True Crime Campfire - Swindles and Sacraments: A Story of Deception and Belief

Episode Date: September 26, 2025

The Buddha said, "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it, even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and common sense." Ignore that advice, and you might find that you're clouding your vision--that instead of seeing what's really in front of you, you're filtering everything so it fits in with your beliefs. An unwavering, unquestioned belief in anything--a philosophy, an institution, or a person--can lend us strength sometimes, but it can also make us vulnerable. And there are plenty of people out there just waiting to exploit that vulnerability. This story is about two of them, each with a very different MO, and the havoc they wreaked in the lives of the people around them.SourcesThe German newspaper BZ (translated from German to English): Blackmail Sect: Now Former Members Speak Out by Romeo Regenass, Nov. 12, 2008Documentary "Seduced and Blackmailed" by Aldo Gugolz and Romeo RegenassTime: https://time.com/archive/6945942/the-swiss-gigolo-and-the-german-billionaire/NBC News: https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna29594154The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/mar/09/bmw-blackmailer-jailedTelegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/5051613/Religious-leader-denies-blackmailing-woman-in-Swiss-gigolo-case.htmlForbes:https://www.forbes.com/2009/03/09/scarbi-klatten-bmw-markets-faces-celebrity-blackmail.htmlThe Standard: https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/gigolo-who-seduced-bmw-heiress-boasted-he-read-women-like-a-map-6824827.htmlFollow us, campers!Patreon (join to get all episodes ad-free, at least a day early, an extra episode a month, and a free sticker!): https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfirehttps://www.truecrimecampfirepod.com/Facebook: True Crime CampfireInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/truecrimecampfire/?hl=enTwitter: @TCCampfire https://twitter.com/TCCampfireEmail: [e-mail]! https://true-crime-campfire.myspreadshop.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-campfire--4251960/support.

Hello, campers. Grab your marshmallows and gather around the true crime campfire. We're your camp counselors. I'm Katie. And I'm Whitney. And we're here to tell you a true story that is way stranger than fiction. We're roasting murderers and marshmallows around the true crime campfire. The Buddha said, believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it. Not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. Ignore that advice, and you might find that you're clouding your vision, that instead of seeing what's really in front of you, you're filtering everything so that it fits in with your beliefs.

An unwavering and unquestioned belief in anything, a philosophy, an institution, or a person, can lend us strength sometimes, but it can also make us vulnerable. And there are plenty of people out there just waiting to exploit that vulnerability. This story is about two of them, each with a very different MO, and that's a very different MO, a havoc they wreaked in the lives of the people around them. This is Swindles and Sacraments, a story of deception and belief. So, campers, for this one, we're in Munich, Germany. It's the spring of 2009, and everybody has been riveted to the case of Helges Garby,

a Swiss investment banker and Gigolo, and Suzanne Clotten, the richest woman in the country. A couple of years earlier, Scarby and Clotten had had a brief little affair, and when Clotton tried to break it off, Scarby tried to blackmail her with a sex tape he'd recorded without her knowledge or consent. He must have thought she'd give in without much backchat. After all, he'd done this before with other rich women. All told, he'd stolen or coerced about $12 million out of the women he'd seduced and blackmailed.

But Suzanne Clotten wasn't about to let him get away with this. She ratted him out. And now, Munich was hosting the trial of the decade. Not only was this a sensational story on the surface, a look at the covert sex lives of the wealthy and the shadowy world of the gigalows, but it had deeper layers that nobody had seen coming. Bizarre, movie of the week type stuff

about a secret of cult in a quaint Italian village and a filthy rich cult leader who claimed he had God-given magic powers. But we'll get to that part later. First, let's get some background on our dapper blackmailer. Helg Scarby is an unlikely guy to play the starring role in this story. He gives off a sort of Niles Crane energy. Perfect little suit, perfect little glasses, every hair firmly in place. Before his court hearing, he bantered with the press, smiling, and clearly trying to use

the same kind of charm he'd used to con his victims. Helg was an intelligent guy. Before he began his career as a sweetheart swindler, he'd studied law and served as a lieutenant. in the Swiss army. Later, he took a job working on corporate mergers for Credit Suisse. So he knew how to schmooze wealthy women. He felt perfectly at home in the kind of spaces they occupied. He knew all he had to do was put on a nice suit and hang out in the kind of places where you'd be considered riff-raff if you made less than 10 million a year. His marks would find him. One of Helg's first victims was an 83-year-old countess named Verena Du Pascier Goebbels. She was

Swiss like Helg Scarby, and for years she'd lived alone in a suite at the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo. Man, doesn't that just sound like that sentence sounds like money? The Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo, Lord, I couldn't afford to step one toe in that place. I feel like that's like where Rebecca starts. Yeah, something like that. Despite all her money, the countess didn't get out a lot. She had friends who would visit her, sure, and sometimes she'd get an invite to the prince's palace, yawn, but she didn't have a partner in life, and she was lonely. She was pretty much Helg's dream girl. One evening, he positioned himself

all alone at a table next to hers in the hotel dining room where the countess held court every night. I'm sure he made sure to look pitiful, like a little discarded puppy, and like she usually did in these situations, Verena called him over to sit with her and her friends. The next morning, she woke up to a flower delivery, three lovely roses from Helg. She was touched by the simplicity and humility of the gift. It wasn't fancy, it wasn't calculated to impress her. This man was genuine, decent. The Countess was so excited she called her best friend, who later told journalist Romeo Reganus, that's how consciously he manipulated her. Before long, Helg and the Countess were inseparable. He escorted her to events where she proudly showed him off to her friends, Helg had impeccable manners, and he seemed

devoted to the countess, despite being 47 years younger. Verena didn't like the name Helg. I don't either. So she decided to call him Alexander instead. This absolutely cracks me up. Just, what's your name? Nah, I don't like that. You're Alexander now. It was bug nuts crazy, but Alexander didn't seem to mind. That is some... like peak rich countess shit there like it would fit right in in a movie like oh i don't like your given name so i'm just going to give you an entirely unrelated name that i prefer and you will like it it's such like crazy rich person entitlement and she just assumed it would be cool with him you know and it was you know it was whatever his darling girl wanted for her part

the countess was in capital l love she told her friend margaret I'm experiencing real love for the first time. I've never been loved like this. It's so touching. The only wrinkle was that Alexander had to work all the time. He was a freelance consultant for a big corporation, and he had to travel a lot. So he was always having to jet off and leave poor Verena alone. But she respected his work ethic.

She told her friend, finally, a young man who thinks about working and not about taking advantage. Helg Scarby later said he'd, genuinely liked the countess, which makes you wonder how the hell he could do this to her. He told the police she wanted a man by her side who would protect her from all the

parasites, a man to show off to manage her finances, and a man who wasn't bothered by her age. He also said this, which made me throw up in my mouth a little bit. She wanted a man with whom she could find sexual satisfaction.

The woman was markedly clear-headed, and her body was decidedly, lively. My dude. TM freaking I. Oh, Lord. Yeah, apparently Held was running a full service operation.

Lively. Fucking jeepers. I know. Lively. Oh, it's such a weird word to pig. It's just that whole sentence is so, so gross. So we already told you that Held was always running off on business.

trips. Wink, wink, wink. Actually, he confided in Verena. He was going on secret missions for the Swiss government. But he had to keep that on the DL. I think much like the CIA, no one works for the Swiss government. Good Lord. Big empty buildings, you know. This shit again, and over in a completely different country, it's the same playbook. Unbelievable. And after one trip to Italy, Hell came home in a tizzy. I'm in serious trouble, he told Verena. The mafia found out I was with you, and they know how wealthy you are. They're demanding two million francs. Dang, don't you hate when that happens? You go on a business trip to Italy and the mob decides to go after you. Oh, it's the worst. Almost happened to me once, but I used my natural charms and wits to get out of it.

This story was, of course, completely ridiculous. but the countess had her love goggles firmly in place. Helg had already convinced her he was a trustworthy and honest man, a rare treasure in her world. She forked over the money without hesitation. Helg's response was to ask her to marry him. The countess was over the moon, and she didn't think twice when her new fiancé insisted she'd go get a physical

before they made it official. He wanted to make sure his bride was in the best of health, and he made sure the doctor included one important note in her file, that the Countess Verena was of sound mind. Why did I just feel a little chill? Yeah, it is creepy. That same day, Verena and Helg slash Alexander paid a visit to an attorney,

where the Countess ordered that her new fiancé be granted access to 25 million francs. Just a little token of her affection, and a gesture to officially start the ball. rolling on their new life together. Now, Verena had people who genuinely did care about her, and those people weren't born yesterday. They knew a con man when they saw one, and they were horrified to find out she was planning to marry this guy. They tried to tell her, look, this man isn't what he seems to be. He's a scammer. He's done this to other women. But Verena didn't want to believe it. So she didn't. She was about to be forced back to reality, though.

The Countess's dream romance came to a sickening end one day when Hell came to stay with her at a Ritzie spa, where she was vacationing with her best friend. As soon as some of the other hotel guests laid eyes on Scarby, they recognized him as a serial con artist, a sweetheart swindler, and they told the front desk that if he was going to stay there, they were leaving. The hotel kicked him out, Went to the Countess's room where they found the two lovebirds in their bathrobes and told him he had to leave right away. I'm sure Verena was outraged as she watched her fiancé pack up his stuff and leave. I'm guessing he kissed her goodbye, told her not to worry, he'd see her when she got home from her trip. But that would be the last kiss he'd ever give her.

The next day, he vanished and cut off all communications with the Countess. All her friend's warnings came crashing down around her and she was devastated and angry. She went to the authorities. The police picked Helg up on charges of theft and tossed him in jail to wait for trial. He was in there for two weeks before his first hearing, and as angry and hurt as she was, when Verena saw him in court, she wavered. Helg made sad puppy eyes at her from across the courtroom, and he looked so thin and haggard after his two weeks behind bars.

The Countess decided she just couldn't go through with the trial. She dropped the charges on the condition that Scarby pay her back all the money he'd taken from her, at least everything he hadn't already spent. She did get some of her money back, but there were four million francs she'd never see again. So Helg pretty much got away Scott free after scamming the countess, and before long, he moved on to his next target. Her name was Suzanne Clotten, and she was the richest woman in Germany at the time. Forty-year-old billionaire, major BMW shareholder, and businesswoman, Suzanne seemed like the perfect mark for Helg Scarby. She was rich, she was easy on the eyes, and she was married, with three teenage kids.

So she had a family she wouldn't want to embarrass, and she was the type of rich person who likes to keep a really low profile. Some sources even describe her as reclusive. I'm sure Helg thought this one would be child's play. Little did he know, he was fucking with the wrong one. But at first, she fell for him pretty hard. They met at a fancy pants spa resort in Austria and two. 2007. She had no way of knowing that the charming man who seemed to share all her interests had researched her beforehand so he'd know just what to say to win her over. creepy. Before long,

they were having a sneaky little affair, meeting up for sex at the Munich Holiday Inn, which cracks me up, by the way. This is a billionaire. Holiday Inn? I mean, maybe they're fancy in Germany? I don't know. Here they're like a step up from a motel six. maybe it added to like the dirty thrill of the affair like oh that's very possible actually yeah slumming it at the holiday yeah she's like she's like oh this is how the normal people live take off your pants you know i don't know yeah she wants to live like common people do what suzan didn't know of course was that a man was holed up in the room next door running the audio-visual equipment

that would record her affair for posterity. Their relationship had been going on for about two months when Helg told her he had to make a quick trip to the U.S. When he got back, he had a hell of a story to tell her. He'd gotten into a car accident in Miami, Florida, he told her. Bad one. A young woman in the other car was killed and she turned out to be the daughter of a mafia boss.

Man, this guy cannot catch a break. He can't swing a dead cat without hitting. a vengeful mafia don. Now he told Suzanne the capital F family wanted restitution. Otherwise, well, you know what the mob is like. If they couldn't get their revenge financially, they'd have to resort to other much bloodier means. Now, most of us might raise an eyebrow at a story like this, but Suzanne was in love. And as she later told documentarian Romeo Raganus, I thought he was a man of the world. It didn't seem impossible that he could have run afoul of some mafia types. It really goes to show you that very much like cults, this stuff has

nothing to do with intelligence. It's all about emotion. Suzanne was normally a very skeptical, logic-minded woman, but she fell for this BS, hook, line, and sinker. In the parking garage of the Holiday Inn where she and Held liked to have their little trists, Suzanne gave him almost $9 million in cash, like $7 million. Alone, he insisted. He'd pay her back as soon as he could. Right. And soon, whew. Suzanne got a text from Helg, saying he paid off the mob and everything was fine. This must have made Helg feel like she would be willing to do pretty much anything for him.

I mean, $9 million? And she handed it over so easily. So he did something a lot of con artists do when they get a few successful scams under their belt. He got cocky. He tried to talk Suzanne into putting about $300 million into a fund for him to manage. Whoa. Yeah, she bought the mafia story, but this was a flaming red flag. And in a flash, she realized what Helg Scarby really was. And she dumped him.

But Helg didn't call his bestie and sit up all night eating Ben and Jerry's. He had a plan B. Okay, he said to Suzanne, give me 14. million, or I'll expose our affair. You have a lot to lose. I have a lot less. He showed her pictures of herself naked with Scarby. Imagine how that must have felt for her to realize that some creep had been watching them the whole time they were together, taking pictures and filming. Now, Suzanne Clotten is a smart woman, and she spent her life in the cutthroat corporate world. She knows how to take a hit, and she decided she wasn't going to let this little snot rag win.

She told him, sure, I'll get you the money. Just please, don't show anyone those pictures. And then satisfied that he believed he had her right where he wanted her, she called the police. Experts like Gavitt DeBekker say this is the best way, the only way, really, to handle a blackmailer slash extortionists. As much as it might suck, you've got to just look them in the eye and say, do what you've got to do and deal with whatever backlash is coming if it's coming at all. I suspect a lot of blackmailers wouldn't go through with the threat in the first place, like especially when it comes to revenge porn nowadays. Yeah, because the consequences are really severe. Heavily illegal, right? Yeah.

And if you call the police right away, they'll probably stop them before they can do anything. But whatever the outcome, you can't give in. If you give in, they own you forever. You'll never be free of them. Yep. Fun fact, extortion and blackmail aren't just two words for the same thing. They're different. Extortion is when you use something, threats, violence, abuse of power, whatever,

to coerce somebody into doing something, providing a service, giving you money, taking some kind of action that the extortionist wants you to take. An example of extortion might be marry, my daughter, I'll cut your legs off, or sleep with me, or I'll fire you. Right. And blackmail is when you're specifically coercing money out of the victim. So blackmail is actually a kind of extortion. And the most common type we hear about is, right, Vinnie, give me 500 bucks,

or I'll tell everybody about walking in on you, watching land before time and crying like a baby. That would work. In other words, pay me or I'll tell your dirty little secret. I suspect there's many a public figure who's paid. to avoid their skeletons being yanked out of the closet. Both blackmail and extortion are illegal, of course, though the specifics of that differ by state here in the U.S., but in most places they're both felonies,

and it's no different in Europe. These are criminal offenses and serious ones. And I don't really understand this kind of blackmail, by the way. It's like, okay, so you've got video of us having sex. You're there, too. I mean, isn't it embarrassing for both of us? I mean, if I were in this situation, and I feel like I'd just say, okay, Hoss, go for it.

And when those sex tapes hit the news, I'll just tell him, yeah, this asshole tried to blackmail me with this. He's a con artist who works for a cult leader. Why don't y'all go look into that? It's a lot more interesting than my boobs. No shade to my boobs, obviously, they're nice boobs. But you know what I mean? I just think this strategy would be likely to backfire spectacularly for Held. All it's going to do is invite the kind of scrutiny that he really didn't want.

But I guess most of the women didn't think it through that carefully. They just panicked and gave in, especially given the type of women this chode went after. Elderly, for the most part, Suzanne was an exception to that, wealthy and probably pretty prim and proper and concerned about their reputations. Suzanne was concerned about hers too, but not enough to cave to this loser. She later said she went to the police not only for herself, but to discourage other scammers from trying this tactic on women. So, as you probably predicted, the police set up a sting to catch Helg in the end. act of picking up his 14-mill. Catch him, they did, and they got a little bonus treat, too. When Scarby showed up to collect his money, he had somebody else with him, an Italian guy named

Ernani Barretta. And when the authorities looked into Beretta, it soon became clear where all the money Scarby stole had been going. Our boy wasn't keeping the money for himself. He was giving it all to a cult leader. On paper On paper, Ornani Barretta didn't seem like the kind of dude who could attract a small army of devoted disciples. He wasn't blue-blooded, he hadn't had extensive education. education, dude was a car mechanic by trade, but he had sigh charisma, and somehow he managed to convince people he tapped into a two-way line of communication with God. He was Christ's representative

on earth, a prophet sent to heal humanity, and he was very persuasive. People were drawn to him like eager little moths to a flame. I don't see it personally, as I usually don't, with these cult leaders. Dude looks, I don't know, greasy, like a cheesy 70s lounge singer with a side hustle as a Coke dealer. He looks like he wears too much cologne, okay, or possibly smells like hot dog water, one of the two, one of the two. It just looks greasy. But looks aside, Beretta claimed he could read minds. He could heal both physical and mental illnesses. He could bilocate, be in more than one place at one time. He could be hosting a dinner party in Italy while taking a nap, in Switzerland. That's a neat trick, which I could do that. He could also go into a sort of trance

where he claimed he was sucked out of his body through his hair, and he was balding, so that must have been tough, and thrown into the spiritual realm, the afterlife. It was horribly painful for him, he claimed, and his followers could see it. He always bled copiously after these episodes. Once he got back to his body, he'd lie in a little pool of blood and prey. A former member of the Colt told the press, today we know it was all staged, but at the time the scene seemed believable. He staged other little miracles, too. Once when Beretta was traveling in the U.S., one of his disciples back in Italy found a bloody cross on his apartment door. He took it as a sign that Beretta was in trouble, and lo and behold, he was. He'd ended up in the hospital

in the U.S., and they were trying to steal his kidney. How would you even know? It's such a ridiculous story. He just needed a little cash to get back home, so, you know, pay up. And then there were the stigmata. He got them every Friday. Like, oh, TGIF, stigmata time. His disciples lived with a constant gnawing guilt about the stigmata, and the other punishments Beretta had to endure for them. But he assured them he was glad to suffer for their sins. What a guy. He called himself Maestro de la Vita, life teacher. I am your highway to heaven, he told his disciples. Follow me. Put your trust in me. Let me guide you and I will bring you directly to God.

He started to gather his followers around him in the early 90s in Zurich, Switzerland, holding esoteric meetings where he'd preach, demonstrate his godly superpowers, and love bomb potential converts. We've talked before about how cult leaders tend to use the same playbook, and Arnani Beretta was no exception. One of the classic cult tactics is to love bomb the crap out of your prospective converts. Beretta let his followers know they were a family with him as the benevolent daddy. He'd cook big Italian dinners, and they'd all eat by candlelight with opera playing in the background. He was a wizard with pasta, so it was always delicious.

But once you've done the love bombing, once you've got them hooked in, you get to work making them feel like absolute worthless shit, making them feel like they need you. You don't have any idea who you are, he told one disciple. Beretta made sure everybody knew how deeply sick and flawed and spiritually sunted they were. How desperately in need of salvation. Salvation. It just so happened, that Beretta would be how deeply sick. happy to provide for the low, low price of, you know, everything you had to give, plus

whatever you could borrow. And like a strict father, he required his disciples to run every move they made past him first. And I'm sure it won't surprise you to hear that Daddy Beretta demanded more than just loyalty from his crew. If you wanted to be in his inner circle, you had to fork over everything you had. That's how Jesus lived, Beretta told them, simply and humbly. He promised them

that he was using their money wisely to spread the good word. And he had plans to build an orphanage, too, for kids who had lost their parents in the war in Yugoslavia. That was beautiful, man. I'm getting all reclimped over here. That part is so funny to be,

because if you asked me to write a screenplay and said, okay, this character is a con artist. We want you to think of the most cliche lie he could tell his victims about why he needs their money. I'd say he wants to start an orphanage in a war-torn country. Like, come on, man. Work a little harder than that.

One of his childhood friends actually told journalist Romeo Reganos that Beretta had been money obsessed from the time he was in diapers. The guy said the only reason they stayed friends is that he'd never done business with him. By the late 90s, Beretta had gathered a group of about 15 or 20 followers in Zurich, but

he decided to up his game. He gathered up about a dozen of his most loyal followers and relocated to Italy, a small, picturesque place outside Pescara called Pesco Sanzonesco, which has to be one of the funest words to say ever. Say it with me, Pesco Sansonesco. I love it. And I'm apparently incapable of not saying it like in a really bad Italian accent. Pesco Sansonesco. Oh, no, that doesn't sound nearly as good. God had told him to go there, he claimed. He'd had a vision of a beautiful place

where he could gather all his followers around him, where he could further his work as a healer and emissary of God. The Heavenly Father wanted Beretta to build this place, but he couldn't do it by himself. He needed his closest disciples to help him. So his most ardent followers quit their jobs, sold their possessions, and picked up their whole lives to follow him to Italy.

They cashed in their pension funds and handed them over. One of the disciples in this inner circle was Helg Scarby. Helg initially had some doubts about Beretta's claims. He wasn't sure if this was a real prophet or a false one sent by the devil to send him astray. But one day Beretta showed him the bloody stigmata on his hands and it just blew Helg's mind. It's God's will that you met me, Beretta told him. He said that to everybody, and it's a funny way to phrase it, isn't it? it, not it's God's will that I met you or that we met, it's that you met me.

A little bit of narcissistic leakage there. Anyway, Beretta took Helg Scarby right under his wing, and before long, he was his right-hand man. I suspect this is because he realized Helg had an inn with rich women because of his background and his job and finance. He could be very useful. See, you didn't just have to hand over your life savings to Ernani. You also had to work for him. He wanted to turn Pesco Sansonesco into a resort town, and he worked as followers like pack mules toward that end.

They pulled weeds, they painted, they washed dishes and served food. For zero pay, of course, seven days a week, and housing in tiny rooms heated by wood stoves. If they were lucky, Beretta might let them go to the movies once in a while. One of the things they did at the property was host weddings. This town was super photogenic, and if you've ever worked in catering or wedding planning, you know how much work that is. absolutely exhausting, stressful, and sweaty. They were doing that stuff seven days a week. In the documentaries seduced and blackmailed, we hear from the grandson of one of Beretta's most loyal followers, who initially joined the group in Switzerland, but then followed them to Italy.

Ereina Bermaninger was a religious woman, and like Beretta, she believed it was possible for some people to communicate with the infinite. When she met Ernani Beretta, she quickly came to believe that he was one of those blessed few. She called him the saint. an emissary of Christ's love. And the saint was thrilled to bits to have her as a member of his flock. See, Mrs. Berninger was fairly well off, and she was more than willing to turn over her fortune to him. At the compound in Pasco San Sonesco, Beretta put her in a tiny little attic room and charged her 1,600 francs a month for the privilege. Just an outrageous amount of money, especially in the late 90s, right?

Irena's family tried to talk sense into her, but she was too full. far gone, just absolutely devoted to Beretta. Eventually, he drained her of pretty much every cent she had, and because she was in her 80s, too old to be put to work, he just cast her aside, just cut her off cold and sent her back home to Switzerland. She was completely devastated, especially when she tried to claim welfare and was denied because she couldn't prove where all her money had gone. So this poor woman died with nothing.

Awful. Arrana's a good example of how Beretta used classic cult tactics to keep his followers under his control. To ensure that he kept the tightest possible grip on them, Beretta forbade them from communicating with their families. They all do this. It takes away any potential voices of reason, leaving only the cult leader's voice in the void. With no one to validate any doubts you might be having, you're much more susceptible to the cult's manipulation. This all sounds super fun, right? Barretta did a pretty good job of indoctrinating his followers, but of course there were some who ended up wanting to leave.

But Beretta warned them against it. If you leave, he insisted, you'll damn your soul to hell. You'll throw yourself to the wolves of the evil outside world. You'll regret it. We've seen this in just about every cult we covered. Scientology uses this one hardcore. The outside world is pure insanity, pure evil. You won't be able to survive out there.

And, of course, making sure people don't have any money is a great way to keep them stuck. Even if they wanted to leave, even if they could get past the indoctrination, they'd have trouble getting on their feet. And the co-leater had other ways to stop people from leaving. See, in keeping with his oily 70s lounge singer vibes, Beretta had some interesting views on gender politics. Yeah, boy. if you were a man more power to you fella go nuts you could slam ass all over creation as much as you wanted if you're married no problem you could have affairs as long as you pinky swore you were boned in the mistress with love if you were a woman you were expected to stay in the kitchen making biscuits and babies and bitch you better keep it pure if you so much as glanced at a man you were treated like the horror of babylon oh my god Of course, this was nothing more than Beretta's way of keeping all the women in the

cult for himself. He was sleeping with just about every one of them, and they all thought they were his one and only. One of his former followers, a woman named Petra, talked about her first sexual encounter with Beretta in the documentary, seduced and blackmailed. Petra was having some doubts, so one afternoon, Beretta took her for a walk in the woods and had a little talk with her. So, you know how my spit has the power to heal, Beretta said. Sure, sure, Petro said. She'd heard about that. Well, think about it. If my saliva can heal you, think about what my other fluids might accomplish. You're making this shit up. I wish I was. Oh my God. This was the day Petra started sleeping with Beretta. He built.

it as a healing ritual, a way for her to purify her soul. Of course, she had no way of knowing how much purifying he was doing. And he had a nifty way of making sure none of these women could get the upper hand on him. If one of the women wanted to leave the group, Beretta would tell her, I've got some nice little pictures of you and me, filmed, of course, without their knowledge and consent. Sounds familiar, right? He threatened to expose the women if they left. He was dumb enough to make these threats in writing, by the way. Some of the women eventually gave the blackmail letters to journalist Romeo Reganos,

who passed them on to the cops. Okay, so this was what was going on in the background as Helg Scarby was doing his thing. His entire motive was to collect as much money for Beretta as possible. I don't think I'll ever get over the fact the suave. savvy con man was getting conned. It's so good. It almost feels too good. It does. This is like a Russian doll of con games. It's like all, it's con games all the way down. Yeah. This, despite the fact that Scarby was married to a woman in the cult and had a kid with her. Like, what if I can only imagine what his wife thought about all this shit if Beretta let him tell her. It's possible that she

didn't know, I guess. So as disciple Helg Scarby worked his conman magic on wealthy women and sent the money to Beretta, Mr. Emissary of Christ's lifestyle got a dramatic upgrade. Follower Petra couldn't help but notice that while she and the other disciples were working themselves to exhaustion and living on the bare bones necessary for human survival, Beretta and his wife seemed to be living like royalty. A huge mansion, lavish parties, a fleet of shiny luxury cars, designer everything. They were having champagne and caviar an entertaining guests while Petra and the others were working themselves sick for no pay. For God's sake, the man had a helipad installed on his estate. A freaking helipad.

But, you know, as soon as those thoughts would cross her mind, Petra would chastise herself. This was just the devil trying to get at her. It was one more sign of how broken she was, how little she understood about God's plan and her place in it. Who was she to question Beretta's wisdom. So she stuffed her instinctive, perfectly reasonable reactions down, and prayed harder. Plus, Beretta had a ready answer for any concerns his followers might raise about his recent lifestyle changes. We live in a materialistic world, Beretta told his flock, so in order to reach people, I have to fit in with that society. If I walk around in rags, nobody will listen to me. Yeah, just like nobody listened to that slouch, Jesus, right?

ridiculous, but Beretta insisted that he was only buying all the fancy stuff for appearances sake. It was around this time that journalist Romeo Ragnos got wind of the cult, and he latched on to the story like a bulldog. He published an article in a prominent magazine and basically presented Beretta's group as a sect, aka cult. A bunch of Beretta's disciples wrote angry letters to the editor after the article came out. One morning, Romeo went out to his car and found all four tires slashed. Shades of Scientology again, right? Despite the bad press, Barretta was riding pretty high at this point. But then he and Helg managed to get themselves caught trying to blackmail season clotton and womp, womp, now it was time to pay the piper. Helg Scarby went to trial in 2009

and was sentenced to six years in a Bavarian prison for fraud, attempted blackmail, and attempted fraud. And he'd have to serve every minute of those six years because like a good toady, he refused to of the authorities any information on Arnati Beretta, and he was keeping his mouth firmly shut about where he'd stashed all the money he took. Investigators later found 1.7 million euros in cash hidden in the walls of Beretta's house. Money the cult leader claimed were his savings. He said he'd never even met Suzanne Clotten and had nothing to do with the blackmail scheme. I guess he just went with Helg to pick up the money that night thinking they were going to stop for a slushy or something. And Helg wasn't going to tell us any different.

he gushed to the press about how much he owed Beretta for all he'd done for him all he taught him he's like a father to me he gave me more than my parents ever did and yada yada yada yeah your relationship worked out great enjoy those six years in the joint helg also apologized to all the women he seduced and scammed he said he deeply regretted it well that's fine then it's irritating to me that he was only charged for suzan clatton's case we know about four other women he scammed I suspect there are more. Boretta was charged with forming a crime ring, one which had committed crimes in multiple countries across Europe. The police confiscated his fleet of luxury cars, which must have hurt the most out of anything because he was obsessed with his rick of cars. Most of his

followers, either devastated or relieved, I'm not sure which, left the group and went back to their lives. Some unsung hero spray-painted, you are a bastard and bright red on a wall near his house. He spent eight months in jail before being granted bail. In 2011, he went on trial for attempted aggravated extortion. He was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison. And once he got out, he laid pretty low for a while. Until 2021, when Beretta decided to run for mayor of Pesco San Sonesco, still insisting on his innocence. Now, I looked, but I couldn't manage to find out if he one. But I bet no. So that was a wild one, right, campers? You know, we'll have another one for you next week.

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