Italians Pack Courtroom To See `Monster Of Florence' -- Prosecutors Argue Farm Worker, 69, Is Prolific Serial Killer

FLORENCE, Italy - The man they call a monster wept.

His bottom lip quivered and tears wet his weather-creased cheeks as prosecutors methodically recounted the horrors on the charge sheet: Eight double murders from 1968 to 1985. Victims shot and mutilated. Body parts cut off and carried away.

The "Monster of Florence" has been captured, prosecutors said.

Pietro Pacciani ran his fingers through his bone-white hair. "I am here like Christ on the cross," he gulped on the opening day of the trial last month. "I have never hurt anyone."

But in a special courtroom built for terrorist trials, authorities have set out to prove that the 69-year-old farm worker who enjoys playing the accordion is one of Europe's most prolific serial killers - a sadistic cross between the lovers'-lane stalker David Berkowitz of New York and the fictional cannibal Hannibal Lecter of the book and movie "Silence of the Lambs."

The book's author, Thomas Harris, joined hundreds of spectators to watch on the opening day as prosecutors laid out their case against Pacciani. For years, they had to release suspects for lack of evidence.

"Is it him?" asked Dino Foggi, whose son was slain in 1981. "I want to believe it. In this case, I don't know."

The former head of the unit assigned to hunt for the killer has no doubts. "It's him," said Ruggero Perugini, who called Pacciani an "expert killer . . . who kills with coolness."

Similarities link the killings. All the victims were in cars parked in secluded areas around Florence. A .22-caliber Beretta pistol was used in every murder.

Six of the eight attacks occurred on Saturday nights. All but one of the attacks involved couples - the exception was a pair of young German men, apparently low-budget tourists sleeping in their car.

Some of the women were mutilated with a knife or screwdriver. Perugini thinks Pacciani may have eaten them or could have fed pieces to his unknowing family.

After a double killing Sept. 9, 1985, authorities received a piece of skin in the mail. Then the violence stopped. The death count: nine men, seven women ranging in age from 18 to 36.

Pacciani first came under investigation in 1986 after police received an unsigned letter accusing him. His record made him a prime suspect.

He reportedly killed a man in 1951 although apparently was not tried. He did spend four years in prison - 1987 to 1991 - for physical abuse of his two daughters.

In 1992, a police search of his property turned up .22-caliber bullets hidden behind a cement block and some metal pieces thought to be part of a Beretta. Later, they found a soap dish and some drawings police think were purchased by one of the victims. Pacciani said he found them.

His defense attorneys say police reports concluded the killer had to be agile and strong. Pacciani, who is heavy-set, was 60 at the time of the last killing.

The only eyewitness is a 32-year-old woman who was in the back seat of a car when her mother was killed in 1968. She was 6 at the time. Nearly 200 other witnesses are expected to be called.

Italy doesn't have the death penalty, so Pacciani would most likely spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted. A verdict isn't expected for weeks.

In the overcrowded spectator gallery, some people sat on ledges and strained for a peek at Pacciani, surrounded by police guards at the other end of the arena-sized courtroom.

Pacciani was also discussed in Vicchio, a small town northeast of Florence where he was born. Some boys in the main square pointed down the hill to a shady clearing off the road where a couple was killed in 1984.

"I think a lot of them these days," said Frangioni Tiziano. "Did they scream? Did they fight back? When did they know they were going to die?"