Pietro De Negri, better known as Er Canaro (

Roman dialect Romanesco () is one of the central Italian dialects spoken in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, especially in the core city. It is linguistically close to Tuscan and Standard Italian, with some notable differences from these two. Rich in ...

: "the dog keeper"; born 28 September 1956), is an

Italia Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

n criminal, a dog coiffeur (hence the nickname) and a

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...

addict. De Negri was born at

Calasetta Calasetta ( Ligurian: ''Câdesédda'') is a small town (population 2,919) and ''comune'' located on the island of Sant'Antioco, off the Southwestern coast of Sardinia, Italy. History While the town itself dates to 1770. In the middle of the 16th c ...

, in

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

. Later he lived in the

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

's neighbourhood of

Magliana The Magliana () is an urban zone of Rome, known as 15E of Municipio XI of Rome. It also the name of a neighborhood or ward of the city. Geographically, it is located on the southwest periphery of Rome, Italy along the Tiber River. The neighborh ...

. At the age of 31, he killed former boxer, quarter tough guy, and fellow cocaine addict Giancarlo Ricci. The so-called Canaro's killing (Italian ''Delitto del Canaro'') is notable for being one of the most gruesome crimes carried out in Italy since the end of World War II, particularly because the victim watched powerless during the excessive mutilation. However, the post-mortem revealed that most of the torture described by De Negri had only been imagined by the man, who probably confused thought and reality as a result of his excessive consumption of cocaine. The boxer had been killed with a hammer, in no more than 40 minutes as opposed to the 7 hours of torture claimed by De Negri; no shampoo was used, nor had his cranium been opened. Some fingers have been amputated post mortem.

Alleged Giancarlo Ricci's homicide

On 18 February 1988, Ricci entered into Pietro De Negri's shop as usual, beating and slapping him as he had on previous occasions. De Negri had been a victim of Ricci's physical abuse before, but had conceived a plan to kill him. He told Ricci that a cocaine pusher was coming into the shop, and that if Ricci would hide himself in a dog cage, they could steal the pusher's cocaine and money. As soon as Ricci entered into the cage, De Negri locked him inside. He tortured Ricci for seven hours, left him tied with a chain, went to his daughter's school to take her home, and later returned to his shop. Ricci was tortured to death, with some of his fingers having been removed and put inside bodily orifices. Pieces of his face were cut, his tongue was removed, and his penis was put into his mouth, which caused him to die of asphyxiation, according to the post-mortem. De Negri also pierced one of Ricci's eyes with the cut fingers, smashed his teeth and head with a pipe wrench, and "washed" his brain with dog shampoo.''La Repubblica'', 23 February 1988 The morning after, Ricci's body was found in a landfill, still smoking, as De Negri had thrown fuel onto the body and tried to burn it. A man admitted to driving Ricci to De Negri's shop the day of the murder, and De Negri confessed. After conviction, he served 16 years out of his 24-year prison sentence.

In popular culture

The life and the incident of the murder has been adapted into a film by

Matteo Garrone Matteo Garrone (born 15 October 1968) is an Italians, Italian filmmaker. Born in Rome, the son of a theatre critic, Nico Garrone and a photographer, in 1996 Garrone won the ''Sacher d'Oro'', an award sponsored by Nanni Moretti, with the short fi ...

, '' Dogman''.

Notes

References

ArchivesIl Giornale
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canaro, Er 1956 births Living people People from the Province of South Sardinia Italian people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by Italy