Andrew Cunanan was a mafia patsy!

some days

July 17, 1997 started out a good day for fashion king pin Gianni Versace. His ear cancer was in remission and his latest AIDS test was negative. However life was to go from good to bad to dead quick enough. As Versace opened the gates to his Miami spread he was shot from behind in the head and neck. Witnesses on the scene found the designer lying in a pool of his own blood with his face blown off. A dead pigeon was near by, and a well known young man was spotted fleeing the scene.

"I'm so mad I could go on a 5 state killing spree!"
~Cunanan's favorite expression when mad

The young man was infamous serial killer Andrew Cunanan. Cunanan was a bright and ambitious young man who chose the life of a gay escort as a short cut to the top. By servicing the rich, famous, and gay he got admission to a world it might ordinarily have taken him years if not decades to get to on his own merits (Cunanan was a border line genius with a 149 IQ - so he probably might have got there on his merits eventually). So Mr Cunanan was often scene in the comapny of wealthy older business and political types. Some where along the way the life of wine and roses went off the rails, and when the world learned of Cunanan he'd 'gone ballistic' and was wanted for the deaths of 4 men. This was prior to the Versace killing - by the time Versace was killed the public had already been asking "who's next?'

Miami Vice

No one is sure what Cunanan's motive for killing Versace might have been, except that the two vaguely knew each other. They'd attended some of the same parties together - Versace was well known around the Miami hot spots and used to solicit companions for the evening by going into gay strip clubs and learning at the dancers. When they turned up their noses at the older man, he'd point at himself and mouth "Versace". After that they'd line up and Gianni could have his pick!

the day the shit hit the fan

As said Versace and Cunanan seemed to have known each other in some way. So the working theory is that when the shit hit the fan Cunanan went in search of some one to help him, like Versace. Versace had a boat and tons of bucks so he was the go to guy if you needed to get out of the country quick. Now folk think that Versace told Cunanan to fuck the hell off when asked for help. That set Cunanan off his pretty little head and provoked another killing, followed by Cunanan's suicide. Though most folk belive that, some others think different.

that's a morte

Others in this case is Italian journalist Gialuigi Nuzzi. He's the author of a new book on the infamous Versace killing, and has pointed out that there were some irregularities in the case. Like that dead pigeon. A dead pigeon left at the scene of a day time killing, according to Nuzzi, is the traditional calling card of the Mafia. in fact it's where we get the phrase "stool pigeon" from. So the dead pigeon would seem to poitn to some one other than Cunanan as the killer.

low friends in high places

Now Nuzzi should know a thing or two about the mafia 'cause he's got plenty of friends in the business. Friends like Giuseppe Di Bella. Di Bella is a sort of godfather figure in the Italian mob with a reputation for veracity with the authorities. In fact Italian coppers say that he ain't steered 'em wrong yet! Di Bella's says that Versace got mixed up with a bad guy named Franco Coco Trovato. Trovato's bag was laundering money for South American drug lords. He'd take a trip down south, pick up some cash, find a semi legitimate business to invest in, then leave said business a piece of the action before spreading the wealth around.

strange bedfellows

According to Di Bella that's how Trovato knew Versace. Versace was, allegedly, a business associate of Trovato. That association is said to include pumping money into Versace's business for laundering and eventual return to South America. The fashion industry would come in handy for a South American connection. Now things went wrong, according to informant Di Bella, and corroborated by another mobster - Filippo Barecca -when Versace started skimming. Since Trovato had some very ruthless dudes to answer to, that could be tolerated. So shit happened. The dead pigeon was just the mob's way of confirming that the job had been done!

vulgar favors

Di Bella insists that Trovato knew Versace well. Trovato was a fashion freak and loved to show off his Versace originals - gifts that had been signed by the man himself. Di Bella also goes on to claim that this arrangement went as far back as 1983-84, when the pair would take vacations,or business trips, together to such exotic locales as Majorca and Brazil! Di Bella also gives Versace the benefit opf the doubt, claiming that the designer may not have realized trovato was amob boss, and so didn't know where the money came from. Versace may merely have got cute with the wrong guy.

Blood & money down at the bookstore!

In an interesting side note the boat where Cunanan was found dead - allegedly suicide - was owned by a mafioso. Now the authorities didn't make too much out of that. They had their man, who was dead - so they didn't even have to go to the trouble & expense of a trial. That's a big incentive to close the case without asking too many awkward questions. However Nuzzi goes on to hint in his book that Cunanan was set up by the mob as a fall guy, to take the blame for the killing. Nuzzi's book is called Metastasi, A Chronicle of Blood & Money. That book deals with the Calabrian gang known as N'drangheta - in which Versace allegedly some how got himself mixed up with. For the record Versace's surviving kin Donatella and Santo vehemently deny this. They even went to court in Sydney, Australia to have a similar book - The Spying Game by Frank Monte - banned. They won that case so who knows how much there is to this beyond a good story. However Nuzzi's book hasn't been banned so you should be able to get your hands on it and decide for yourself!

Wondertrash: America's Most Wanted!