The Italian mastermind of three gruesome “satanic” murders has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.
A second member of the cult involved in the murders received a 16-year term, while a third man was acquitted.

The killings, which shocked Italy, were carried out by a heavy metal band calling itself the Beasts of Satan.

The three victims were a woman shot and then buried alive in 2004 and a teenage couple, who were murdered six years earlier.

Andrea Volpe, the leader of the heavy metal group and the main culprit in the murders, has been handed down a longer prison sentence than expected.

His prosecutors had asked for 20 years on the grounds that had cooperated with investigators and shown remorse.

Pietro Guerrieri is to serve the 16-year term.

Buried alive

“Today justice rewarded me”, said Michele Tollis, the father of Fabio, who was only 16 when he was killed and buried along with his 19-year-old girlfriend Chiara in a forest not far from Milan.

But Chiara’s mother, Lina Marino, was outraged at the punishment, which she considered too lenient.

“They are murderers. It’s not fair,” she said.

The 1998 murders were carried out as part of drug fuelled rituals involving sex and heavy metal music.

The couple, themselves members of the heavy metal band, were killed in woods northeast of Milan and then buried next to each other.

Volpe was also found guilty of the 2004 murder of his own girlfriend, 27-year-old Mariangela Pezzotta, who was shot and buried alive in a forest.

It was the discovery of her body that helped investigators solve the 1998 case.

A third defendant was acquitted at the end of the fast-track trial on Tuesday, but five more members of the cult are due to go to trial in June.

Another related news:

Italy police seek ‘Satan squad’

Italian police want to set up a special unit to tackle the growth of new religious sects, particularly a violent new breed of home-grown Satanists.

The new police squad would include psychologists, as well as a priest who is an expert on the occult.

It would co-ordinate – nationwide – investigations into potentially dangerous religious movements.

The move follows a spate of high profile, gruesome murders blamed on a new generation of Satanists.

They indulge in a lethal blend of black magic, hard drugs, sex and heavy metal.

In the most recent case a gang known as the “Beasts of Satan” bludgeoned, then buried alive, two of their own members – a young woman and her boyfriend – in woods outside Milan.

Experts say the number of Satanists in Italy is tiny – and the product as much of youthful alienation as of any more traditional religious conviction.

But more than a million Italians belong to other minority religions, and some experts are worried that the new police squad could target members of them as well – even though, despite their perhaps strange beliefs, they are entirely harmless.

The police need to concentrate on tackling Satanic criminality, says one of the country’s leading experts on new religions, or they will end up threatening religious freedom as well as wasting scarce resources.