Trial by Fury: Internet Savagery and the Amanda Knox Case by Douglas Preston Page A
Book: Trial by Fury: Internet Savagery and the Amanda Knox Case by Douglas Preston
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Authors: Douglas Preston
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still there in all its glory, undiminished by time.
Which brings me to the question: why did the Knox case arouse such a furor on the Web? And this leads to an even more interesting problem: Why are there so many savage, crazy, vicious, and angry people on the Internet? The answer, which might appear obvious on the surface, is in fact anything but clear. Recent controversial research into the evolution of altruism, warfare, and punishment in human society indicates that Internet savagery may be programmed into our very genes.
* * *
I was drawn into the case by accident. Amanda’s chief prosecutor was Giuliano Mignini, a man I knew well. In 2000 I moved to Italy with my family to write a murder mystery set in Florence. We settled in a fifteenth-century farmhouse in the Florentine hills. I soon learned that the picturesque olive grove outside our door had been the scene of a horrific double homicide in 1983, committed by a serial killer known only as the Monster of Florence. Between 1974 and 1985, the Monster killed young people making love in cars in the Florentine hills and performed a ritualistic mutilation to the woman’s body. He had never been identified, and the case, one of the longest and most expensive criminal investigations in Italian history, had never been solved. The Monster was so depraved, and so skilled at murder, that he made Jack the Ripper look like Mister Rogers. I became interested and dropped the idea of the novel to write a book about the Monster case instead. I teamed up with the Italian journalist, Mario Spezi, who had covered the Monster’s killings for the local paper from the beginning, and knew more about the case than even the police.
Giuliano Mignini did not like our investigation. It went against his theories that a Satanic cult was responsible for the Monster killings — despite clear forensic evidence that all fourteen victims had been killed by a lone individual. He launched a secret investigation of us, tapped our cellphones, and bugged Spezi’s car. He had the police seize Spezi’s computer and all our notes, research, and files on the case. The police then picked me up on the streets of Florence and hauled me in before Mignini, where he interrogated me for hours, with no attorney or interpreter present. He demanded I confess to a string of crimes, including being an accessory to murder, and when I refused, he indicted me for perjury and obstruction of justice and suggested I leave the country. Spezi fared worse, much worse. Mignini ordered him arrested and accused him of being a member of the Satanic sect that conducted the Monster killings. Spezi was thrown into the same prison in which Amanda Knox would later be incarcerated. Spezi remained jailed until an international uproar, led by the Committee to Protect Journalists, forced his release. Together Mario and I published bestselling book about the case, The Monster of Florence , which is now being made into a movie starring George Clooney. (The Italian courts dismissed all charges against us; Mignini was indicted and convicted for abuse of office, the conviction later suspended on a technicality.)
A few days after Amanda Knox was arrested for murder, I got a call from a man named Tom Wright, a former Hollywood executive and well-known filmmaker. His powerful voice, full of desperation and breaking at times, came booming down the wire. He explained that his daughter and Amanda were high school friends and schoolmates. He knew her family. It was impossible that Amanda could be a murderer. He had heard about our book and, seeing that Spezi and I had also been victims of Mignini, begged us for help.
I wasn’t sure about Amanda’s innocence at the time, but when I looked into the case, I was shocked. Mignini and the Perugian police were railroading Amanda and Raffaele for a murder they did not commit. Spezi and I later learned why she had been framed, which we detailed in a new afterword to The Monster of Florence , published
Which brings me to the question: why did the Knox case arouse such a furor on the Web? And this leads to an even more interesting problem: Why are there so many savage, crazy, vicious, and angry people on the Internet? The answer, which might appear obvious on the surface, is in fact anything but clear. Recent controversial research into the evolution of altruism, warfare, and punishment in human society indicates that Internet savagery may be programmed into our very genes.
* * *
I was drawn into the case by accident. Amanda’s chief prosecutor was Giuliano Mignini, a man I knew well. In 2000 I moved to Italy with my family to write a murder mystery set in Florence. We settled in a fifteenth-century farmhouse in the Florentine hills. I soon learned that the picturesque olive grove outside our door had been the scene of a horrific double homicide in 1983, committed by a serial killer known only as the Monster of Florence. Between 1974 and 1985, the Monster killed young people making love in cars in the Florentine hills and performed a ritualistic mutilation to the woman’s body. He had never been identified, and the case, one of the longest and most expensive criminal investigations in Italian history, had never been solved. The Monster was so depraved, and so skilled at murder, that he made Jack the Ripper look like Mister Rogers. I became interested and dropped the idea of the novel to write a book about the Monster case instead. I teamed up with the Italian journalist, Mario Spezi, who had covered the Monster’s killings for the local paper from the beginning, and knew more about the case than even the police.
Giuliano Mignini did not like our investigation. It went against his theories that a Satanic cult was responsible for the Monster killings — despite clear forensic evidence that all fourteen victims had been killed by a lone individual. He launched a secret investigation of us, tapped our cellphones, and bugged Spezi’s car. He had the police seize Spezi’s computer and all our notes, research, and files on the case. The police then picked me up on the streets of Florence and hauled me in before Mignini, where he interrogated me for hours, with no attorney or interpreter present. He demanded I confess to a string of crimes, including being an accessory to murder, and when I refused, he indicted me for perjury and obstruction of justice and suggested I leave the country. Spezi fared worse, much worse. Mignini ordered him arrested and accused him of being a member of the Satanic sect that conducted the Monster killings. Spezi was thrown into the same prison in which Amanda Knox would later be incarcerated. Spezi remained jailed until an international uproar, led by the Committee to Protect Journalists, forced his release. Together Mario and I published bestselling book about the case, The Monster of Florence , which is now being made into a movie starring George Clooney. (The Italian courts dismissed all charges against us; Mignini was indicted and convicted for abuse of office, the conviction later suspended on a technicality.)
A few days after Amanda Knox was arrested for murder, I got a call from a man named Tom Wright, a former Hollywood executive and well-known filmmaker. His powerful voice, full of desperation and breaking at times, came booming down the wire. He explained that his daughter and Amanda were high school friends and schoolmates. He knew her family. It was impossible that Amanda could be a murderer. He had heard about our book and, seeing that Spezi and I had also been victims of Mignini, begged us for help.
I wasn’t sure about Amanda’s innocence at the time, but when I looked into the case, I was shocked. Mignini and the Perugian police were railroading Amanda and Raffaele for a murder they did not commit. Spezi and I later learned why she had been framed, which we detailed in a new afterword to The Monster of Florence , published
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