goes in the bath, butt naked, and one by one, each family member, which is popped their little head in. They're unwanted, but the whole thing almost has this innocent, comedic effect to it. They would sit around him, chit chat, and he's trying to get some nice alone time in the bath. He's trying to get rid of them.
Starting point is 00:01:00 He's trying to nicely push them out, but they're not getting the hint. Someone's coming in to a girl mouthwash really grossly. Another person might be coming in to get ready to go to the club, and Marco just wanted to take a bath. All these people, they're shuffling in and out. They're all comfortable with each other. I mean, that much is clear, right? Marco technically wasn't part of the family, but he was dating the daughter, Martina.
Starting point is 00:01:23 Even Martina's father shuffled in and out of the family, but he was dating the daughter, Martina, even Martina's father, Shuffle, did in out of the bathroom. It would have been a situation that almost had this wholesome comedic aspect to it, until one of them was killed in the bathroom. They were shot? Or were they killed by a hairbrush? Yes, no, it was a hairbrush. It's hard to say, because the others just couldn't get their story straight. As always full show notes are available at rottonmingopodcast.com but this is an Italian case.
Starting point is 00:01:50 I tried to do my best with making sure that nothing was lost in translation but please let me know if I missed something or honestly if you just have more information about this case because I would love to know. Something about Italian cases, they kind of get your blood boiling in a different type of way. And this is literally the embodiment of that. So if you guys are like me and you aren't going to Italy this summer, just hold on. JR war once said, welcome to the wonderful world of jealousy.
Starting point is 00:02:18 For the price of admission, you get a splitting headache, a nearly irresistible urge to commit murder and an inferiority complex. It's like we all know this, but we can't help it. We're all jealous by nature. I mean, of course, in varying degrees, a healthy dose of jealousy is expected. But what if it gets to be too much? What if you're too jealous? No matter what your ex-boyfriend tried to gaslight you into thinking, I would imagine that
Starting point is 00:02:42 most of us are just normal human beings. We get some jealousy here, maybe in a relationship, maybe in a workplace, maybe in some friendships. You're like actually no, I almost murdered my coworker. Listen, if that's you, just sit this one out, okay? But to a degree, for most of us, it's normal. A lot of researchers claim jealousy is seen in all cultures, and it's a universal trait. I mean, jealousy has been observed in infants as young as five months old, which is kind A lot of researchers claim jealousy is seen in all cultures, and it's a universal trait. I mean, jealousy has been observed in infants as young as five months old, which is kind
Starting point is 00:03:09 of wild when you think about it. Which side note, just to clarify, even though jealousy and envy are used interchangeably, it's technically not the same thing. Jealousy is that scared, anxious feeling that you get at the idea of losing something that you have. Maybe you're scared of losing your partner. maybe your friend, your relationship, your status. So jealousy is coming from fear of loss? Yeah, it's like the anxiety of losing something you perceive or think that you already have.
Starting point is 00:03:37 Huh, okay. So what about things that I want to have? That's envy. Envy is the feeling that occurs when you want something, but you don't have it and another person does. Okay, I see. So, for example, you could envy someone's looks or a lifestyle or grades or salary. Jealousy is more rooted in those anxious perceived threats.
Starting point is 00:03:56 I mean, don't get me wrong. Both feelings are strongly associated with insecurity. But jealousy is more of that, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, I can't lose this, I can't do this, like I can't screw it up. Whereas envy is more of this longing resentment. Like why does this person deserve it? And I don't. Kind of like that feeling. So to make it easy, jealousy can be used as don't take my blank. And envy is more like I want your blank. Envy technically, it's considered the worse of the two.
Starting point is 00:04:25 I guess it's more associated with greed and wanting what your neighbor has. Envy is actually commonly associated with people who have feelings of happiness at other people's misfortune. So that's kind of more commonly associated with envy, whereas jealousy is almost seen as this protective nervous stance.
Starting point is 00:04:42 But either way, regardless of which one is worse, both emotions are incredibly destructive. And you can feel both at the same time. So get this. You can be jealous that your partner is out there, potentially running into other people, and you can be envious of that particular coworker of theirs because maybe they're younger than you.
Starting point is 00:04:59 Maybe you think they're more attractive than you. Maybe they're more fit than you. Maybe they're richer than you. They say to differentiate between envy versus healthy feelings of longing is to ask yourself, do I hate this person for having what I don't have? Would I be happy if this person lost what I don't have, even though it literally doesn't impact me? And do I feel like in order for me to have what they have, they need to lose what they have? That's really confusing, but this is what the internet is saying.
Starting point is 00:05:26 So if yes, you're probably feeling an unhealthy degree of envy. You should get that checked out. No. I'm just saying. Checked out by heat. With yourself, your therapist, co-asked parent, like talk to somebody about it. Maybe not the person you're trying to kill though, because that's too much. No, enough about envy.
Starting point is 00:05:47 Let's get back to jealousy. There's a lot of different types of jealousy, and it's usually categorized by the true underlying feelings that creates that said jealousy. So one of the ways is jealousy has a way to get attention. This is someone who is super jealous, so they try to make you even more jealous than they are. So this is the relationship partner that's like, gosh, are you talking to girls out there?
Starting point is 00:06:09 So every time you come home, they're like this 25-year-old hot dude just hit on me. Oh my god, when I went to the mall, this like group of guys We're like, can I get your number? You know, they try to one up you. They try to make you more jealous So there's a psychological reason for everything that we do. Exactly. We're such animals. Yeah. We can't even be controlled. We are not that eloquent or evolved. There's jealousy as a manifestation of fear of losing a loved one. So this is typically from, let's say, someone who's seeing all of these other people breaking up. Maybe they see online, all these people are caught cheating and all those tiktoks of, if your boyfriend's name is Dave and you live in LA, he was with this
Starting point is 00:06:50 girl and they were talking about how ugly you are, Sandra, you know, like those tiktoks. So you start feeling discouraged, you start feeling like that's going to happen to you. So it's kind of coming from this anxiety of losing this relationship. Then there's jealousy as a result of low self-esteem. You fear that your partner is going to find some younger and more attractive than you. Jealousy as a habitual model of behavior. This is when the partner's friends and family
Starting point is 00:07:15 are completely chill to their jealousy, like it's just so normal. Imagine your sister is telling you, so then I broke into his house. I waited under the bed with 25 different recording devices. I actually had hired a PI to do this, but they said it was super illegal, so they didn't. Anyway, I brought my mom along just in case I got arrested and I was waiting there. And when came home and I was about to pop out and surprise him
Starting point is 00:07:38 and catch him in the act, cheating. But then I realized that I was in the wrong apartment. And I broke into somebody else's apartment. And it was just like a silly weekend, do you know what I mean? And then everybody else is like, oh my god, that's so silly. Like, I've been there, I've put that on that. Like, we get it. You're like, what?
Starting point is 00:07:53 None of this is normal. Nobody is flinching to this. So that means they're surrounded by people who think that this is not jealousy. This is a normal standard relationship behavior. Does that make sense? Yeah, like who are these people? And I get it.
Starting point is 00:08:08 I guess these are the ones that like, listen, I don't know. Maybe I'm one of them. I can't act like I haven't done a crazy thing or two in relationships. But you know, that's just you're going by everybody's behavior. So you think that this is a normal relationship. Then there's jealousy as a sign of betrayal. So this is when people act jealous because they are the ones betraying the relationship. They might even be overly jealous because the concept is if they can cheat, why wouldn't their partner cheat? There's jealousy as a manifestation of a sense of ownership. This is one of the scary ones. This means that your partner wants to control you. They're scared of losing you, but more importantly, they're scared of
Starting point is 00:08:48 losing control over you. This is the type that leads to murder, because losing that control over you is worse than losing you in general. This type of jealousy gets very easily physical, very, very fast. Then there's jealousy as a manifestation of mental illness. Now, this one is tricky because have you heard of pathological jealousy? A.K.A. morbid jealousy or otherwise known as a fellow syndrome. So this is from the Shakespeare play of a fellow murdering his wife after he suspects her of cheating and it's an actual psychological disorder. Someone is so preoccupied with the thought of their spouse or sexual partner being unfaithful, even though they have no proof
Starting point is 00:09:30 in the world. This is not one of those gaslighting situations where their gut is telling them, and they know that they're cheating, and they have a mountain of evidence of all these small things. It's not like that. This is straight up when someone accuses you of sleeping with your coworker Mike and his twin Matt and your neighbor Sam and maybe even his brother Sean. And if you're like, how would I do that? Because I spend all day with you, I go to work you literally know where I am at all times. Where would I find the time? And they'll cite you normal everyday events to back up their claims. Well, you spent 40 minutes in the bathroom instead of 38.2 like you normally do. So you climbed out of the window and had sex with a neighbor and I know it.
Starting point is 00:10:12 People who suffer from this disorder, they have strong associations with stalking, cyber stalking, sabotaging people's lives. Like these are the partners that will sabotage your chances at a promotion behind your back because they think if you get promoted, you're going to sleep with more people for some reason. And they may also typically resort to violence. A woman named Charlotte said that the symptoms of a fellow syndrome, the very rare disorder, seem to come out of the blue. She said, I'm typically not jealous of other females and I'm very confident in my appearance
Starting point is 00:10:42 and my abilities. So I would say that I was developing this irrational fear of infidelity and abandonment. The symptoms at first they started small. I believe that my partner was hurting me and it got so bad that the pain and depression it caused. I mean, sometimes I even thought it would be better if my partner just went ahead and cheated. Because then I wouldn't have to wait for it to happen. Even if Charlotte watches shows of people cheating movies or cheating in songs, newspaper articles about cheating, it'll just set her off and she'll have a panic attack and
Starting point is 00:11:14 be depressed for days on end. Rachel, another woman with this condition said, she knew that she was going to get it to. She saw that her mom had it growing up. Her mom was insanely jealous. If her mom found her dad's playboy magazines, she would rip them up, page by page, tape them on the wall, and scream at her husband in front of all of her kids. She would scream at her husband, look at your horrors now. Are you having fun?
Starting point is 00:11:40 If anyone remotely pretty came on the TV screen, she would demand to know if he wanted to sleep with them. Just famous actresses, anyone on TV commercials, anything. And even if your partner is being polite to another person, it's gonna make you feel like they're cheating on you. And it's so intense, it takes over their lives. Probably the most well-known case of this was a woman named Debbie Wood. Debbie Wood went viral for forcing her fiance to take a lie detector test every time he left the house. She banned him from watching any TV with any girls on them, so it had to
Starting point is 00:12:17 be like an all-male cast. How do you even find a show like that? Who was watching shows like that? Or even looking at pictures of them in magazines. If Steve went out for 15 minutes to buy milk, she had him take a lie detector test when he gets back home. She's like, did you look at the girls at the shop? She didn't even want him to think that someone was attractive because he should only have eyes for her. I mean, how does he handle that? She should only have eyes for her. I mean, how does he handle that? He says he loves her enough to handle it. Oh, okay.
Starting point is 00:12:48 Yeah, she said one night an ad for a woman's razor came up and she just felt this panic that Steve was looking at the model was thinking something about the model. Now, regardless of the reason why people are jealous, I think it's fascinating. I think a lot of it lies in that humans are scared of loss or betrayal. But ultimately, I also think it's humans are scared of uncertainty. I think, okay, so there was this study done that shows that people hate the feeling of uncertainty more than the feeling of knowing something bad is going to happen. People would rather bite the bullet and have something bad happen,
Starting point is 00:13:25 rather than being worried, that something bad might happen. Which, I mean, technically, if you think about it logically, your chances of having the uncertainty is better because the bad thing might not happen. But people would rather just the bad thing happen. Just do it.
Starting point is 00:13:41 It's crazy. It's amazing. Fascinating. I imagine if it's like, you want to give $1 million in cash to someone. You have to keep it in cash on your body at all times. So it's like a little game. If you don't spend it for the first five years, you can't deposit it into a bank. There's no waste out smart the game.
Starting point is 00:13:59 You can't loan out the $1 million. You have to keep all $1 million on your body at all times, and everyone knows you have $1 million on you at all times in cash. There's a neon sign that says, I have a million dollars in cash, right over your head. And after five years, you'll get $3 million,
Starting point is 00:14:20 you know, because you succeeded the game. Wouldn't you lose sleep thinking about all the bad ways, all these nasty little people would come in and steal your money? Sounds like an interesting movie concept. Right, but this is how a lot of people compare jealousy to relationships, which is kind of bad because $1 million is this property.
Starting point is 00:14:39 It's not another living, breathing human being, but it's this feeling of, oh my God, all these people are after it. They're trying to steal it from me. Some people might even go as far as thinking about, I just wish the whole thing just never existed. I just wish the $1 million never existed,
Starting point is 00:14:57 the game never existed, because then I wouldn't sit there thinking, what if I did this, or should I have done that, or what about this? Or maybe what if someone else gets the $1 million, and they're just out there with money that could have been mine? But if the $1 million game never happened you just wouldn't have to worry about it because it simply doesn't exist anymore. Poof. Gone. And maybe that's the best way to describe what Martina was feeling. Martina and Marco were a high school couple. They were each other's first serious relationship, which you know can be a really good thing, can be a wonderful thing, can be a huge learning experience, but it can also be really toxic. I think in
Starting point is 00:15:33 this situation, Marco and Martina neither of them really knew how to communicate that well. They didn't really know what they were looking for in a partner. Both parties were a bit inexperienced, which is to be expected. And this was kind of like, I also think like the more you date, the less jealous you become. So this being their first love, like their first relationship, they were pretty jealous.
Starting point is 00:15:54 They were also way too young and too new to dating to feel secure within themselves. They kind of really latched on to each other, especially Martina. Marco Vennini was a catch, and she knew it. She knew her boyfriend was hot. She was reminded of it all the fricking time. Marco was blonde, handsome, fit, 20 years old,
Starting point is 00:16:14 with this bright big future ahead of him. Right now he was working as a lifeguard at a local resort in Italy in a small town about 30 miles from Rome. So the town is called Ladi Spoli, and it's really picturesque. Listen, I wanna go to Italy so bad. It's got beautiful beaches.
Starting point is 00:16:30 You can visit the old castles from ancient Rome and the amount of delicious seafood that you're gonna eat. You should probably pack some loose clothes because you're probably gonna eat until you drop. Oh, and this is fascinating. Apparently there's black sand beaches in the Ladyspoly town. The sand is black, and it doesn't look like that brownish, kind this is fascinating. Apparently there's black sand beaches in the Ladyspolly town. The sand is black, and it doesn't look like that brownish,
Starting point is 00:16:48 kind of dirty sand. It's like pure black. Really? What is it called? Yeah, Ladyspolly. Look at black sand Ladyspolly. Whoa. I know, it looks so magical. Whoa.
Starting point is 00:17:00 It almost looks cleaner because the juxtaposition of the blue water and then the black sand. That is trippy. Oh, it looks so good, no? Yeah, that is cool. It's definitely, it looks like a parallel universe beach. It's definitely a vibey town. It's a small town. It's around 41,000 residents.
Starting point is 00:17:18 So small town beach fives with a lot of history, a lot of culture, a lot of good food, a lot of good people. So that's where he's working as a lifeguard. Now Marko's whole family, they were really good loving people. They loved their son, and in fact, Marko is the only child and they spoiled him. They spoiled the shit out of him. They made him feel secure, so he grew into this really bold, ambitious, confident man, which is what you want in a son, right? So he's 20 and he's got a dream. He's not even lost. Like when I was 20, I was so lost,
Starting point is 00:17:50 but he is a clear direction. And he knew he wanted to be a military career person. Maybe a pilot, maybe something in the academy, which side note on paper, Margot seems perfect, right? But let's not act like the guy didn't have problems of his own, he did. Allegedly, Margot liked to run over stray cats for fun, on purpose. I don't even know what to say about that honestly. That's really alarming. Yeah, I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna put it out there
Starting point is 00:18:18 because it is alleged. It's obviously horrible if it's true. I mean, he's got issues of his own, but I don't know if it's true Now anyway, Martina loves Marcos Regardless of the cats or not. I don't know if she knows about the cats. I don't know if the cats did get run over Maybe they're chilling. In fact, Martina's whole family the chantolese Saying that right. They all lived Marco. Martina's dad thought that his daughter found the perfect guy, the one that all the girls' dads would even approve of.
Starting point is 00:18:48 And getting Antonio Chiantoli, Martina's dad's approval, was a big freaking deal. Antonio is a big shot in the Navy. He's got contacts. He works with the Secret Service of Italy. A lot of his work dealt with classified information. And he really, this guy, took head of the house really seriously. If Antonio did not approve of his kids' partners, they're out the picture.
Starting point is 00:19:14 Don't even think about it. Yeah, he was like the man of the house. He was the type of dad that really wanted to be the authority figure. And he was, he was loud, and he would use physical violence to make everyone listen to him. The type of person that simply needed to be in charge or he would lose his mind, to give you a picture. You know those movies where everybody's like lost on an island, and a natural leader arises
Starting point is 00:19:36 because they're competent and they're well liked by the group, and they say, okay, we're gonna go left. But there's always that one guy that's like, aren't you to be captain? Who says you're captain? Let's go right. Like, even if that means endangering his own safety and the safety of the whole group, he'd rather sabotage everyone because he needs to be in charge. That's Antonio, which I don't know how he's like that because I feel like the Navy would beat
Starting point is 00:19:57 that out of him. No. And everyone would just silently follow Antonio's need. Like, that's what he wanted. He was obsessed with how everybody perceived him and his family. He wanted the fancy car. He called it his baby, by the way. His car. The car was his baby, not his kids, nor his wife, and Antonio always wore branded clothes. So did the rest of the family. Now, I don't think that they necessarily had the money for branded clothes. I don't know if they were going in debt or anything, because they weren't particularly rich. They lived in a relatively small house with paper thin walls, so maybe either they are going in debt, or maybe they spend most of their money on nice clothes.
Starting point is 00:20:36 I don't know. Why would you break into these apartments? For money, for drugs, whatever was in them. Why aren't you afraid of getting caught at doing this? No. Who's going to catch us? What a police. It was the height of the crack era and instead of locking up drug dealers, some New York City cops had become them.
Starting point is 00:21:00 I would suit up in my uniform and we're going to want some drug dealers and I know how to do it really well. This is the inside story of the biggest police corruption scandal in NYPD history and the investigation that uncovered it all. Did you consider yourself a rat? 100% I saved my soul just like everybody else does. Listen to and follow the set an Odyssey originals documentary podcast series available now on the Odyssey app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your shows.
Starting point is 00:21:33 I'm not a big guy man, but I love being that dirty motherfucker. Neighbors do report through those paper-tit, then walls, hearing a ton of yelling coming from inside the house, especially between Antonio and his wife, Maria. Maria was a hard-working housewife. She kept the house in pristine condition 24-7. She was obsessed with cleanliness. She loved organization, but not in the healthy way. She would freak out if anything was at a place,
Starting point is 00:22:05 even the slightest bit, like even an inch. Some speculated that Maria was suffering from OCD, but I'm not sure. So you have dad in Tonyo, mom Maria, son Fredrico. He recently dropped out of the military academy. He's dating a girl named Viola and that's kind of partnered to the story later. But other than that, Fredrikos just, he's just Fredrikos, he's just hanging out. And then you have Martina and her boyfriend, Marco, which Martina's family, like I said, they all loved Marco a lot. Maybe it was the fact that Marco and Martina knew each other ever since they were young. I mean, they practically grew up together, but they didn't officially start kind of dating until they were 17 years old. I mean, the relationship between Marco and Martina and her family was really wholesome.
Starting point is 00:22:49 Even during Marco's birthday party, that the family hosted for him. He gave a speech. He got up and he said, I would just like to say, we've been officially dating official official for like a year and a half, right? Martina, no, no, a year and four months. No, it's a year and four months and six hours. And I just want to thank Martina for giving me the best moments of my life.
Starting point is 00:23:12 And I want to thank you all, her family, for welcoming me so warmly. I mean, that sounds sweet, that sounds like they all love each other. But I can't help but be a pessimist for two seconds, because I mean, let's be real. Most high school relationships don't last. And for Marco to be this close with Martinez family, it just feels like a big heartbreak is going to come. A breakup with your first love is already so devastating, so crushing, all-encompassing, but imagine the feeling of breaking up with their family on top of that. It's like you lose a whole
Starting point is 00:23:43 second family. It's just so intense. But I guess it's all hindsight, because in reality, Martina's parents loved her boyfriend, and that would typically be a good thing. Besides, just by looking at the two of them, it felt like the couple made sense. They're both incredibly attractive. Blonde, Martina was fake blonde, but blonde nonetheless.
Starting point is 00:24:02 She was smart and vicious. She attended nursing school, and Marco wanted to enter the military academy, and while everybody else is clapping and encouraging them, Martina hated it. She felt nervous. She felt like if Marco joined the academy, their relationship would be over. There was no way for Martina to be able to live with that feeling. I mean, she constantly thought that Marco was cheating on her all the time. One neighbor reported that their daughter couldn't even say hi to Marco on the street, because if Martina saw, she would flip out. She would throw straight up tantrums in the middle of her residential street, which like, do that
Starting point is 00:24:40 on the next block. Don't do it on the street that you live on. That's just embarrassing, but Martina did it. So yeah, she was very jealous, incredibly possessive, and Marcos' personality did not help. Now, I'm not going to say that he was flirtatious, per se, but he was a confident guy. So confident in, you know, could also be mistaken as flirting. He's the type to flash those big, toothy smiles at everyone, and at every conversation, he just seemed to be incredibly charismatic, and it's not like he was trying to, it just happened. It's not like he's trying to charm someone, that's just how he talks. But other than the jealousy issue, the couple seems to be going along great.
Starting point is 00:25:19 So in 2015, they had been dating for about three years now, and everybody just kind of expected, okay, this is the young high school couple that's gonna get married early. Like, you know how every high school has that couple? And I'm like, for some reason, they're gonna get married and have kids very soon, I can feel it in my bones.
Starting point is 00:25:35 That was Marco and Martina. Marco was practically part of Martina's family, so made sense. Some speculated that Marco wanted this. He wanted to cozy up to Antonio, the head of the Martina House, with a Chiantoli House, so that he could have some connections in the military career dream of his. So just made sense. And Antonio might have latched on to Marco because his own son, Fredrico, dropped out of the academy. So this is Antonio's
Starting point is 00:26:02 way of having another quote, son, follow in his footsteps. Now either way, May 17th of 2015, Marco drops by the Chiantoli House for dinner. He just got back from working as a lifeguard at the resort nearby. So after dinner, he's feeling all sticky. He's feeling a little gross salty. All that sunscreen is now just feeling so thick on his skin. And he asked Martina, do you mind if I take a quick bath? She's like, yeah, sure, I'll join you. Listen, it sounds sexual, but it wasn't. Like, she's not actually going in the bathtub with him,
Starting point is 00:26:33 she's gonna be washing her face in the sink. So all of Martina's family are home, including Fred Rico and his girlfriend Viola. Martina wasn't trying to do anything nasty. She was just sitting in the bathroom, chit chatting with him while he bathed. She's doing her skincare routine. And at some point in that night, I don't know if all the family was in and out, but at some point, Antonio, the dad, he knocks on the bathroom door and is like, hey, can I come in? Again, I don't know how many bathrooms
Starting point is 00:27:00 this family has. Maybe they're all sharing one, or maybe they're that comfortable that the whole family was in and out while Marco has taken a bath. Maybe they're washing their face, maybe they're grabbing their things. Listen, I'm not sure, but I imagine it's very casual. It just didn't feel strange. Like that's what everybody's lining on. This is just the energy that they're putting out there. Maybe Marco was so a part of the family that everybody treated him like that, literally like family. So Antonio is like, hey, can I come in? Marco, sure, sure, come on in. It's about 1115 when Antonio walks in.
Starting point is 00:27:32 There's no shower curtains. So Marco is just waddling about in clear water I'm assuming, and his girlfriend's dad has just walks in. Meanwhile, Martina, who had been washing her face in the sink, when she sees her dad come in, she decides to leave. I don't know why maybe she left to go get something, maybe she needed a towel. Martina leaves. That's all I know. She closes the door behind her, and now it's just Antonio and Marco in the room alone, and Marco, like I said, is butt naked in the bathtub. Well, I guess they're not alone. They're with Antonio's guns.
Starting point is 00:28:06 Listen, I don't know why someone would keep guns in the bathroom. But Antonio had guns in the bathroom, like not one for safety, in case he's ambushed in the bathroom. I don't know why he would be, but like, you know, not one. But a lot of guns. And Antonio is a military man, but his position had nothing to do with guns. On top of that, his gun license was expired, so he wasn't just keeping guns in the bathroom, he was keeping illegal guns in the bathroom.
Starting point is 00:28:31 Later, Antonio would be asked about why the hell he had guns in the bathroom, and this is his explanation. Well, I usually keep them in the safe, but that morning I had taken the guns out of the safe so that I could clean them. You see, I had shooting practice coming up, and I didn't clean my guns in a while. Which side note, Antonio completely ignores the fact that his gun license has been expired, but whatever. He says, I took them out for a clean, but as I'm cleaning them, my wife is all like, honey, honey, I need you for something.
Starting point is 00:28:59 So I had to rush out, but I didn't want to leave the guns out in plain sight, so I put them in the bathroom cabinet. And when Marco was taking a bath, I'm like, oh, shoot the guns! I need to get them out and put them back in the safe. I didn't want anyone to get hurt, you know? Besides, what would Marco think of all of us if he just opened the bathroom cabinet and saw some guns sitting around? That would be alarming.
Starting point is 00:29:22 So anyway, I went in to take them out. The whole explanation is weird. You don't want Marco to find a gun after his bath because he'll be shocked. So you would rather take out the gun out of the bathroom while he's taking a bath and he can see you walking out with guns like that's... That's alarming. I don't know the logic on that one. Antonio goes to the cabinet, takes out the guns, and I imagine Marco was shocked. Now, shocked in the sense that he's not alarmed that he's going to be hurt, but just imagine taking a relaxing bubble bath, and your girlfriend's dad enters the bathroom, pulls out two guns, are you still going to be relaxing? Are you still going to be turning yourself into a bubbly Santa Claus? Little bubble bath beard. I don't think so. Like, what do you, sir? I didn't. I brought her back home on curfew. What are you talking about?
Starting point is 00:30:09 But according to Antonio, he says, Marco was not alarmed at all. In fact, Marco was excited. Antonio could tell. I don't know how he could tell. Where the bubble's not bubbling. I don't know. Was there a reason he thought so? It's just all so strange. Like I'm trying to point to the fact that how do you even know? So Antonio claims, Marco has been dying to see his guns. And he's been begging him for ages, please show me your guns, show me your guns. I want to learn how they function, I want to learn how they were used to give me some gun lessons. So when Antonio pulls them out, Marco doesn't want to lose this opportunity.
Starting point is 00:30:45 He asks Antonio, oh, could you please just show me the guns right here right now? I would imagine most people would say, oh my god, let me get out of here and maybe you can give me a lesson. Yeah, so your hands are wet, everything's wet. Exactly. And mind you, Marco is stark naked in the middle of a bubble bath. I don't know if you guys have ever taken gun lessons. I took a couple of gun lessons.
Starting point is 00:31:08 The last thing you would want to be around a gun is naked because you already feel like vulnerable and you're with this very scary thing that you've always been taught is so disastrous, right? So it just feels, you're nervous. Why would you want to be naked? It just adds to the dilemma of like, I don't think a normal human would do that. So Marco, stark naked in the middle of a bubble bath. It's just not the ideal gun gazing, gun learning experience. Now Antonio allegedly is like, ah, this is awkward. I don't really
Starting point is 00:31:37 want to show you my guns, what your guns just out and about. But Marco keeps begging and begging. Please show me the guns. Oh, please, pretty please, please show me the guns. Antonio makes it seem like Marco was just dying to hold the pistols in his soapy, shriveled bath fingers, which I highly doubt. So he claims he keeps telling Marco, no, don't touch it with your wet hands. I'll show them to you, but just don't touch him. Again, Antonio is making it seem like Margot is this little kid trying to snatch the gun with his grubby little hands, while he's butt naked in the bathtub. The whole explanation is strange. For example, if Margot was trying
Starting point is 00:32:15 to get the guns from Antonio with his slippery bath hands, does that mean that Antonio was crouched close to the bathtub, close enough for Marco to reach over and grab the guns, or did Marco stand up in the tub, literally exposing all of his private parts to his future father and law because he was so desperate to touch a gun. You see why it's hard to understand Antonio's story? Yeah, nothing makes sense. Exactly. It's like one of those, I hate these, like even when the cops sometimes for popular cases
Starting point is 00:32:42 give you an explanation, you're like technically is it possible? Yes, but would a human actually do that? No like it just doesn't vibe with human Emotions and human natural instincts So now according to Antonio he put the guns inside of a pouch and he's got this pouch slung over his left shoulder So he's kind of holding it like a little nap sack. Is that what you call it? Like a little sack of guns.
Starting point is 00:33:07 What? Yeah. What? Yeah. And in Tonya, he's like, oh, okay, let me put the rest of the guns in this little sack. And you know what, I'll show you one of the guns. Let me grab it.
Starting point is 00:33:17 So with his right hand, he goes into the little sap that's still over his left shoulder, pulls out one of the guns and he claims that as he pulls it out with his right hand the pouch slips out of his left hand and like kind of down his shoulder so he's saying his natural instinct was to jerk his right hand the one with the gun in it to the left side to grab the pouch that's falling down. Like imagine you're holding your phone in your right hand and your purse is falling off your left shoulder. Maybe you would instinctively jerk your right hand with your phone inside to grab it before it falls. Well that's what
Starting point is 00:33:53 Antonio claims he tried to do. But he ends up firing the gun in the process. The gun was shot. You guessed it. It shot Marco. Wow, what a bizarre scenario. I mean, this statement just boggles my mind. The fact that this guy thinks that people will sit there and believe it, that is crazy to me. Antonio, the Naval Officer, employed in secret services in Italy, this is a man who knew how to handle firearms, but the way that he is describing the whole incident is that of a kid who had never taken a gun safety training
Starting point is 00:34:26 class ever. First of all, Antonio claimed that he was cleaning the guns. Why were there life bullets in the gun if you're cleaning it? Oh, that's good. Yeah, it's like, what do you mean? And the gun that Antonio shot Marco with, he would have to cock the gun before firing it.
Starting point is 00:34:42 So if he were cleaning it, why was the gun cocked and loaded? I mean, it's strange. Are you just playing Russian roulette with your own fingers while you're cleaning it? That's so dangerous. So Marco was shot by the gun. I don't believe that he was accidentally shot, but you get it. The bullet entered Marco's left upper arm. So like right under his shoulder, and it went through his arm and into the left side of his torso because his arm was right next to his side. And it enters into the left side of his torso. It punctures his left lung but it stops short of his heart. The bullet had this downward trajectory going from the upper tricep and downwards towards the torso. So I mean essentially
Starting point is 00:35:22 someone shot down at him. But remember Marco was trying to get Antonio's gun from him. So does that mean that Marco got up, tried to get his gun, but it didn't work, so he very quickly laid back down in the bathtub, acting like nothing happened, and then Antonio grabbed one of his guns and shot him by accident. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:35:40 So not only did Antonio accidentally shoot a loaded gun, but he managed to shoot it downwards. Now, let's assume that his story is true. I just can't get over the part that this military man that works with classified information. You're telling me he's cleaning his loaded gun in the bathroom. And later while he's showing it off to his future son-in-law, he had his finger around the trigger while he's holding the gun. I mean, what if it accidentally fired? The whole story is just five levels of unbelievable. It just feels like a 13 year old kid
Starting point is 00:36:11 that has never handled a gun before. And even Antonio believed that his story sounded like shit, because later he would change his story multiple times. He would say, actually, I lied. The pouch didn't slip. What really happened? and you have to believe me on this one. Because obviously I lied the first time, but why would I lie the second time? Anyway, what really happened was, I was joking around with Marco. I took the gun and pretended to shoot him, and I thought it was, ho, ho, ho, hilarious, right? Which side note? Antonio, I never thought that I would say this, but you should have stuck with your original version.
Starting point is 00:36:45 This is just straight up dumb. You're in the military and you're pretending to shoot your son-in-law or your future son-in-law? For what giggles? Now, Antonio claimed he didn't know that the gun was loaded, but why even pull the trigger at all if you're pretending to shoot someone? And I'm not saying that you should ever pretend to shoot someone, you should never do that. Listen, like I said, I've had some gun lessons.
Starting point is 00:37:05 And the first two things that they panned into your head non-stop, the first one is never have your finger on the trigger unless you're literally about to fire the gun right now. Not in 10 seconds, not in a minute, not on your way to fire the gun right now. Don't ever put your finger on the trigger. And rule number two is that never point the gun at something that you would never want to accidentally shoot. Such as yourself, your foot, your head, somebody else, your dog. Even if your finger is not on the trigger, my instructor had me practice with a fake gun
Starting point is 00:37:35 a million times, like how to carry it if I had to carry it from a room to another. So these are, I mean, Antonia is in the military. He should know these things, and I had my gun lessons in America. Like love this country, but we're freaking horrible at gun control. We're like the worst. So I just, I feel like Antonia knew these things. I feel like Antonia expects us to believe that he left his brain outside the bathroom door. But anytime that you try to tell him, Antonia, it's just not making sense.
Starting point is 00:38:04 The math is not mapping. He would get upset and just say, Antonio, it's just not making sense. The math is not mathing. He would get upset and just say, well, I'm not a weapons expert. Well, I'm not a weapons expert. Now am I. So now, back to Marco. He's in the bath. The bullet wound appeared to be quite small. It's just how it worked.
Starting point is 00:38:16 He wasn't bleeding profusely. In fact, there was relatively little blood, which doesn't negate or take away from the fact that he was just shot. And he's bleeding profusely Internally now you're thinking well the rest of the Chantoli family had to have heard the gun shot and Martina is pissed that her dad shot her boyfriend They're calling an ambulance as we speak and the rest of the family. They're rushing to the bathroom to see what the hell is going on Well, Frederico comes into the bathroom first followed by a sister Martina the girlfriend now Antonio says that his children walked in and was like, what the heck, dad? They look at him, they look at Marco, they look at the gun, and without even exchanging
Starting point is 00:38:52 a single word between the group, the kids just assumed that their dad, Antonio, had fired an air shot, like a fire to blink. While Marco is suffering in the bathtub? Yeah, he's like moaning and groaning in the bathtub and they're like, well, he definitely fired a blank and he's probably just stressed from the sound of the gunshot. I guess they're trying to argue that Marco's wound was so small that none of them believed he was shot, which is like, okay, let's just say we'll give them that. But like, he's not feeling well. Like, yeah, I get it, the water is not filling with this red color.
Starting point is 00:39:27 Like, he's not just sitting there like, oh my god, that was so loud, I can't believe you just did that, that scared me, oh my god. Dunns are cool, like, he looks like he's dying. So what is Fred Rico the sun do? He scoops up his father's guns and hides them in his own bedroom under his mattress. Yeah, because that's what you do when your dad fires a blank shot and nobody was shot or hurt because it's he he giggles but like seriously let me hide the gun. And once Fredericko is done with that and Tonyo asks his son to help him pull Marco out of
Starting point is 00:39:56 the bathtub because you know he's in so much shock from the loud noise of the gun that he can't come out of the bathtub himself. Oh my gosh. So they pull him out of the bathtub, place them on the parents bed, so Antonio and Maria's bed. And again, they still claim that they don't think Marco was shot. They put him on the bed. And Martina, seeing her boyfriend distressed and moaning and pain for apparently no reason,
Starting point is 00:40:22 nobody is asking, nobody is saying, hey dad, did you buy chance? Have a loaded bullet in that gun? No, she doesn't ask that. Martina instead she grabs a blow dryer, a hair dryer, and starts using it to dry off Marco like his body, which is just weird. I mean, he just been inside the bathtub. Mind you, Marco is butt naked in front of the entire family
Starting point is 00:40:44 and they're just hovering over him while he's laying on the parents bed. And Martina, his girlfriend is trying to dry him off with a blow dryer. The whole thing is so suspicious. I have never heard anyone of doing that to anyone ever. Like, what is the purpose? Why not use a towel? I don't understand. Is it because you don't want blood on a towel if you are suspecting there might be blood anywhere? But it would still get on the bed, so I don't want blood on a towel if you are suspecting there might be blood anywhere? But it would still get on the bed, so I don't know. So Marco is naked and mind you, he's in pure agony. He has a pure slung and severe internal bleeding.
Starting point is 00:41:13 He can feel it, he knows something is wrong. And Martina just keeps blood drying. Maybe they're trying to cover up any moaning noises because they have paper thin walls. It's just so strange. Then eventually she decides, you know what, it is a little weird that my boyfriend is naked in front of the entire family.
Starting point is 00:41:32 So again, they're saying that nobody wants a dad. Hey, are you sure you fired a blank because that's weird. What happened to him? Is he okay? They're just being creepy mindless zombies standing around him. Like he's some part of rich, like he's gonna be some part of a ritual. I don't know
Starting point is 00:41:48 It's Martina decides wait again We got to put some boxers on this guy because he's naked so she grabs his boxers and puts them on for him Once she covers up his private parts the whole family is like well, we should probably just like put on more clothes They just ignore the fact that he's in so much pain he can't even pull up his own boxers. And instead of calling for help, they start putting pants on him, assured on him.
Starting point is 00:42:12 And with every movement, I'm sure Marco was feeling intense pain. He's begging for help at this point. And the whole family are standing around the bed, just floating blurry heads in his eyes, telling him, shh, calm down, it's gonna be okay. Don't worry that little brain of yours, you're gonna be okay. You're just in shock, you're having a panic attack,
Starting point is 00:42:31 and Tonyo fired a blank, and you were so nervous you're having an anxiety attack. I mean talk about gaslighting. Marcos can barely move our talk, and he might believe that the family thinks this to be true, but he's trying to tell them, no, please, I need help. Again, his injuries were not visible.
Starting point is 00:42:48 In fact, the bullet entrance wound looked more like a cigarette burn than anything. Even the paramedics would later note how small the wound was. But I think that's more alarming, because if someone near me, and I couldn't see what's wrong with them physically, there's no signs of trauma, there's no blood,
Starting point is 00:43:03 but they're in a lot of pain I think I would feel even more panicked like okay, are they having a seizure or a heart attack or something going on inside that I don't know I would immediately call emergency services But at this point it's 1140 Marco had been shot 20 minutes ago and Viola Fredrico's girlfriend She's the only other person than Marco that's insisting that they call for help. She's convincing her boyfriend, Frederico, we got to do something about it. So Frederico picks up the phone, dials 118. That's like, there, 911. And he says something along the lines of, there's a guy here who feels sick.
Starting point is 00:43:36 His face is all pale and he's not breathing. And then he corrected himself and said, actually, the guy is breathing, but he's having a hard time breathing. Now, the operator is clearly concerned. he's having a hard time breathing. Now the operators clearly concerned, like what do you mean what happened? Like what do you mean they're not breathing? And Frederiko is like, oh, I'm not really sure what happened. I think he's been sick or something.
Starting point is 00:43:56 And I guess Maria the mom is getting frustrated with Frederiko's answers. She takes the phone from her son and tells the operator, oh I'm sorry about that. The guy in question was ill, but he's feeling a lot better now, and she hangs up the phone from her son and tells the operator, oh, I'm sorry about that. The guy in question was ill, but he's feeling a lot better now and she hangs up the phone. The depressing part about all of this is that had the ambulance arrived at this point, Marco would have likely been saved. So he's dying, losing blood internally, but he wasn't beyond help. Now, I think that this is the point where Marco realizes that the Chiantolese have no intention of helping him. In fact he's beginning to
Starting point is 00:44:28 realize that they're doing the opposite of helping him, they're hurting him. So he's cornered. He's a hostage essentially. He starts screaming bloody murder like a madman and remember the walls of the Chiantolese house are thin. So the neighbors must have hurt but they did nothing. And eventually, Marco screams they died down. He's so exhausted. To scream like that, he would have had to contract his abdominal muscles incredibly hard. He had to fill his lung with a lot of air, which would increase the pressure inside the
Starting point is 00:44:57 chest cavity, which would have worsened the bleeding. Eventually, Marco didn't even have the energy to speak. So Frederico, the brightest guy in the room, says, he's not looking so good. Maybe we should call 118 again. Now even up until this point, the family claims that they have no idea that Marco was shot. Well everyone but Antonio. Antonio, he claims that he accidentally shot the gun and the gun fired, but he didn't think that it hit Marco.
Starting point is 00:45:23 He thought it was an utter coincidence that Marco was suddenly acting like he was dying. He truly thought it was shock. So if Rodrigo and Antonio go to the bathroom to investigate, they find a shell casing and they're like, oh my god wait, it wasn't a blank, so like he's been maybe shot for real. So Antonio calls 118 and is toned during the entire conversation. I imagine, I mean, just think about how mind-blowing this information would be. You accidentally shoot a gun. You think you fired a blink. Turns out it's not a blink. You shot a guest in your bathtub.
Starting point is 00:45:55 You shot your daughter's boyfriend. I mean, just the series of revelations that would be the adrenaline. You would be screaming. You would be just overly the animated, but Antonio's calm. The transcripts go something like this. 118 Rome, good evening. Oh, good evening.
Starting point is 00:46:12 Hey, listen, I have a emergency at my house. This is the address. And as the operator is verifying the address, they can hear Marco screams from the back. Marco is gasping for air he's moaning, and Antonio says,, well listen I could just drive him to the hospital if you need. Why I can send you an ambulance if you need it, why would you want to drive him to the hospital yourself? Oh I don't know I guess to save time theoretically. Meanwhile Marco is yelling stop enough, stop enough. What? The operator asks for Antonio's full name and then asks about how old Marco is and what's the problem? Antonio responds, he's 20 years old and he got into an accident basically in the bathtub.
Starting point is 00:46:51 Oh, uh, did he fall? Yeah, basically he fell down and he got punctured by a little, um, what do you call those, like those, those combs, like a hairbrush, like the sharp pointed end at the end of a hairbrush? So then what happened? I mean, I think it like stung his arm, but he got scared and now he's full on panicking. Meanwhile, Margot is screaming in the back. He's using whatever strength he has left because I'm sure this feels like the last chance to get help. He's internally hemorrhaging from the bullet inside of his chest. There's no exit wound. It's in his body. Meanwhile, Antonio is going on about how Marco somehow slipped in
Starting point is 00:47:26 and paled himself on a hairbrush and then had a panic attack, and Marco knows that's not the damn truth. So at first, even the operator isn't buying it. They're like, but I can hear that he's moaning pretty loudly. Yes, exactly. Okay. I have a question, is he able-bodied,
Starting point is 00:47:44 or is there any other issue with him? No, is he able-bodied or is there any other issue with him? No, no, he's able-bodied. I'm simply asking because I can hear his voice and it sounds strange like he's in a lot of pain. No, no, no, he's just scared and panicking. Okay, and what's his name? Marco Vanini. Does he have like a laceration or a cut on his body? Yeah, there's a small cut.
Starting point is 00:48:03 A small cut? Yeah, but he's really panicked about it though. And in the back, you hear Marco screaming, please, enough, please, and he's screaming again more and more. And he continues to scream, and he keeps saying things like, I can't do it, enough, please, I'm sorry. Antonio tries to calm the operator down and says, see, this is the panic that I was telling you
Starting point is 00:48:24 about, he's freaking out. Okay, well I'm sending you an ambulance. Okay, thank you. And they hang up. The whole thing sounds like two friends just catching up. Even the operator had no sense of urgency, which I don't know, maybe they're trained to not sound panicked and stress the civilians out,
Starting point is 00:48:40 but it's almost like they're not even the least bit worried about Marco. I think at this point, the operator was skeptical about sending an ambulance and wasting resources on someone that didn't need the help, meanwhile there could be people actually dying. But at the same time, you can hear Marco screaming and it's just overall better safe than sorry,
Starting point is 00:48:59 you would imagine an operator would think like that. So throughout the 118 call, Marco is incoherent for most of it, but you can tell that he's screaming in pain. Now, a lot of native speakers have said that it sounds like he keeps repeating enough, enough. And he's in pain. He's almost out of it.
Starting point is 00:49:15 His words are starting to slur, but he's saying enough. And it sounds like he's almost frustrated. So the question is, why is he saying enough? That's an odd thing to say when you're dying. I can imagine, please help me. What's wrong with you? I need help. I'm serious. Let me go. But enough? It's a bit odd. And he was talking to Martina while he was saying that. Because in the audio clip, every time Margot says enough, enough, Martina responds with, yes, enough, yes. So it sounds like he's almost pleading with her. Now the question is, why would he plead with her? enough, Martina responds with yes, enough, yes.
Starting point is 00:49:45 So it sounds like he's almost pleading with her. Now the question is, why would he plead with her? If Martina is the girlfriend, why wouldn't she just help him? And why would he plead with her? When her dad just accidentally shot him. So I just want to point out, there's no way in hell that she and Tolly family was just sitting there listening to Marco just grown in pain
Starting point is 00:50:04 like this for 45 minutes and they just believe that he's fine. That to me is completely mind boggling. The neighbors also reported hearing Marco apologizing to Martina saying Martina I'm so sorry Marty I'm so sorry which like again love how the neighbors hear that but they apparently don't hear that he's screaming for help or maybe they did and they didn't bother calling the police. Anyway, why was Marco apologizing to Martina when allegedly her father had just shot him? Well, people have a theory online. Remember how Martina was super possessive,
Starting point is 00:50:34 very controlling and incredibly jealous? Well, allegedly, Marco complained to his mom that he couldn't stand it anymore and he wanted to break up soon. The theory is that Martina might have been mad at something Bielor perceived. Maybe theory is that Martina might have been mad at something Bielor perceived maybe she thought that he was cheating on her maybe he was or maybe he was being too flirtatious regardless. The theory is Marco did something to make Martina mad maybe he
Starting point is 00:50:56 even wanted to break up with her and she shot him and that is why the story makes no sense because Antonio's story doesn't make sense because maybe Antonio didn't shoot Marco Maybe Martina did and he's taking the fall for his daughter That would explain why Marco was apologizing to Martina and telling her enough almost as if he's implying that he's paid the price for his crimes Like enough. I did everything you asked me Martina like enough. Like I'm in too much pain This is enough. please get me help now. Personally, I agree with this theory. I mean, it makes more sense than when Antonio
Starting point is 00:51:30 was selling to the police. For when Antonio had no real motive, and while I do think that this is a guy that would have no qualms about shooting someone randomly, I just don't think it would happen in this situation, because Antonio saw himself as the man of the house, the leader of the protector. I don't think that he would have accidentally shot someone in his house
Starting point is 00:51:47 because that would be incredibly embarrassing for a man like Antonio. Like, can you imagine how dumb that sounds to tell your supervisor, hey, I need to, you got to fire me because I'm going to jail because I accidentally shot someone in my house. It sounds dumb. But I can see Antonio taking the fall from Martina because in a way, this is him showing his family that he is the protector, he's the leader, he's protecting his family.
Starting point is 00:52:09 I also think that if Antonio shot Marco for some reason, we don't know. And as head of the house, if he told everyone, keep it quiet, keep it quiet, let's act like it's an accident, I don't think that they would have been able to keep it quiet for the next seven years. Just because their dad told them so. I think with enough police probing, you give in. Maybe you give up a little too much information. Maybe you get something a little bit confused.
Starting point is 00:52:32 But if you have a big reason, my relying, a reason that people can get behind, maybe it'll stay up better. Such as protecting a little sister, the youngest of the family, protecting a daughter. Maybe Martina would even show signs of guilt, like she wants to tell Marco's parents and help them, like, oh my god, I can't believe my dad accidentally did this, I'm so sorry, I love Marco so much, but she didn't do any of that. Unfortunately, we can't prove or disprove this theory,
Starting point is 00:52:58 because even the police seem to be drinking something weird in this case. They just really dropped the ball. They didn't even seal off the house as a crime scene. They never searched the house for blood residue, gunshot residue. They never tested the gun for fingerprints. They never tested the family's hands for gunshot residue, nothing, nothing at all. So you're like, okay, well maybe Marco can help. Maybe he can tell the police exactly what he saw. Well remember the relaxed 118 phone call?
Starting point is 00:53:25 Or I guess 118 really didn't think that the call was at urgent. So the ambulance took their sweet time. I get it, you don't wanna waste resources. Other people need help, they're actively dying and you think that this is like a print call or something, but, and I believe in Italy, there is four levels to the urgency
Starting point is 00:53:40 that ambulance is respond to. It's kind of like this in the US, I don't know the precise number of levels, but there's different classifications. If somebody's like having a heart attack, that's like level one. If someone is shot and bleeding to death, yeah, that's level one. But this was like the lowest. They're like, we don't know, maybe he's having a mental breakdown, it was level 4. Like, it's all in his head. Which, I get it, I get it, there's only so many resources, but I'm just saying, if someone is having a full-on mental Psychotic breakdown like this I would say that's pretty bad. I would say they're a danger to themselves and to those around them
Starting point is 00:54:12 So anyways, the ambulance arrives. They find Marco's barely conscious body Well, they almost trip over him. We'll get to that. He's drifting in and out, muttering enough, help, mom, over and over. He's out of it. He can't even respond to paramedics. And even when the paramedics get there, the family doesn't tell them what happened. They just shrug their shoulders and they leave the house to get fresh air outside. So the paramedics, they know that something is wrong with Marco, but they don't suspect that he's been shot. I mean, his wound is so small and they put clothes on him.
Starting point is 00:54:49 It's like a cigarette burn even if he was struck naked. The paramedics didn't even consider that he had been shot. I don't even think they thought that he was in the bath because he was dry at this point. And the family, they're just hanging out outside. Fred Rico, Viola, and Martina. You would think that Martina would be right next to Marco holding his hand trying to get him the best help possible, trying to answer all the paramedics questions. Exactly. But nope, she's outside. And when a paramedic came to ask her, what happened to your boyfriend? She just casually said, I don't know, I wasn't there.
Starting point is 00:55:16 Which I mean, that is so cold. So at this point, basically, they're not trying to save him. They probably want him to be dead. So he can't talk. Right. But this is also making them look so suspicious. I don't know. I think they just truly not trying to save him. But they also don't want to have like a murder case right then and there on their head. So they're like, let's just do our best not to help this situation. So hopefully he passed away. Yeah. I mean the whole thing is so cold The paramedics asked the family. Why was Michael on the floor when we came in? So apparently
Starting point is 00:55:52 Margot was on the floor right next to the door of the bedroom. They took him off the couch I mean it's speculated that they did this so that he wouldn't bleed on their furniture Which is heartless and cruel, but my Tina said it so that he could be closer to the door so that the paramedics could get to him quicker. Which is, I mean, you guys waited 45 minutes to call for help, but now you're so concerned about the two seconds it would take the paramedics to get from the door
Starting point is 00:56:16 to the couch, which by the way, imagine storming into a room, trying to save someone's life to almost step on them since they're on the floor next to the door. You just don't expect him to be there. It seems like they put him there so that he wouldn't bleed on the furniture. So the paramedics keep asking the family
Starting point is 00:56:34 what the four happened because none of this makes sense. It's all confusing. Antonio repeated his stupid hairbrush story that Margot slipped in fell in the bath and impaled himself on a comb. And the rest of the family is just there listening to this. I mean, nobody thought that they would find the bullet in Marcos' chest. Maybe they genuinely thought that the hospital would be like, this was an accident and then the parents would be like, we don't want an autopsy, let's just bury him.
Starting point is 00:57:01 Later when Antonio was confronted with his bachelors crazy lie, said, Oh, that? Yeah, I have no idea why I said that to be completely honest. Later Antonio stated, you know what, I do know why I said that. I actually lied in order to protect Marco, yeah. You know, he's trying to join the military academy and the military academy doesn't take people who had serious injuries such as having been shot, you know, so I didn't want him to lose his dream of being in the Academy, so I made up this lie that it was like a hairbrush situation. I thought that Marco would survive,
Starting point is 00:57:33 and eventually he would get into the military Academy. So the paramedics rush Marco to the hospital. They have no idea what's happened. They genuinely think that he's fallen on a hairbrush, and the story keeps going, because these people really have no shame. The family call Marco's parents and let them know, hey, um, don't worry, nothing big is going on, but Marco is a little bit sick. Like he's going to be fine.
Starting point is 00:57:55 He just fell down a flight of stairs. That's all. They're like, what? I mean, even if you fall down the stairs, let's say you fall down the stairs enough to be hospitalized, that's terrifying. Yeah. So of course, his family rushed to CM, which side note, the paramedics asked if anyone Even if you fought on the stairs, let's say you fall down the stairs enough to be hospitalized, that's terrifying. So of course, his family rushed to CM, which side note, the paramedics asked
Starting point is 00:58:09 if anyone wanted to be in the ambulance with Marco while he was rushed to the ER, and not a single person said, yes, they were like, nah, that's okay, not even Martina. Scutty. Yeah. Only guilt. Like, you would have to prime me out of the ambulance
Starting point is 00:58:26 if one of my loved ones is in that ambulance. Like, you would literally have to claw me out. You know a lot of killers. They will pretend to be innocent. So they will pretend to do the right thing, which is stay in the ambulance with your boyfriend. Yes. But they're not doing that.
Starting point is 00:58:40 I think either they're really that cold-hearted or they can't look the paramedics in the eye or they can't look Mark on the eye. Exactly. Which doesn't make them better. People, it's just their guilty. Yeah. No.
Starting point is 00:58:52 So, not even Martina. In fact, Martina didn't even go to the emergency room. She stayed home with Viola, Fredrico's girlfriend. Her parents and her brother drove to the ER in their own car. Now, it's suspected that Martina and Viola stayed behind to clean up the house. Because the police saw no blood in the entire house. None that was visible to the eye. And you're like, well, duh, test it with luminal.
Starting point is 00:59:15 We know this from watching CSI. So surely the police know this. Well, they didn't feel like it. They just didn't do it. They're like, there's no blood. Meanwhile, Marcos rushed to the ER. His hands, lips, they didn't feel like it. They just didn't do it. They're like, there's no blood. Meanwhile, Marco's rushed to the ER. His hands, lips, their purple. His face is this ghostly white.
Starting point is 00:59:30 His eyes glased over. I mean, the hospital knew that whatever they needed to do to save Marco, they couldn't. This is a small town hospital. They're 25 miles from Rome. So my guess is, for really bad operations, they redirect the patients to the major hospital in Rome instead of making this the major hospital. If the Chien Tollies had wanted to help Marco, they could have told the paramedic something anything, initially, to say you need to take him to the hospital in Rome. But they just let him go to the small local hospital.
Starting point is 00:59:59 It's like more like an urgent care. So when Marco's family got to the hospital, they immediately want answers, and Fred Rico stepped in to give a different story. He said, my father Antonio was cleaning his gun in the bathroom, and Marco was shot. But the bullet only went into his arm, so we didn't think it was a big deal, we didn't think he was seriously injured,
Starting point is 01:00:17 we didn't wanna make a big fuss out of it, it just grazed his arm. And as soon as the hospital realized that Marco had been shot, they're arranging an airlift for him to get him to the Rome ER because, yeah, it's that bad. This guy has internal bleeding. He's going to die. So they're trying to rush him into operation. But once Marco was loaded onto the helicopter, they were airborne for a few minutes. The helicopter comes back down and Marco's parents are like, what's going on?
Starting point is 01:00:41 Why is the helicopter coming back down? It was just after 1am, and there was no reason for them to get to room, because Marco was dead. It's believed by a lot of the medical staff that if Marco got help right then and there when he was shot, or even during the first or the second one, one eight call, he likely would have survived. And I think that this is all made worse by the fact that Martina was in nursing school.
Starting point is 01:01:04 She knew that Marco, I mean, anyone would have known that he needed help, but she especially knew. And she knew that the local Lattice Bolly hospital would not be able to help him. And I think that's when they feel more confident telling the truth at that moment because they knew, oh, finally, he's here now. Yeah. It's probably too late now. Like he's dead.
Starting point is 01:01:23 Yeah. And then he said, oh, you know what, it was actually a gunshot. So after Marco passes, Antonio tries to bribe a doctor to keep quiet about Marco's cause of death. He tried to reason out them. I could lose my job if this story comes out. Well, the story did come out and the Chiantolli's were charged with Marco's murder. Side note, before we get into the court proceedings, a bit about Marco's death, like some odd bizarre details. The day that he was shot, Marcos was paid. I don't know if he gets paid like twice a week,
Starting point is 01:01:50 once a week, I don't know. But he had 100 euros in his pocket, and the police never recovered that money. So straight up, the family, the killers, they took his money too. I know that 100 euros is not gonna change anybody's life, but are you kidding? Like, that's so gross.
Starting point is 01:02:05 And the family, remember how they dressed Marco? Well, they didn't put him in his original clothes. They gave him new clothes. And for some reason, the police never confiscated Marco's original clothes. They just really didn't do anything. One of Marco's friends on behalf of Marco's family went to recover his clothes and his money. Now, his money was never recovered. And when he got the clothes, he's like,
Starting point is 01:02:26 oh, thanks, and Martina pointed out that she had washed them. Now, that's weird, because first of all, the friend would have never even noticed that the clothes were washed to begin with. And now he's like, that's strange. Why did you feel the need to point it out? And why did you wash them? And she said, well, the police took them in
Starting point is 01:02:41 and returned them because there was no evidence or anything on the clothes, so I washed them because they were in police possession. It felt like she was worried Margot's parents would notice that the clothes were washed and she wanted to go ahead and give a really bizarre reason for the washing. And another thing to note is that Margot's shirt was never recovered.
Starting point is 01:02:59 This is shady because Margot was shot through the arm. Was there potentially a bullet hole in the arm in the shirt? Because if there was, that wouldn't mean Margot had been wearing his shirt when he was shot, meaning he likely wasn't in the bathtub, and this would literally rip apart the whole family story. I mean, why else would they get rid of his shirt when the family was already facing so much scrutiny and speculation? And after Margot's death, the police were investigating,
Starting point is 01:03:23 and Maria decided to casually go around chatting with neighbors Now Maria is not a good actress. She was essentially asking people how much did you hear through the paper thin walls? And one of the neighbors straight up told her why I heard him apologizing I heard him saying something along the lines of I'm sorry Marty. I'm sorry to your daughter Martina Marty and Maria said oh no, you've got it all wrong He was saying sorry, Massy to your daughter, Martina, Marty, and Maria said, oh no, you've got it all wrong. He was saying, sorry, Massey. And they're like, who the hell is Massey?
Starting point is 01:03:49 Well, Massey is Marco's employer. I'm sorry, what? So you're telling me, in Marco's last dying moments, when he's with his girlfriend, he's apologizing to his boss. I'm sorry, but I don't even remember my bosses. Like, what are you talking about? It doesn't even remotely make sense, but I guess it worked. Because originally, the chiantollis were sent off
Starting point is 01:04:11 with a slap on their wrist. Antonio was given a five-year prison sentence. Meanwhile, the rest of the family got three years of probation and Viola was acquitted. And I have really, listen, I don't think Viola participated or wanted Marco dead, but I do think that she did help cleanup because while she stayed back with Martina.
Starting point is 01:04:31 And after everything went down, Viola sent a letter to Marco's parents and it said, I know this letter will make you angry and I don't know anything about what happened. I didn't see or hear anything. I hope you'll forgive me. What kind of letter is that? I'm assuming that she was telling Fred Rico that she saw what happened or she knew what happened and maybe he was
Starting point is 01:04:48 getting mad at her so she wrote this letter to kind of appease the family. Like I didn't see what happened, I didn't see anything. Almost like letting them know discreetly like she's going to keep her mouth shut. Because while I was with you right that letter, it's weird. Eventually the public was so outraged by their sentencing that the case essentially went viral. The court revised everybody's sentences. Antonio got 21 years in prison. The other three, Maria, Martina, and Fred Rico, got nine years in four months each,
Starting point is 01:05:14 and Viola was acquitted. And just the whole thing is infuriating. I can't imagine dying and feeling yourself bleeding out only to look up at the faces around you. The ones that you consider family, staring down at you and letting you die. In fact, wanting you to die. And they still never confessed to exactly what happened. Nope.
Starting point is 01:05:38 The whole thing is just despicable. And that is the murder in Italy of Marco Vanini. It's infuriating. Let me know your thoughts. Do you think that the theory that the internet has come up with makes sense? I think it makes most sense. Let me know and I will see you guys on Wednesday
Starting point is 01:05:55 for the main episode. Bye.

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