408 - Turn It Forward

[0] This is exactly right.

[1] And welcome to my favorite murder.

[2] That's Georgia Hart Stark.

[3] That's Karen Kilgariff.

[4] We're here to present you just a little bit of true crime throughout this holiday season.

[5] That's what we're doing.

[6] We're deep into the month of December.

[7] You can't go to the grocery store anymore without a panic attack.

[8] No, there's nothing there anyway.

[9] You go to get that stuffing mix.

[10] It's not there.

[11] No. Shit's hitting the fan and we're here.

[12] To tell you.

[13] True crime stories.

[14] That's right.

[15] Just, you know, like what the doctor ordered.

[16] Here's another thing the doctor ordered.

[17] See, that's called a segue.

[18] Clean and crisp.

[19] I love it.

[20] A profesh.

[21] This is December, the holiday month.

[22] We started a tradition of making donations throughout the month of December.

[23] So, Georgia, do you want to tell everybody what this week's donation is?

[24] I would love to.

[25] This week, we are donating $10 ,000 to one.

[26] Simple Wish.

[27] At One Simple Wish, they believe that everyone should experience love, hope, and joy.

[28] They aim to restore happiness to those who have been impacted by the trauma of foster care and childhood crisis by granting giftable wishes.

[29] So you can find out more about them.

[30] It's a great organization.

[31] We're so happy to be able to donate.

[32] You can go to One Simplewish .org.

[33] I really like this charity.

[34] I think it's such a cool idea.

[35] So, yeah, because it's the month of December and we want to take time off like everyone does, like everyone else does.

[36] We're just issuing a story a week.

[37] And this week is Karen's turn.

[38] It's my turn.

[39] I really like, I think you're going to like this story this week, although I will say trigger warning, this is a story about sexual assault.

[40] We begin in the early 1960s in Italy.

[41] It's a time of major change in the country with World War II.

[42] too well over.

[43] The economy is booming again.

[44] Young people are pushing back against the entrenched social standards that they consider restrictive.

[45] You know, Italy, it's a very religious country.

[46] It's also a very kind of old school country.

[47] This is also especially true for Italian girls and women of the time who feel particularly oppressed by the traditional beliefs that marginalize and limit them.

[48] But these big cultural shifts aren't catching on everywhere.

[49] in Italy.

[50] In fact, in Sicily, traditional conservative norms are still the status quo.

[51] And breaking free from them, especially if you're a woman, means putting your reputation and your personal safety at risk.

[52] And yet, the Sicilian woman I'm going to tell you about today did just that.

[53] After enduring brutal violence, she took a stand against the social standards that favored male rapists and abusers over their victims.

[54] And because of her bravery, she changed the country forever.

[55] This is the story of Frank A Viola.

[56] The main sources used today are an episode of the podcast Case File entitled Case 324, Franka Viola, the book Italian sketches, The Faces of Modern Italy by Dear Drapiro, an article by Neve Cullen entitled Franka Viola says no, gender violence, consent, and the law in 1960s, Italy.

[57] Wow.

[58] And the rest of the sources are in our show notes.

[59] So it's 1963, and 15 -year -old Franca Viola lives with her family in the small town of Alcommo in Sicily.

[60] The violas are farmers.

[61] They don't have much money, but they're close -knit, happy family.

[62] And Franca is roundly described as beautiful.

[63] So even though she doesn't have a lot of money, that does give her some leverage in her community.

[64] like other young women of this time in place, Frank's primary responsibility is to marry well and it's expected that her good looks will help her make a good match.

[65] And she has caught the eye of someone who on paper would be considered a good match.

[66] 23 -year -old Felipeo Melodia comes from money.

[67] He's handsome, he's well -connected, and reportedly the nephew of a high -ranking member of the Sicilian mafia.

[68] Right dear.

[69] which I think is even more serious than the regular Italian mafia.

[70] Yeah, I think you're right.

[71] I feel like the Sicilians, that's what the Godfather trilogy, was based on Sicilian.

[72] But I don't know.

[73] That could be a guess.

[74] Please don't be offended for any reason.

[75] So Felipeo runs around Alcamo and his white, Alpha Romeo, Julieta, kind of like he owns the place.

[76] And for all that he does have in his life, he doesn't have the one thing he really wants, and that's Franca Viola.

[77] So Filippo begins to court Franca for marriage, and he actually does propose.

[78] And Franca is initially interested.

[79] You know, he's good looking and he's got money.

[80] It's almost like, oh my God, you know, is this a dream come true?

[81] But she is somewhat cautious.

[82] So before she makes such a huge life decision, she decides that she wants to get to know him better.

[83] So she doesn't accept his proposal.

[84] She's like, let's hang out a little bit first.

[85] And then as she gets to know him better, Felipe's bad behavior and his seedy reputation change Franka's mind.

[86] At one point, Felipe was arrested for theft, which leads Frank his father, Bernardo, to rescind his approval of this engagement.

[87] He wants his daughter to end the relationship altogether.

[88] And Franca does not need much convincing at this point.

[89] she dumps Filippo and starts pursuing other options.

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[109] Goodbye.

[110] Two years pass.

[111] It's now 1965.

[112] Franca's 17 years old and she is engaged to marry another man. But as you can guess, Filippo hasn't gotten over Franca and he certainly hasn't forgotten.

[113] gotten the rejection.

[114] Instead, he's using intimidation tactics to strong arm her into getting back together with him.

[115] In addition to stalking her, he's been harassing her fiance and her father.

[116] But the more Franco resists him, the more Filippo's behavior escalates.

[117] Soon, he's linked to a case of arson at the Viola family's farm, and that destroys essential farming equipment that the family relies on.

[118] And then a few months after that, someone destroys the family's crops.

[119] That's a massive financial blow to the violas.

[120] They're basically heading into wintertime with almost no money.

[121] And it's an open secret.

[122] The Filippo is behind these acts of sabotage, but there is no direct evidence linking him to it.

[123] And of course, he's connected with the mafia, so no one's really saying anything.

[124] And while Filippo continues to harass the violos, he's, he, like shows up on the family property he's got a gun when they see him in public he looks at frank his father and smiles like in a sinister way they're terrified of him they constantly worry about what he might do next frankin fears for her life and now she's afraid to leave her house so the day after christmas 1965 several cars pull up to the viola home one of them is a white alpha Romeo, Julietta, and then 12 masked men get out of these cars.

[125] They fire gunshots into the air.

[126] They force their way inside the family home.

[127] Oh, my God.

[128] So the father Bernardo isn't home at the time, so Franco's mother, Vita, yells for her daughter to run as she tries to fight 12 men off at the front door.

[129] Vita is knocked to the ground and beaten.

[130] While some of the men run after Franca, they grab her, and as they pull her toward the front door, Frank's eight -year -old brother Mariano clings to her leg and refuses to let go.

[131] I know.

[132] These men show no mercy, but even though they beat him, Mariano will not let go of his sister's leg, so the men are forced to put both Franca and Mariano into one of their cars, and then they speed away.

[133] Jesus.

[134] The police are called Bernardo Rush's home as fast as he can, even though these were masked men, both Bernardo and Vita have no doubt that Filippo Melodia is responsible for this kidnapping.

[135] Fortunately, investors take the situation very seriously.

[136] They do their best to work with the violas to figure out where exactly Felipe could have taken their children.

[137] The problem is that the viola's neighbors are also afraid of Felipe and his mafia connections and they're not talking to the police.

[138] But there is good news.

[139] Eight -year -old Mariano is found and reunited with his parents.

[140] He had been thrown out of the car and abandoned on the side of the road soon after the cars took off.

[141] So he's, you know, relatively okay.

[142] But Franca is nowhere to be found.

[143] So meanwhile, on the outer edges of Alcamo, Filippo and his crew pull up in front of an unoccupied farmhouse.

[144] And as Franca is taken from the car, Filippo reportedly tells her, quote, once I'm done with you, you will not be able to marry another man but me. Oh my God.

[145] So Franka, is held against her will for days and repeatedly raped by Filippo.

[146] Jesus.

[147] So here's the thing.

[148] Filippo knows that this will hurt Franca, not just physically or emotionally or psychologically, but on top of the trauma of the physical violence that she endures, Franca is an unwed woman and in the eyes of Italian society at this time, if a woman loses her virginity before she's married, she is considered to be, quote, dishonored.

[149] even if she's the victim of rape.

[150] Holy shit.

[151] Which is not just Italy.

[152] Same is true.

[153] That's how it was in Ireland.

[154] A lot of young women were sent to the Magdalene laundries after they were raped so they could have their babies like out of the eyes of society.

[155] And then that was just another place where they were abused and it was, you know, horrible.

[156] So this standard of basically the woman being blamed for this crime against her has been going on for a while.

[157] So Felipeo knows that when word spread that Franca's had premarital sex, she will likely be ostracized by her community.

[158] She will lose the fiancée that she has and she'll have little hope of finding another man to marry.

[159] And it'll sentence her to a life of poverty because if she doesn't have a husband, women at the time don't have a lot of options to make money on their own.

[160] This is revenge, but also it's like a way to take back control.

[161] Beyond that, the stigma of having a promiscuous daughter, quote -unquote, promiscuous daughter, will hurt the entire Viola family.

[162] They've already lost that year's harvest.

[163] This added perceived shame that they will carry will make a difficult for them to recover financially because they won't be able to recover socially.

[164] So meanwhile, there are actually laws on the books that favor male rapists over their female victims, especially in cases like, Frank is.

[165] So kidnapping and rape are illegal according to the Italian criminal code but there is a specific article Article No. 544 that's basically a loophole and it states that charges like rape will be dropped if an accused perpetrator ends up marrying his victim even if the victim is a minor and this is referred to as reparatory marriage.

[166] Jesus.

[167] Yeah.

[168] There have been many Italian women throughout history who have been pressured into marrying the man who raped them.

[169] Writer Neve Cullen reports that, quote, The abduction of young women with the intention of forcing them into marriage was a somewhat tolerated practice in Sicily and southern Italy, occurring occasionally up into the 1960s.

[170] Such cases were often difficult to distinguish from consensual elopements, and Viola's kidnappers intended to exploit this ambiguity between love and violence, end quote.

[171] And we actually talked about this a tiny bit in episode 384 when I covered Leonardo Chianculi, the soapmaker of Coragio.

[172] Leonardo's mother was a victim of rape and she was pressured into marrying her attacker.

[173] So I think we touched on that briefly, but several people wrote in after we did that story saying this is the story you need to tell now because this is when that practice basically was ended.

[174] Wow.

[175] So this is what Felipe means when he says to Franca, once I'm done with you, you won't be able to marry another man but me. He believes Franco will think that she has no other option than to marry him after his attack.

[176] And when she does, he'll avoid criminal charges through a repertory marriage.

[177] And he'll get what he wanted all along, which is Frank Viola as his wife.

[178] So now it's January 6th, 12 days have passed since the kidnapping.

[179] thanks to Bernardo and Vita Viola pretending to go along with Vlipo, the police have learned where he's keeping Franca.

[180] So when officers and the Viola's arrive at that farmhouse that they took her to, Filippo thinks his master plan is working.

[181] He walks Franca outside.

[182] She's weak, but she manages to get away from him and get over to her father collapsing into his arms.

[183] And Filippo is arrested, but he's not concerned about it because he fully expects Franca to tell the police right there that she intends to marry him.

[184] He's so confident, in fact, that he flashes a smile and cockley asks the officers for a cigarette.

[185] Then he turns to Franca and waits for her to say those exonerating words that she has accepted his marriage proposal.

[186] But as the podcast case file reports, quote, Franco paused in front of Felipeo Melodia, looked him in the eye, and told him, I will never marry you.

[187] end quote so as his grin fades Felipe is then arrested and taken to jail so probably an amazing moment but now Franca has to deal with the consequences of her decision she's just rejected a reparatory marriage proposal by doing so accepted her status as a quote dishonored woman and it is reported that Franka Viola is the first Sicilian woman to ever reject a reparatory marriage proposal.

[188] She did it first.

[189] Wow.

[190] Like, after all that time.

[191] Yeah.

[192] In another break from traditional norms, Franka's family backs her entirely.

[193] So there was a practice where it'd be like, if there was even an idea of that, then you would be shunned.

[194] Yeah, yeah.

[195] Unfortunately, the community is not as supportive in the days and weeks that follow.

[196] Many people in Alcomo are openly hostile toward her and her family.

[197] No one's willing to hire Bernardo, and the family sinks deeper and deeper into financial ruin.

[198] And once again, Franca hardly leaves the house.

[199] But now, instead of being stalked and harassed by Felipe, she's actually being taunted and judged by her neighbors.

[200] But there are some people around Alcomo who admire Frank's decision.

[201] Their feelings seem complicated at best.

[202] For example, case file reports that, quote, during a council meeting for the town of Alcomo, it was proposed that the council stand in solidarity of Franca, her family, and all the others who had been bullied, the proposition was unanimously approved.

[203] But when one counselor stood up and rhetorically requested a show of hands as to who among them would be willing to marry any dishonored woman, no one moved.

[204] End quote.

[205] Which also was kind of like, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't do it.

[206] It's just that you were asking people on the fly basically, you know, like volunteer say it now or whatever where no one's that brave and that's why what franka did was so powerful yeah is because she was like breaking the norm totally so in december of 1966 philippa melodious trial begins around 500 people show up to the courthouse to watch the proceedings philippo and his attorneys have a clear tactic for his defense they hope to appeal to those conservative social values that favor a rapist over what society now sees as a dishonored female victim.

[207] But they also straight up lie.

[208] Filippo claims that he and Franca shared a passionate love affair that her father sabotaged.

[209] He claims that Franco consented to running away and having sex with him because she wanted to marry him all along.

[210] And this was just her way of getting around her father's disapproval.

[211] In response, the prosecutors simply point to Franka's brave actions of vocally turning down a reparatory marriage, which is the clearst indication that she never consented to any of this.

[212] And then Franco herself testifies.

[213] She talks about the harassment that she suffered at Filippo's hands, as well as the horrors of being held captive and subjected to repeated sexual assaults.

[214] Franka denies ever being in love with Filippo and condemns the societal pressure she's faced to marry her own rapist.

[215] And she's 17 years old?

[216] Yeah.

[217] She bravely tells the court, quote, I am the property of no one.

[218] No one can force me to love a person I do not respect.

[219] Honor is lost by the one who does certain things, not the one who is subjected to them.

[220] Badass.

[221] And with that, the court sides with Frank of Viola.

[222] Filippo is found guilty and given an 11 -year prison sentence for kidnapping rape.

[223] It'll be reduced to 10 years following an appeal, but it's basically a groundbreaking finding.

[224] And eight of Filippo's co -conspirators who helped orchestrate and execute the kidnapping are also convicted.

[225] So this whole thing is like people turn on it.

[226] Yeah.

[227] And what's kind of a bigger miracle is everything Franca had been told about her life being ruined turns out to not be true at all.

[228] In fact, yeah, right?

[229] In 1968, when she's 20 years old, Franco marries her childhood sweetheart, 25 -year -old accountant, Giuseppe Ruisi.

[230] and to ensure their safety for many of Filippo's gang, they get married in a small private ceremony held at dawn.

[231] Several police officers who worked on Franke's case are there both as wedding guests and as security.

[232] By this point, Franka's stand against Filippo has made her a national symbol of a modernizing Italy.

[233] And after her wedding, the Italian president and the prime minister send the newlyweds gifts.

[234] and Pope Paul the 6 holds a private meeting with the couple in Rome.

[235] Wow.

[236] Especially growing up in, you know, very Catholic culture, the idea that not only is she not dishonored, not only is she not being judged by, you know, something that she was a victim of, the idea that the Pope would have an audience with just the two of them is essentially the Catholic church telling society you're not going to be doing that like anymore which is in and of itself a miracle like not an institution known for progressive thinking that's incredible i felt like i needed to tell you that because it felt like you had mistaken the catholic church for being oh i thought they were lenient and forgiving and that's the presbyterians got it and then in 1970 an italian filmmaker makes a movie inspired by Franca's life called The Most Beautiful Wife.

[237] And this film cements Franca Viola as a national hero and a feminist icon.

[238] Yes.

[239] Franka, who does not love the limelight, is very modest when she's asked about her legacy.

[240] She says, quote, it was not a courageous gesture.

[241] I only did what I felt I had to do.

[242] As any other girl would do today, I listened to my heart.

[243] End quote.

[244] And in 1976, Felipe Melodia is released from prison.

[245] Two years later, as he was heading home from a neighborhood bar, he shot to death in a mafia -style killing.

[246] And then in 1981, 15 years after the trial, the repertory marriage article is finally repealed from the Italian criminal code.

[247] Oh, thank God.

[248] 81.

[249] Yeah.

[250] No, it's insane.

[251] 81.

[252] To the best of our knowledge, Frank of Viola, is still alive and living a quiet life in Alcommo with her husband.

[253] She would now be in her mid -70s, and writer Neve Cullen says this about her, quote.

[254] Franco Viola's case represented an important moment in modern Italian gender politics.

[255] Her famous no represented a crucial step in the redefinition of marriage as a decision based on love, equality, and respect, rather than shame and coercion, and in the recognition of sexual and gender violence in Italian society.

[256] and quote and that's the inspiring story of franka viola an italian feminist icon wow like if she hadn't done that it could have been decades more that that would have lasted it's a very human thing this is a i got this from bernay brown but that idea of being turned away by society is like a very deep down human fear and like people will do anything to not be rejected to not be discluded yes so that idea that like society says this.

[257] This is how it is.

[258] It's more important for you to be a virgin than anything else, including your own safety and your own humanity.

[259] And that kind of thing, people will hold something like that up for a really long time if it means that them standing against it means they're expelled from society.

[260] Yeah.

[261] No, it's revolutionary what she did.

[262] I hope she's proud of herself because that's just incredible.

[263] If she got a gift from the president and the prime minister?

[264] She's like, I wonder what she got.

[265] I wish she had done on an unboxing video.

[266] It also just reminds me that it's December of 2023 and women still do not have agency over their own bodies in the United States of America.

[267] So anybody that was just judging Italy in the 60s in some fucked up way, let's get right with the fact that we need to make abortion legal across the United States because women are people, too, and we need to have all the same rights as men do.

[268] That's right.

[269] Legal and safe.

[270] Please, God damn it.

[271] God damn it.

[272] Well, it's going to be 2024.

[273] So that's the year that everything changes.

[274] That's the year we turn it back to how it is supposed to be.

[275] Well, turn it forward.

[276] Let's not go back.

[277] Let's not go back.

[278] Can we?

[279] I would go back.

[280] Fast forward.

[281] Well, thanks for listening to you guys.

[282] I hope your December is going well.

[283] I hope you are getting that big bow for that car you're about to gift to someone like they're doing commercials.

[284] The biggest bow.

[285] Where do you get those?

[286] Party City.

[287] Get yourself a nice sugar cookie with a bunch of powdered sugar on top of it.

[288] That's right.

[289] And a pumpkin whatever, latte, whatever you want.

[290] Whatever you like.

[291] Or peppermint.

[292] Maybe some kind of a peppermint in there.

[293] Oh.

[294] And then lastly, stay sexy.

[295] And don't get murdered.

[296] Goodbye.

[297] Elvis, do you want a cookie?

[298] Meow.

[299] This has been an exactly right production.

[300] Our senior producer is Alejandra Keck.

[301] Our managing producers, Hannah Kyle Creighton.

[302] Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo.

[303] This episode was mixed by Liana Skolachi.

[304] Our researchers are Marin McClashin and Ali Elkin.

[305] Email your hometowns to My Favorite Murder at gmail .com.

[306] Follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at My Favorite Murder and Twitter and Twitter at MyFave Murder.

[307] Goodbye.

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