Latest / Crime and Horror / He became Italy's MOST HATED man - MrBallen

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He became Italy's MOST HATED man - MrBallen · Crime and Horror

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Speaker 1: Today, we have two stories that are each about people
0:03
Speaker 1: who really craved attention or status, but instead of getting that,
0:09
Speaker 1: they got carnage. But before we get into today's stories,
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Speaker 1: if you're a fan of the strange, dark, and mysterious
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Speaker 1: today's stories. Afternoon, in early September of two thousand and four,
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Speaker 1: twenty year old Derek Keeper sat at a desk in
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Speaker 1: the newspaper lab at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, furiously
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Speaker 1: typing on one of the school's desktop computers. The lab
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Speaker 1: that Derek was in was the hub of the university's
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Speaker 1: school paper, the Daily Nebraska, so there were some other
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Speaker 1: students who were in the space that were talking or
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Speaker 1: working at other computers, but Derek didn't notice any of them.
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Speaker 1: He was completely locked in on what he was doing
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Speaker 1: and writing as fast as he could, because after he
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Speaker 1: was done with the article that he was working on,
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Speaker 1: he had a ton of other responsibilities that he needed
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Speaker 1: to tackle. So Derek was involved in a lot of
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Speaker 1: stuff at school. He was in a fraternity, he was
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Speaker 1: a senator in the student government, he was a research
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Speaker 1: assistant for the library, and he was pursuing five different majors.
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Speaker 1: And Derek took all of his various commitments very very seriously,
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Speaker 1: but the column he was currently writing was really the
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Speaker 1: one he had the most fun with. So Derek was
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Speaker 1: from a small city in Nebraska, and even though he'd
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Speaker 1: always been, you know, personally a very loud and opinionated person,
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Speaker 1: he'd never had a real platform for talking about all
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Speaker 1: the ideas and points of views that he had, and
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Speaker 1: so this column really gave him the opportunity to finally,
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Speaker 1: you know, actually present these big ideas to the students
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Speaker 1: at school, and he hoped would likely provoke lively discussions
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Speaker 1: around campus about his ideas. After all, Derek loved a
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Speaker 1: good debate, and so he would intentionally choose to write
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Speaker 1: about really complex issues that would get his readers fired up.
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Speaker 1: Like the ongoing war in Iraq and the future of
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Speaker 1: the Republican Party and all the things that were wrong
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Speaker 1: with local politics. The tone he went for when he
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Speaker 1: wrote and talked about these kind of you know, contentious
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Speaker 1: things was often very sarcastic, very blunt and provocative. I mean,
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Speaker 1: he really thrived on creating discourse and getting people to
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Speaker 1: passionately disagree with him, and they usually definitely did, to
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Speaker 1: the point where some even would get very mad with him.
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Speaker 1: A lot of times the paper's readers would write furious
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Speaker 1: letters or even send hate mail about what Derek had written,
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Speaker 1: but Derek was really not bothered by that at all.
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Speaker 1: In some ways, that was his aim to get people
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Speaker 1: all riled up, and he was sure that the article
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Speaker 1: he was writing right now was going to be even
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Speaker 1: more divisive than really anything else he had written. For
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Speaker 1: Derek though, really for him, it was all about individual
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Speaker 1: freedoms and encouraging people to say no to government overreach
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Speaker 1: in their daily lives. I mean, that really was sort
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Speaker 1: of his general stance on everything. That's really what inspired
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Speaker 1: him to do any of this in the first place.
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Speaker 1: In fact, this particular column that Derek was writing was
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Speaker 1: about how he was advocating for abolishing a set of
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Speaker 1: state and federal laws that were trying to control personal
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Speaker 1: choice and the right to decide what was best for
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Speaker 1: one's body, and he was against it. Now, to be clear,
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Speaker 1: the stakes for this issue were life and death, I
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Speaker 1: mean literally, But Derek believed that the fundamental freedom of
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Speaker 1: being an American was the right to make your own decisions,
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Speaker 1: even if it meant risking your own personal safety. And
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Speaker 1: so as Derek sort of furiously typed away, you know,
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Speaker 1: he was encouraging everyone, like senators and politicians, everybody to
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Speaker 1: have the same kind of intensity that he had about
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Speaker 1: this issue, to be just fully bought in on this
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Speaker 1: idea of as Americans, we need individual freedom. And then finally,
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Speaker 1: when he was all done typing, Derek sat back and
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Speaker 1: proofread the whole thing, and when he got to the
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Speaker 1: last line, he got chills. It said quote, I just
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Speaker 1: wish we could keep the government out of our pocketbooks
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Speaker 1: and out of our personal decisions. Derek loved that line,
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Speaker 1: and so he nodded, you know, satisfied with his work.
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Speaker 1: He had nailed it. Then he emailed his draft to
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Speaker 1: his editor with a big smile on his face. Derek's
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Speaker 1: article went to print just a few days later on
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Speaker 1: September seventeenth, and like most of Derek's other articles, this
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Speaker 1: one for sure got a lot of angry emails and
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Speaker 1: letters from people who disagreed with what Derek had to say.
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Speaker 1: But all the vitriol in these messages just proved to
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Speaker 1: Derek that his article had clearly been a success. He
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Speaker 1: had sparked outrage and got people talking about this issue.
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Speaker 1: Derek even hoped that maybe some of the readers got
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Speaker 1: angry enough to actually take action. That's what he wanted.
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Speaker 1: He wanted his writing to genuinely inspire. The rest of
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Speaker 1: Derek's semester was a total blur. He kept writing his
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Speaker 1: weekly column on top of all of his other obligations
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Speaker 1: and exams and everything else, and before he knew it,
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Speaker 1: the semester was over and he was headed to his
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Speaker 1: mother's house in Texas for Christmas break. A few weeks later,
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Speaker 1: on January fourth, two thousand and five, at three am,
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Speaker 1: Derek rode in the backseat of a Ford Explorer suv
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Speaker 1: on his way back to school after the break. He'd
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Speaker 1: caught a ride from his mother's home in Texas with
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Speaker 1: two of his fraternity brothers who were sitting up front,
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Speaker 1: and Derek had spent the first part of this just
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Speaker 1: awful thirteen hour long drive doing what he did best,
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Speaker 1: using his star chasm to make his friends laugh, and
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Speaker 1: he was also engaging them in really animated conversations, and
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Speaker 1: so you know, the first six to eight hours had
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Speaker 1: sort of flown by, but now you know, it's basically
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Speaker 1: the middle of the night still slash very early morning,
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Speaker 1: and everybody had just gone quiet because they were all
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Speaker 1: exhausted from this truly awful, long, long drive. All any
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Speaker 1: of them wanted to do at this point was just
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Speaker 1: get back to campus and be done. And eventually Derek
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Speaker 1: and his friends were very close to campus. They were
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Speaker 1: finally in Nebraska, and they were driving down Interstate eighty,
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Speaker 1: which was a snowy, cold highway not far from the school,
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Speaker 1: and Derek was really excited to start the new semester.
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Speaker 1: He'd had a nice, laid back holiday where he'd caught
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Speaker 1: up on sleep and spent a lot of time just
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Speaker 1: kind of hanging out and seeing his younger siblings. But
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Speaker 1: Derek just was not the kind of person who liked
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Speaker 1: slowing down for very long, and so he was quite
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Speaker 1: eager to get back to his busy life on campus. Especially,
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Speaker 1: he really wanted to get back to his column. He
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Speaker 1: had had a lot of downtime and was able to
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Speaker 1: you know, brainstorm and come up with some good, potential
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Speaker 1: new topics for the column, But he really wasn't sure
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Speaker 1: if any of those ideas were going to top, you know,
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Speaker 1: the very controversial article that he had published back in September.
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Speaker 1: People were still talking about that one, and Derek was
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Speaker 1: still thinking about it too. In fact, his own words
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Speaker 1: and advice to his readers were still ringing in his
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Speaker 1: ears and guiding his everyday decisions. But for now, Derek
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Speaker 1: just leaned his head up against the cold glass window
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Speaker 1: of the car and waited for this long trip to
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Speaker 1: finally be over. But suddenly he felt the suv lurch,
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Speaker 1: and before he knew what was happening, he heard a
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Speaker 1: deafening bang and he heard his friends screaming. Just minutes later,
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Speaker 1: a police officer was flying down Interstate eighty and his cruiser.
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Speaker 1: Eventually he spotted a group of ambulances parked on the
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Speaker 1: side of the road, and he knew that's where he
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Speaker 1: needed to go, so he pulled over to the side
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Speaker 1: and stopped and when he got out, he saw in
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Speaker 1: a ditch just off the highway was an overturned suv.
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Speaker 1: The officer immediately jumped out of his cruiser and rushed
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Speaker 1: towards the vehicle, and when he got there, he found
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Speaker 1: the scene was just absolutely chaotic. There were a team
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Speaker 1: of paramedics who were at the window of the suv
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Speaker 1: trying to assess the condition of the victims inside and
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Speaker 1: to get them out. And when the officer kneeled down
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Speaker 1: to look inside as well, he could clearly see two
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Speaker 1: people inside the vehicle. Now, both of them seemed basically fine,
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Speaker 1: beyond you know, obviously being in Iraq. I mean, they
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Speaker 1: were banged up and clearly dazed, but their injuries didn't
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Speaker 1: look immediately life threatening. So sort of relieved, the officer
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Speaker 1: backed away to let the paramedics do their thing, But
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Speaker 1: very quickly the officer noticed that more paramedics were actually
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Speaker 1: running past the suv to something on the ground a
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Speaker 1: few feet beyond it, and so the officer followed them
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Speaker 1: to go see what it was they were running to.
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Speaker 1: And when he saw what was on the ground, the
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Speaker 1: officer just kind of stopped and knew instinctively that there
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Speaker 1: was nothing anybody could do. I mean, there was a
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Speaker 1: body of a young man on the ground who clearly
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Speaker 1: was a third passenger of this suv, but their body
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Speaker 1: was just mangled, almost beyond recognition. It would turn out
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Speaker 1: Derek had been right. His September seventeenth, highly contentious column
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Speaker 1: in the Daily Nebraskan would be his most controversial and
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Speaker 1: famous piece ever, and actually people are still talking about
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Speaker 1: it today because his column was about how we all
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Speaker 1: us Americans, reserved the right to make our own choices
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Speaker 1: about our bodies and personal safety, and Derek believed that
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Speaker 1: there was a law that was actually directly infringing on
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Speaker 1: that right, which was the law that was forcing people
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Speaker 1: to wear a seat belt. Derek despised this requirement. He
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Speaker 1: thought seat belts should be just a personal decision about safety.
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Speaker 1: To him, it was not just about buckling up. It
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Speaker 1: was about individual choice about freedom. And on January fourth,
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Speaker 1: that suv that Derek was riding in going back to
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Speaker 1: school while the driver hit some ice on the road
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Speaker 1: and lost control. The driver and the other passenger in
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Speaker 1: the front were wearing seat belts, but Derek, and keeping
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Speaker 1: with his beliefs, was not, And so when the suv
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Speaker 1: crashed and flipped over. Derek alone was killed. As one
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Speaker 1: reporter pointed out, Derek lived by his beliefs and he
10:13
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Speaker 1: Just before nine pm on Friday, January thirteenth, twenty twelve,
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Speaker 1: fifty one year old Francesco Scatino and his girlfriend Dominica
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Speaker 1: sat at a table in a crowded restaurant at a
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Speaker 1: resort in Italy, and they'd been there for a while
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Speaker 1: having a leisurely meal, so their table was covered with
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Speaker 1: empty dishes, a wine decanter, and plates with the remnants
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Speaker 1: of their amazing food. Now, having an extended indulgent dinner
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Speaker 1: like this one was not technically allowed since Francesco was
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Speaker 1: actually working, But Francesco was not too worried about breaking
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Speaker 1: what he considered to be a small rule because he
12:26
Speaker 1: was not just some hired hand. I mean, he was
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Speaker 1: in charge of this entire resort on Italy's Tuscan coast,
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Speaker 1: and the resort was amazing. It was literally right out
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Speaker 1: on the water and had thousands of guest rooms and
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Speaker 1: six restaurants with over a dozen bars, a theater, multiple
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Speaker 1: swimming pools, and there was even a casino. So it
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Speaker 1: had really a huge capacity for guests. And right now
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Speaker 1: there were easily more than three thousand people staying at
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Speaker 1: this resort, and Francesco was very proud to be the
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Speaker 1: boss of this place, you know, this unbelievable place. He
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Speaker 1: actually had started working at this resort as a security guard,
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Speaker 1: but he'd worked his way up to the very top,
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Speaker 1: and now he'd been overseeing this property for about six years,
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Speaker 1: and being a leader really worked well for his personality
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Speaker 1: because he loved being impressive and feeling important. He'd heard
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Speaker 1: staff and former co workers complain about how he was
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Speaker 1: too over the top and a bit of a show off.
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Speaker 1: So he had heard those things, but Francesco knew that
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Speaker 1: really these people, they were just jealous. He was handsome,
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Speaker 1: he had a great job, and he had two just beautiful,
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Speaker 1: amazing women in his life when you know, some people
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Speaker 1: didn't have any. So now Francesco smiled at one of
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Speaker 1: his girlfriends, Domnica, who sat across the table from him
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Speaker 1: and enjoying the dessert they were sharing. Francesco was married,
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Speaker 1: but recently Domnica had become the most important woman in
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Speaker 1: his life. She was a dancer, and to him, she
13:55
Speaker 1: was just perfect. They'd only met a few weeks ago,
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Speaker 1: so they were still in the honeymoon phase, know where
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Speaker 1: they were both still very flirtatious and eager to impress
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Speaker 1: one another. And so right now, Francesco knew he should
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Speaker 1: leave and get back to his managing duties, but he
14:11
Speaker 1: was having so much fun with Dominica, so he lingered
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Speaker 1: eating his dessert as slowly as he could. But as
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Speaker 1: he sat there, you know, slow playing his dessert, he realized,
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Speaker 1: you know, their night together didn't actually have to end
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Speaker 1: just because the dinner was over. There was something he
14:27
Speaker 1: could do right now that would give them maybe another
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Speaker 1: hour or so together, and it would also completely blow
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Speaker 1: Domnica away and prove to her just how amazing he
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Speaker 1: really was. So suddenly, with a big smile on his face,
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Speaker 1: he told Dominica to hurry up finish eating because they
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Speaker 1: needed to get upstairs immediately a few minutes later, Francesco
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Speaker 1: and Dominica hurried into the resort's top floor operation center,
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Speaker 1: and just like the entire rest of the place. I mean,
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Speaker 1: this room, despite being an operation center, was still just
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Speaker 1: massively impressive. In addition to all the very new age
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Speaker 1: you know, high speed monitors and security feeds and maps
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Speaker 1: all over the room, there was this huge window that
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Speaker 1: overlooked this balcony, this exterior balcony that looked down on
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Speaker 1: the ocean. It was like this beautiful view of the ocean,
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Speaker 1: and it even overlooked a stretch of small seaside villages
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Speaker 1: called Gilio. This room was also filled with all of
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Speaker 1: Francesco's employees hustling around and you know, staring at screens
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Speaker 1: and talking on headsets. But as soon as Francesco and
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Speaker 1: Dominica walked in there, Francesco kind of went to the
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Speaker 1: center of the room and kind of got everybody's attention
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Speaker 1: and told them all to listen up. Then he went
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Speaker 1: over the details of his his big idea. The resort
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Speaker 1: was going to put on a very specific and spectacular
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Speaker 1: kind of show called a salute, and they were going
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Speaker 1: to do it right now. So salutes were very popular
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Speaker 1: in this area of Italy, and Francesco's resort actually did
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Speaker 1: them all the time, so this was not totally unusual.
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Speaker 1: They were basically kind of a performance mostly for the locals,
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Speaker 1: where the resort would flash all of its lights and
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Speaker 1: play music while guests of the resort would go to
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Speaker 1: their balconies and wave and cheer to the residents and
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Speaker 1: the other tourists in Gilio. But critically, salutes needed to
16:16
Speaker 1: be both quick and highly choreographed. That's really the only
16:21
Speaker 1: way they worked, and so in order for a salute
16:23
Speaker 1: to work, it really required the attention and active participation
16:27
Speaker 1: from a large number of people. I mean, this was
16:30
Speaker 1: a big to do, and so given the fact that
16:32
Speaker 1: these were sort of a big endeavor, it meant that
16:35
Speaker 1: you know, something could go wrong if you're not really careful.
16:39
Speaker 1: And Francesco actually had a mentor who actively discouraged him
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Speaker 1: to not do these salutes, or try to do as
16:46
Speaker 1: few as you can because of the fact that things
16:48
Speaker 1: could go wrong. But Francesco's mentor was not physically here
16:52
Speaker 1: right now to tell Francesco to stop, and the people
16:56
Speaker 1: that were here were pretty excited about his idea. So
16:59
Speaker 1: franchise Bisco began going over the plan with his staff,
17:03
Speaker 1: and as he expected with such a complicated undertaking, there
17:07
Speaker 1: were a lot of logistics to look over. However, when
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Speaker 1: Francesco actually started going about these preparations, he realized he
17:14
Speaker 1: couldn't actually read anything because he didn't have his glasses on.
17:19
Speaker 1: He didn't think he looked handsome with them on, so
17:21
Speaker 1: he hadn't brought them out to dinner with Dominica, but
17:23
Speaker 1: now he really needed them. But thinking on his feet,
17:26
Speaker 1: Francesco simply asked a staff member to read him whatever
17:30
Speaker 1: information he really needed to know in order to do
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Speaker 1: the salute, and so the staff member did as they
17:35
Speaker 1: were told, and at the end of it, Francesco felt
17:37
Speaker 1: like he had heard what he needed to hear, and
17:39
Speaker 1: he thought everything was in order, and so he nodded
17:42
Speaker 1: and said, okay, we are all set to begin, And
17:44
Speaker 1: then he looked over at Dominica and smiled and sort
17:47
Speaker 1: of nodded, like, okay, here we go. Then she knew
17:50
Speaker 1: whatever was coming next was going to be really, really special.
17:53
Speaker 1: When Francesco gave the actual order to begin the salute,
17:57
Speaker 1: everybody in the operations room jumped into action, and as
18:01
Speaker 1: soon as the actual salute began, Francesco squinted out the
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Speaker 1: huge window that looked out over the ocean and Gilio
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Speaker 1: down below, and Francesco was just so excited when he
18:12
Speaker 1: thought about how everyone who was out and about in
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Speaker 1: town would look up and see his palace all lit
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Speaker 1: up and full of life and energy. But as he
18:21
Speaker 1: appeared at the lights of Gilio, he realized something wasn't
18:26
Speaker 1: quite right. Even without his glasses on, he could see
18:30
Speaker 1: that there was something outside in the darkness, just barely
18:35
Speaker 1: illuminated by the town's lights. It was a large shape
18:39
Speaker 1: right between the resort and Gilio, and to his horror,
18:44
Speaker 1: Francesco realized it was actually getting closer fast. At the
18:49
Speaker 1: same time, but on the other side of the resort,
18:52
Speaker 1: an American man named Brian Ajo was eating dinner with
18:55
Speaker 1: his wife and teenage daughter at the Milano restaurant, which
18:59
Speaker 1: was one of six restaurants in the resort, and they'd
19:01
Speaker 1: just been enjoying their meal when there was this deafening
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Speaker 1: banging sound, and the entire room gave a huge jolt
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Speaker 1: and everything inside just sort of went flying. Brian grabbed
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Speaker 1: the table to brace himself as plates and glasses shot
19:15
Speaker 1: off the table and shattered everywhere, and then he heard
19:18
Speaker 1: screams and people hitting the ground all around him as
19:22
Speaker 1: diners were literally being thrown from their chairs, and then
19:26
Speaker 1: there was another series of crashes when some ceiling panels
19:28
Speaker 1: fell from above and smashed onto the ground. But then
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Speaker 1: it was over. The shaking abruptly stopped, and Brian immediately
19:36
Speaker 1: jumped up to make sure that his wife and daughter
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Speaker 1: were okay, and they did seem fine, just dazed like
19:41
Speaker 1: everybody else in the room. As Brian stood up, he
19:44
Speaker 1: could tell he was, you know, mostly okay, also shaken up,
19:47
Speaker 1: but the overwhelming thought was just having no idea what
19:51
Speaker 1: had just happened. I mean, he's looking around and no
19:53
Speaker 1: one seemed to know, and it felt like some kind
19:55
Speaker 1: of earthquake or something. But then Brian thought, if this
19:58
Speaker 1: had been an earthquake, he really had had to get
20:00
Speaker 1: his family out of this restaurant immediately in case of aftershocks.
20:04
Speaker 1: But it seemed like all the other diners clearly had
20:06
Speaker 1: the same idea, because before Brian could actually move, there
20:10
Speaker 1: was a surge of activity around him as dozens of
20:13
Speaker 1: people just began rushing towards the exit of the restaurant,
20:16
Speaker 1: and Brian didn't want him or his family to get
20:18
Speaker 1: caught in the middle of this huge crowd. Huge amounts
20:21
Speaker 1: of people running in the exact same direction. You know,
20:24
Speaker 1: a panicked group of people could easily create a stampede,
20:28
Speaker 1: and he was worried that he and his family could
20:30
Speaker 1: get pulled to the ground and trampled in the chaos.
20:33
Speaker 1: So he looked around and he saw on the other
20:35
Speaker 1: side of the restaurant there was a smaller door that
20:38
Speaker 1: nobody else was going to, so he and his family
20:41
Speaker 1: began making their way over to it. But before they
20:44
Speaker 1: could actually get through the store, the overhead lights began
20:48
Speaker 1: to flicker and then went out, and then with the darkness,
20:51
Speaker 1: suddenly came the blast of emergency alarms echoing through the resort.
20:56
Speaker 1: And then he could hear more screams, not just inside
20:58
Speaker 1: of this restaurant, but sort of all over the place.
21:00
Speaker 1: It was like the resort had devolved into madness. Brian
21:04
Speaker 1: had never been more scared in his whole life. I mean,
21:07
Speaker 1: his pulse was racing faster than he thought was even possible,
21:10
Speaker 1: and he almost felt paralyzed, like this was just too
21:12
Speaker 1: much to even process. He also liked, basically everybody else
21:16
Speaker 1: had no clue what was going on here, but I mean,
21:20
Speaker 1: navigating his family through an emergency was already going to
21:23
Speaker 1: be horrifying and terrifying and dangerous, but now he would
21:26
Speaker 1: also have to do it in the dark. For a moment,
21:29
Speaker 1: Brian and his family just stood there, kind of frozen
21:31
Speaker 1: in the dark. And then Brian was about to tell
21:34
Speaker 1: his family to just go through the door. We'll figure
21:36
Speaker 1: it out in the dark. But then luckily the emergency
21:39
Speaker 1: lights came on, giving the room sort of a dim,
21:42
Speaker 1: eerie glow, but it was enough to sort of guide
21:44
Speaker 1: their way, and so at that point Brian didn't wait.
21:47
Speaker 1: He grabbed his wife and his daughter, pushed through the
21:49
Speaker 1: side door, and headed out into the hallway. It would
21:52
Speaker 1: take nearly ten minutes for Brian and his family to
21:55
Speaker 1: navigate the maze of hallways they had just walked into
21:58
Speaker 1: until finally they stepped outside and were in the open air.
22:02
Speaker 1: But when they finally got out there, Brian realized they
22:05
Speaker 1: actually had a really big problem because the exit they
22:10
Speaker 1: had just taken had taken them not to safety. It
22:13
Speaker 1: had led them to this expansive outdoor terrace with a
22:15
Speaker 1: railing on the fourth floor of the resort, which meant
22:20
Speaker 1: they still needed to get down multiple levels in order
22:22
Speaker 1: to evacuate safely. But just the fact that they were
22:26
Speaker 1: on the fourth floor was not the big issue. The
22:28
Speaker 1: big issue was the terrace was clearly packed with other people,
22:32
Speaker 1: other people from the resort who were also trying to evacuate.
22:36
Speaker 1: There was all these people basically blocking their way. So
22:39
Speaker 1: basically everybody who has no idea what's going on is
22:42
Speaker 1: just like pushing and shoving each other, and there were
22:45
Speaker 1: no authority figures or any staff around actually direct the
22:49
Speaker 1: what now was basically an evacuation, and Brian could tell
22:53
Speaker 1: that the crowd was clearly starting to panic, and really
22:55
Speaker 1: he was too. Everybody was just like, what's happening here?
22:58
Speaker 1: And so Brian was about to suggest to his family
23:01
Speaker 1: that they try to find another way out when they
23:04
Speaker 1: heard the crackling of the resort's public speaker system and
23:07
Speaker 1: a voice came on that finally delivered some information about
23:10
Speaker 1: what was happening. It said that there had been an
23:13
Speaker 1: electrical blackout, but everything was fine and technicians were hard
23:17
Speaker 1: at work trying to fix the problem. So in the meantime,
23:20
Speaker 1: all the guests should stay calm and just go to
23:23
Speaker 1: their rooms for safety. And at this point it was
23:25
Speaker 1: very obvious that the mood all around Brian and his
23:28
Speaker 1: family completely changed people stopped pushing and arguing and panicking,
23:33
Speaker 1: and Brian himself felt that that not of dread in
23:36
Speaker 1: his stomach sort of loosened a bit. I mean, an
23:38
Speaker 1: electrical blackout didn't seem like a life or death situation,
23:42
Speaker 1: so he and clearly everybody else felt a whole lot
23:45
Speaker 1: less scared. Pretty much right away, many of the guests
23:48
Speaker 1: began heading back inside, you know, making their way to
23:50
Speaker 1: their rooms, and Brian actually spotted a few staff members
23:53
Speaker 1: who were in the crowd encouraging people to do just that,
23:56
Speaker 1: go back to your rooms. And so for a few moments,
23:59
Speaker 1: Brian and this family and the others just kind of
24:01
Speaker 1: stayed put and just kind of let things play out,
24:04
Speaker 1: you know, kind of watching things settle back into normal.
24:07
Speaker 1: But then it was like, with no warning, there was
24:09
Speaker 1: this other huge banging sound and the floor once again
24:14
Speaker 1: buckled under Brian's feet, and this triggered a whole new
24:17
Speaker 1: wave of just absolute chaos out on this terrace all
24:21
Speaker 1: at once. Everybody started shouting and pushing each other in
24:24
Speaker 1: pure panic, and at the same time there were all
24:27
Speaker 1: these new announcements coming out frantically over the loudspeaker, but
24:30
Speaker 1: it wasn't doing anything. It was like the crowd had
24:33
Speaker 1: decided something bad is happening, and no one can tell
24:36
Speaker 1: me otherwise I have to leave. Everybody is just trying
24:39
Speaker 1: to evacuate all at once, and so pretty much right
24:41
Speaker 1: at this point, you had a group of people who
24:43
Speaker 1: were out on the terrace who decided to charge into
24:47
Speaker 1: the resort to try to find another way to evacuate.
24:51
Speaker 1: And also you had the group of people who had
24:53
Speaker 1: already gone back inside to go back to their rooms,
24:55
Speaker 1: who had changed their mind, who charged right back out
24:58
Speaker 1: back onto the terrace. And so for a moment, it
25:01
Speaker 1: was like these two pools of people kind of smashing
25:03
Speaker 1: into each other, and Brian and his family were kind
25:06
Speaker 1: of off to the side because they had just barely
25:07
Speaker 1: stepped out onto the terrace when all of this stuff
25:09
Speaker 1: was happening. But then Brian watched in complete shock as
25:13
Speaker 1: he saw some of the people after they pushed through
25:15
Speaker 1: all the way to the edge of the terrace to
25:17
Speaker 1: the railing, they began climbing over the railing to climb
25:21
Speaker 1: down from the fourth floor. Seeing this was horrifying for Brian,
25:25
Speaker 1: But then he felt yet another shudder under his feet
25:28
Speaker 1: and a loud industrial groaning sound from the resort right
25:31
Speaker 1: behind him. Then he knew if he didn't do what
25:34
Speaker 1: these people were doing, he and his family might not
25:37
Speaker 1: be able to evacuate. Clearly, there was a real problem.
25:41
Speaker 1: They didn't know what it was, but they had to go.
25:44
Speaker 1: So he grabbed his wife and his daughter's hands. He
25:46
Speaker 1: shoved his way through the crowd to the railing. Over
25:49
Speaker 1: the railing they went, and down they began to climb. Meanwhile,
25:54
Speaker 1: back up in the top level operations center, Francesco was
25:58
Speaker 1: staring out the room's huge window, just completely frozen in shock.
26:04
Speaker 1: His resort was in complete pandemonium. Below guests were running,
26:08
Speaker 1: others were fighting and shoving, and some were literally leaping
26:12
Speaker 1: to their potential deaths from the upper level balconies and
26:15
Speaker 1: terraces and so. As Francesco watched all of this carnage,
26:20
Speaker 1: he tried to wrap his head around how the night
26:22
Speaker 1: had gone so horrifically wrong. The worst part of all
26:25
Speaker 1: of it was there was absolutely no way to fix it.
26:29
Speaker 1: He'd been trying to show Dominica and everybody else how
26:32
Speaker 1: amazing and impressive and in control he was, but he'd
26:36
Speaker 1: completely lost control of this whole situation. And he'd also
26:40
Speaker 1: lost his girlfriend because Dominica had quickly fled the resort.
26:43
Speaker 1: And then there was a loud crashing sound somewhere in
26:46
Speaker 1: the distance, and his heart pounded and he realized it
26:49
Speaker 1: was time for him to start running too. Minutes later,
26:52
Speaker 1: Francesco and some of his staff sprinted through the halls
26:56
Speaker 1: of the resort, and as they ran, thunderous noises and
26:59
Speaker 1: bangs came from every direction, and debris from the ceiling
27:03
Speaker 1: and walls crashed to the ground all around them as
27:05
Speaker 1: they were shaken loose, and all the while, over the noise,
27:09
Speaker 1: Francesco could hear the continuous shrieks of panic from people
27:13
Speaker 1: who were still clearly trapped inside the resort and just
27:16
Speaker 1: couldn't get out. But he and the others he was
27:18
Speaker 1: with finally did make it to the exit, and this
27:22
Speaker 1: exit was not overrun with panicking people, so Francesco was
27:26
Speaker 1: lucky enough to be able to pretty quickly make it
27:28
Speaker 1: to the bottom level and then keep on going, And
27:31
Speaker 1: he did not look back, not until he was far
27:34
Speaker 1: away and definitely to safety. But when he did finally
27:38
Speaker 1: stop running and he did turn around and looked back
27:41
Speaker 1: at his resort, his stomach pitched so hard he nearly
27:44
Speaker 1: vomited because finally he could see right in front of
27:48
Speaker 1: him the full horrible extent of what he had done.
27:54
Speaker 1: It would turn out what Francesco was looking at was
27:57
Speaker 1: the culmination of a record number of terrible choices he
28:01
Speaker 1: had made that night. One Francesco would later deny this,
28:05
Speaker 1: but he was seen drinking alcohol at dinner while he
28:08
Speaker 1: was supposed to be working. Two he was not wearing
28:11
Speaker 1: his glasses, which meant he was his most handsome self,
28:14
Speaker 1: but also that he couldn't see very well. And three
28:17
Speaker 1: he was distracted by his new girlfriend, who he had
28:20
Speaker 1: brought to an area where only key personnel were allowed
28:24
Speaker 1: because he was desperate to impress her. Now, in most workplaces,
28:29
Speaker 1: this would all just be considered unprofessional and maybe might
28:32
Speaker 1: get you fire, But in Francesco's workplace, it was much
28:36
Speaker 1: worse than that. What he had done was incredibly dangerous
28:40
Speaker 1: because the resort that Francesco managed was not a regular hotel.
28:45
Speaker 1: It was a gigantic cruise ship called the Costa Concordia.
28:50
Speaker 1: Francesco was its captain, and when he issued the order
28:54
Speaker 1: for the boat to do a salute, he was not
28:56
Speaker 1: just ordering a complicated but entertaining show a cruise. The
29:00
Speaker 1: ship salute also involves steering the massive boat much closer
29:05
Speaker 1: to shore than usual to appropriately show off to the
29:08
Speaker 1: locals on land. But because Francesco literally couldn't see very
29:12
Speaker 1: well was obviously distracted and possibly drunk, he didn't notice
29:17
Speaker 1: that when they did this salute they were going way
29:20
Speaker 1: too fast and way too close to shore. That shape
29:24
Speaker 1: he saw rushing towards them in the darkness was an
29:27
Speaker 1: enormous cluster of rocks. By the time he saw it,
29:31
Speaker 1: it was too late. The Concordia had smashed into the rocks,
29:36
Speaker 1: tearing a two hundred and thirty foot wide hole in
29:38
Speaker 1: the hull, which immediately flooded the ship, and then making
29:42
Speaker 1: matters even worse, Francesco delayed rescue efforts for more than
29:47
Speaker 1: an hour by trying to convince people that what had
29:50
Speaker 1: happened was just an electrical outage, and then when he
29:54
Speaker 1: finally did issue an evacuation order, he broke a sacred
29:59
Speaker 1: rule for ship captains. He fled the boat before the
30:02
Speaker 1: remainder of his crew and the passengers. Like he was
30:05
Speaker 1: the first one off. He did not go down with
30:08
Speaker 1: his ship. That American passenger Brian Ajo and his family
30:11
Speaker 1: would survive because after they decided to go over the railing,
30:15
Speaker 1: they you know, perilously climbed down four levels all the
30:19
Speaker 1: way to a lifeboat, and so they survived, but unfortunately,
30:23
Speaker 1: thirty two other people who were on board the boat
30:26
Speaker 1: ultimately died, all because of Francesco's desire to show off.
30:31
Speaker 1: Francesco himself was ultimately arrested for manslaughter and was sentenced
30:34
Speaker 1: to sixteen years in prison. He was subsequently named Italy's
30:39
Speaker 1: most hated man. Thank you so much for watching today's episode.
30:46
Speaker 1: Let me know what you thought of it in the
30:48
Speaker 1: comments below, and remember, we have a whole playlist of
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Speaker 1: places you can't go episodes ready for you to binge
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Speaker 1: right now, So go ahead and click here and give
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Speaker 1: them a watch. All right, until next time, Serven,