The infamous case of the brutal, uncommonly savage serial murders committed by il Mostro di Firenze, the Monster of Florence, has never seen an officially sanctioned solution and legal closure. It has, however, seen a multitude of hypotheses as to the nature of the killer, his psyche, and his possible identities.
The most common hypothesis involves the typical serial killer profile - a lone, local, sexually motivated psychopath with predilections towards violence. The most popular alternate hypotheses involve a group of culprits, direct and indirect, with the possibility of an esoteric of occult element being alleged as part of the motivation of one or more of the culprits.
(One may note that while, on the surface, the latter may sound like a concept more fit for an action film or a novel than a real criminal case, it would actually match some famous solved cases, such as the notorious crimes of Adolfo Constanzo and his Matamoros sect, or Robin Gecht and his "Ripper Crew" gang. In both cases, a strong psychopathic leader / self-claimed guru took on a group of weak, damaged followers, and, using the guises of occultism, Satanism and esoterica as a means of dominating, influencing and manipulating those followers, he gradually made them fulfill his own desires and commit hideous murders, including primitive rituals and cannibalism. And, in both cases, the followers submitted to his commands, even though the leader himself was privately motivated just by his sexual deviancy and violent psyche, and treated the occult factor as just a tool of influence and manipulation).
This documentary focuses largely on the group hypothesis as the proposed solution of il Mostro's case, with emphasis on the occult possibilities and suggestions of a detailed conspiracy being present at one or more points.
However, whether you are inclined towards the idea of a group being involved in the killings, or towards the idea of a lone murderer motivated purely by his violent psyche and acting out without anyone else's involvement, this is an intriguing, well-made documentary, which casts light on a number of forgotten and even previously unknown aspects and evidence in the case.
The most fascinating part is the extensive profile of an almost completely forgotten, yet very intriguing "new-old" suspect, rediscovered after decades of staying unremembered. He was a local man, with alleged predilections towards violence, possibly involved in another homicide. He collected memorabilia about il Mostro's case, reaching as far as 1974. He had .22 calibre weapons and ammunition of the notorious "Winchester H" type at his home. He was a skilled shooter (the killer had calmly shot out the lights of the victims' vehicle in one of the murders, quickly hitting each one with a single bullet fired from distance in the dark night). He was tall, agile and strong. He lived approximately the same distance away from all crime scenes, and he had once been a member of the Foreign Legion (a witness saw a man stalking Pia Rontini shortly before her murder; the never-identified man had a characteristic ring, whose description matched the signet of the Foreign Legion).
All in all, it is quite surprising that he had remained essentially forgotten since 1985, until now. Of course, as had happened with so many other parts of this tangled case, this "new-old" man may have had absolutely nothing to do with it, and any similarities between the case and his life may be purely coincidental.
Whatever one's view on il Mostro's case may be, the "Triangle of Death" is a most worthy watch.
(Unfortunately, a star goes away from its score, as someone involved in the sound mixing had completely messed it up: instead of normalising the music, dialogue and effect tracks, he had raised the volume of the music in a number of places so annoyingly loud - especially for one repeating, clamorous track - that it completely drowns all the voices, making the narration inaudible in several parts).
