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,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: if you're a fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious
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  Speaker 1: today's stories. One afternoon in early September of 2004, 20-year-old
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  Speaker 1: Derek Keeper sat at a desk in the newspaper lab
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  Speaker 1: at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, furiously typing on one of
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  Speaker 1: the school's desktop computers. The lab that Derek was in
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  Speaker 1: was the hub of the university's school paper, the Daily Nebraskan.
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  Speaker 1: So there were some other students who were in the
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  Speaker 1: space that were talking or working at other computers. But
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  Speaker 1: Derek didn't notice any of them. He was completely locked
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  Speaker 1: in on what he was doing and writing as fast
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  Speaker 1: as he could. Because after he was done with the
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  Speaker 1: article that he was working on, he had a ton
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  Speaker 1: of other responsibilities that he needed to tackle. So Derek
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  Speaker 1: was involved in a lot of stuff at school. He
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  Speaker 1: was in a fraternity. He was a senator in the
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  Speaker 1: student government. He was a research assistant for the library.
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  Speaker 1: And he was pursuing five different majors. And Derek took
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  Speaker 1: all of his various commitments very, very seriously. But the
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  Speaker 1: column he was currently writing was really the one he
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  Speaker 1: had the most fun with. So Derek was from a
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  Speaker 1: small city in Nebraska. And even though he'd always been,
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  Speaker 1: you know, personally a very loud and opinionated person, he'd
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  Speaker 1: never had a real platform for talking about all the
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  Speaker 1: ideas and points of views that he had. And so
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  Speaker 1: this column really gave him the opportunity to finally, you know,
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  Speaker 1: actually present these big ideas to the students at school and,
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  Speaker 1: he hoped, would likely provoke lively discussions around campus about
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  Speaker 1: his ideas. After all, Derek loved a good debate. And
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  Speaker 1: so he would intentionally choose to write about really complex
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  Speaker 1: issues that would get his readers fired up, like the
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  Speaker 1: ongoing war in Iraq and the future of the Republican
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  Speaker 1: Party and all the things that were wrong with local politics.
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  Speaker 1: The tone he went for when he wrote and talked
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  Speaker 1: about these kind of, you know, contentious things was often
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  Speaker 1: very sarcastic, very blunt, and provocative. I mean, he really
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  Speaker 1: thrived on creating discourse and getting people to passionately disagree
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  Speaker 1: with him. And they usually definitely did, to the point
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  Speaker 1: where some even would get very mad with him. A
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  Speaker 1: lot of times, the paper's readers would write furious letters
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  Speaker 1: 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 Derek, though,
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  Speaker 1: really for him, it was all about individual freedoms and
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  Speaker 1: encouraging people to say no to government overreach in their
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  Speaker 1: daily lives. I mean, that really was sort of his
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  Speaker 1: general stance on everything. That's really what inspired him to
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  Speaker 1: do any of this in the first place. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: this particular column that Derek was writing says, was about
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  Speaker 1: how he was advocating for abolishing a set of state
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  Speaker 1: and federal laws that were trying to control personal choice
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  Speaker 1: and the right to decide what was best for one's body.
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  Speaker 1: And he was against it. Now, to be clear, the
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  Speaker 1: stakes for this issue were life and death. I mean, literally.
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  Speaker 1: But Derek believed that the fundamental freedom of being an
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  Speaker 1: American was the right to make your own decisions, even
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  Speaker 1: if it meant risking your own personal safety. And so
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  Speaker 1: as Derek sort of furiously typed away You know, he
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  Speaker 1: was encouraging everyone, like senators and politicians, everybody, to have
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  Speaker 1: the same kind of intensity that he had about this issue,
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  Speaker 1: to be just fully bought in on this idea of,
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  Speaker 1: as Americans, we need individual freedom. And then finally, when
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  Speaker 1: he was all done typing, Derek sat back and proofread
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  Speaker 1: the whole thing. And when he got to the last line,
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  Speaker 1: he got chills. It said, quote, I just wish we
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  Speaker 1: could keep the government out of our pocketbooks and out
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  Speaker 1: of our personal decisions. Derek loved that line, and so
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  Speaker 1: he nodded, you know, satisfied with his work. He had
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  Speaker 1: nailed it. Then he emailed his draft to his editor
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  Speaker 1: with a big smile on his face. Derek's article went
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  Speaker 1: to print just a few days later, on September 17th.
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  Speaker 1: And like most of Derek's other articles, this one for
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  Speaker 1: sure got a lot of angry emails and letters from
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  Speaker 1: people who disagreed with what Derek had to say. But
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  Speaker 1: all the vitriol in these messages just proved to Derek
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  Speaker 1: that his article had clearly been a success. He had
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  Speaker 1: sparked outrage and got people talking about this issue. Derek
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  Speaker 1: even hoped that maybe some of the readers got angry
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  Speaker 1: enough to actually take action. That's what he wanted. He
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  Speaker 1: wanted his writing to genuinely inspire. The rest of Derek's
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  Speaker 1: semester was a total blur. He kept writing his weekly
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  Speaker 1: column on top of all of his other obligations and
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  Speaker 1: exams and everything else. And before he knew it, the
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  Speaker 1: semester was over. and he was headed to his mother's
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  Speaker 1: house in Texas for Christmas break. A few weeks later,
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  Speaker 1: on January 4th, 2005, at 3 a.m., Derek rode in
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  Speaker 1: the back seat of a Ford Explorer SUV on his
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  Speaker 1: way back to school after the break. He'd caught a
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  Speaker 1: ride from his mother's home in Texas with two of
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  Speaker 1: his fraternity brothers who were sitting up front. And Derek
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  Speaker 1: had spent the first part of this just awful 13-hour-long
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  Speaker 1: drive doing what he did best, using his sarcasm to
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  Speaker 1: make his friends laugh and He was also engaging them
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  Speaker 1: in really animated conversations. And so, you know, the first
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  Speaker 1: six to eight hours had sort of flown by. But now,
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  Speaker 1: you know, it's basically the middle of the night still
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  Speaker 1: slash very early morning. And everybody had just gone quiet
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  Speaker 1: because they were all exhausted from this truly awful, long,
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  Speaker 1: long drive. All any of them wanted to do at
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  Speaker 1: this point was just get back to campus and be done.
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  Speaker 1: And eventually, Derek and his friends were very close to campus.
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  Speaker 1: They were finally in Nebraska. and they were driving down
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  Speaker 1: Interstate 80, which was a snowy, cold highway not far
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  Speaker 1: from the school. And Derek was really excited to start
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  Speaker 1: the new semester. He'd had a nice laid-back holiday where
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  Speaker 1: he'd caught up on sleep and spent a lot of
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  Speaker 1: time just kind of hanging out and seeing his younger siblings.
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  Speaker 1: But Derek just was not the kind of person who
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  Speaker 1: liked slowing down for very long, and so he was
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  Speaker 1: quite 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. Suddenly, he felt the SUV lurch. And
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  Speaker 1: before he knew what was happening, he heard a deafening
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  Speaker 1: bang and he heard his friends screaming. Just minutes later,
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  Speaker 1: a police officer was flying down Interstate 80 in his cruiser. Eventually,
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  Speaker 1: he spotted a group of ambulances parked on the side
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  Speaker 1: of the road and he knew that's where he needed
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  Speaker 1: to go. So he pulled over to the side and stopped.
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  Speaker 1: And when he got out, he saw in a ditch
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  Speaker 1: just off the highway was an overturned SUV. The officer
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  Speaker 1: immediately jumped out of his cruiser and rushed towards the vehicle.
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  Speaker 1: And when he got there, he found the scene was
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  Speaker 1: just absolutely chaotic. There were a team of paramedics who
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  Speaker 1: were at the window of the SUV trying to assess
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  Speaker 1: the condition of the victims inside and to get them out.
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  Speaker 1: And when the officer kneeled down to look inside as well,
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  Speaker 1: he could clearly see two people inside the vehicle. Now,
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  Speaker 1: both of them seemed basically fine beyond, you know, obviously
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: being in Iraq. I mean, they were banged up and
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  Speaker 1: clearly dazed, but their injuries didn't look immediately life-threatening. So
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  Speaker 1: sort of relieved, the officer backed away to let the
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  Speaker 1: paramedics do their thing. But very quickly, the officer noticed
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  Speaker 1: that more paramedics were actually running past the SUV to
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  Speaker 1: something on the ground a few feet beyond it. And
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  Speaker 1: so the officer followed them to go see what it
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  Speaker 1: was they were running to. And when he saw what
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  Speaker 1: was on the ground, the officer just kind of stopped
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  Speaker 1: and knew instinctively that there was nothing anybody could do.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, There was a body of a young man
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  Speaker 1: on the ground who clearly was a third passenger of
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  Speaker 1: this SUV, but their body was just mangled almost beyond recognition.
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  Speaker 1: It would turn out Derek had been right. His September
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  Speaker 1: 17th highly contentious column in the Daily Nebraskan would be
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  Speaker 1: his most controversial and famous piece ever. And actually, people
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  Speaker 1: are still talking about it today. Because his column was
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  Speaker 1: about how, you know, we, all us Americans... And Derek
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  Speaker 1: believed that there was a law that was actually directly
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  Speaker 1: infringing on that right, which was the law that was
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  Speaker 1: forcing people to wear a seatbelt. Derek despised this requirement.
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  Speaker 1: He thought seatbelts 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 4th,
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  Speaker 1: that SUV that Derek was riding in going back to school, well,
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  Speaker 1: the driver hit some ice on the road and lost control.
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  Speaker 1: The driver and the other passenger in the front were
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  Speaker 1: wearing seatbelts. But Derek, in keeping with his beliefs, was not.
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  Speaker 1: And so when the SUV crashed and flipped over, Derek
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  Speaker 1: alone was killed. As one reporter pointed out, Derek lived
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  Speaker 1: by his beliefs and he also died by them. Have
• 10:18
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  Speaker 1: I can't wait to see you at the show. Just
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  Speaker 1: before 9 p.m. on Friday, January 13, 2012, 51-year-old Francesco
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  Speaker 1: Scatino and his girlfriend, Dominica, sat at a table in
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  Speaker 1: a crowded restaurant at a resort in Italy. And they'd
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  Speaker 1: been there for a while, having a leisurely meal. So
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  Speaker 1: their table was covered with empty dishes, a wine decanter,
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  Speaker 1: and plates with the remnants of their amazing food. Now,
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  Speaker 1: having an extended indulgent dinner like this one was not
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  Speaker 1: technically allowed since Francesco was actually working. But Francesco was
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  Speaker 1: not too worried about breaking what he considered to be
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  Speaker 1: a small rule because he was not just some hired hand.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, he was in charge of this entire resort
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  Speaker 1: on Italy's Tuscan coast. And the resort was amazing. It
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  Speaker 1: was literally right out on the water and had thousands
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  Speaker 1: of guest rooms and six restaurants with over a dozen bars,
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  Speaker 1: a theater, multiple swimming pools, and there was even a casino.
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  Speaker 1: So it had really a huge capacity for guests. And
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  Speaker 1: right now, there were easily more than 3,000 people staying
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  Speaker 1: at this resort. And Francesco was, you know, very proud
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  Speaker 1: to be the boss of this place, you know, this
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  Speaker 1: unbelievable place. He actually had started working at this resort
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  Speaker 1: as a security guard, but he'd worked his way up
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  Speaker 1: to the very top. And now he'd been overseeing this
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  Speaker 1: property for about six years. And being a leader really
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  Speaker 1: worked well for his personality because he loved being impressive
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  Speaker 1: and feeling important. He'd heard staff and former co-workers complain
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  Speaker 1: about how he was too over the top and a
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  Speaker 1: bit of a show-off. So he had heard those things.
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  Speaker 1: But Francesco knew that really these people, they were just jealous.
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  Speaker 2: 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, Dominica, who sat across the table from him
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  Speaker 1: and enjoying the dessert they were sharing. Francesco was was married,
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  Speaker 1: but recently married. Dominica had become the most important woman
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  Speaker 1: in his life. She was a dancer, and to him,
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  Speaker 1: she 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, you know,
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  Speaker 1: where they were both still very flirtatious and eager to
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  Speaker 1: impress one another. And so right now, Francesco knew he
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: should leave and get back to his managing duties. But
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  Speaker 1: he was having so much fun with Dominica, so he
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  Speaker 1: lingered eating his dessert as slowly as he could. But
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  Speaker 1: as he sat there, you know, slow playing his dessert...
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  Speaker 1: He realized, you know, their night together didn't actually have
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  Speaker 1: to end just because the dinner was over. There was
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  Speaker 1: something he could do right now that would give them
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  Speaker 1: maybe another hour or so together. And it would also
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  Speaker 1: completely blow Dominica away and prove to her just how
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  Speaker 1: amazing he really was. So suddenly, with a big smile
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  Speaker 1: on his face, he told Dominica to hurry up, finish eating,
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  Speaker 1: because they needed to get upstairs immediately. A few minutes later,
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  Speaker 1: Francesco and Dominica arrived. hurried into the resort's top floor
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  Speaker 1: operation center. And just like the entire rest of the place,
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  Speaker 1: I mean, this room, despite being an operation center, was
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  Speaker 1: still just massively impressive. In addition to all the very
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: new age, you know, high-speed monitors and security feeds and
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: maps all over the room, there was this huge window
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  Speaker 1: that overlooked this balcony, this exterior balcony.
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  Speaker 2: That looked down on the ocean.
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  Speaker 1: It was like this beautiful view of the ocean. and
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  Speaker 1: it even overlooked a stretch of small seaside villages called Giglio.
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  Speaker 1: This room was also filled with all of Francesco's employees
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  Speaker 1: hustling around and staring at screens and talking on headsets.
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  Speaker 1: But as soon as Francesco and Dominica walked in there,
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  Speaker 1: Francesco kind of went to the center of the room
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  Speaker 1: and kind of got everybody's attention and told them all
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: to listen up. Then he went over the details of
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: his big idea. The resort was going to put on
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: a a very specific and spectacular kind of show called
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: a salute. And they were going to do it right now.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: So salutes were very popular in this area of Italy.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: And Francesco's resort actually did them all the time. So
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: this was not totally unusual. They were basically kind of
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: a performance, mostly for the locals. where the resort would
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: flash all of its lights and play music, while guests
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  Speaker 1: of the resort would go to their balconies and wave
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: and cheer to the residents and the other tourists in Giglio.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: But critically, salutes needed to be both quick and highly choreographed.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: That's really the only way they worked. And so in
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: order for a salute to work, it really required the
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: attention and active participation from a large number of people.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: I mean, this was a A big to-do. And so
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: given the fact that these were sort of a big endeavor,
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: it meant that, you know, something could go wrong if
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: you're not really careful. And Francesco actually had had a
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: mentor who'd actively discouraged him to not do these salutes
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  Speaker 1: or try to do as few as you can because
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: of the fact that things could go wrong. But Francesco's
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  Speaker 1: mentor was not physically here right now to tell Francesco
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  Speaker 1: to stop. And the people that were here were pretty
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: excited about his idea. So Francesco began going over the
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  Speaker 1: plan with his staff. And as he expected, with such
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: a complicated undertaking, there were a lot of logistics to
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: look over. However, when Francesco actually started going about these preparations,
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  Speaker 1: he realized he couldn't actually read anything because he didn't
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  Speaker 1: have his glasses on. He didn't think he looked handsome
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  Speaker 1: with them on, so he hadn't brought them out to
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  Speaker 1: dinner with Dominica. But now he really needed them. But
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: thinking on his feet, Francesco simply asked a staff member
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  Speaker 1: to read him whatever information he really needed to know
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: in order to do the salute. And so the staff
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  Speaker 1: member did as they were told. And at the end
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  Speaker 1: of it, Francesco felt like he had heard what he
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: needed to hear and he thought everything was in order.
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  Speaker 1: And so he nodded and said, OK, we are all
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  Speaker 1: set to begin. And then he looked over at Dominica
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  Speaker 1: and smiled and sort of nodded like, OK, here we go.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: Then she knew. Whatever was coming next was going to
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  Speaker 1: be really, really special. When Francesco gave the actual order
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  Speaker 1: to begin the salute, everybody in the operations room jumped
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  Speaker 1: into action. And as soon as the actual salute began,
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  Speaker 1: Francesco squinted out the huge window that looked out over
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  Speaker 1: the ocean and Giglio down below. And Francesco was just
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  Speaker 1: so excited when he thought about how everyone who was
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: out and about in town would look up and.
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  Speaker 2: See his palace all lit up and full of life
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  Speaker 2: and energy.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: But as he peered at the lights of Giglio, he
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: realized something wasn't quite right. Even without his glasses on,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: he could see that there was something outside in the darkness,
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: just barely illuminated by the town's lights. It was a
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: large shape right between the resort and Giglio. And to
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: his horror, Francesco realized it was actually getting closer fast.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: At the same time, But on the other side of
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: the resort, an American man named Brian Aho was eating
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: dinner with his wife and teenage daughter at the Milano Restaurant,
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: which was one of six restaurants in the resort. And
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: they'd just been enjoying their meal when there was this
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: deafening banging sound and the entire room gave a huge
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: jolt and everything inside just sort of went flying. Brian
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: grabbed the table to brace himself as plates and glasses
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: shot off the table and shattered everywhere. And then he
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: heard screams and people hitting the ground all around him
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: as diners were literally being thrown from their chairs. And
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: then there was another series of crashes when some ceiling
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: panels fell from above and smashed onto the ground. But
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: then it was over. The shaking abruptly stopped and Brian
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: immediately jumped up to make sure that his wife and
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: daughter were okay, and they did seem fine, just dazed
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: like everybody else in the room. As Brian stood up,
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: he could tell he was you know, mostly okay, also
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: shaken up. But the overwhelming thought was just having no
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: idea what had just happened. I mean, he's looking around
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: and no one seemed to know. And it felt like
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: some kind of earthquake or something. But then Brian thought,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: if this had been an earthquake, he really had to
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: get his family out of this restaurant immediately in case
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: of aftershocks. But it seemed like all the other diners
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: clearly had the same idea because they Before Brian could
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: actually move, there was a surge of activity around him
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: as dozens of people just began rushing towards the exit
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: of the restaurant. And Brian didn't want him or his
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: family to get caught in the middle of this huge crowd.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: Huge amounts of people running in the exact same direction,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: you know, a panicked group of people, could easily create
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: a stampede. And he was worried that he and his
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: family could get pulled to the ground and trampled in
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: the chaos.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: So he looked around.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: And he saw... On the other side of the restaurant,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: there was a smaller door that nobody else was going to.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: So he and his family began making their way over
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: to it. But before they could actually get through this door,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: the overhead lights began to flicker and then went out.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: And then with the darkness, suddenly came the blast of
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: emergency alarms echoing through the resort. And then he could
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: hear more screams, not just inside of this restaurant, but
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: sort of all over the place. It was like the
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: resort had devolved into madness. Brian had never been more
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: scared in his whole life. I mean, his pulse was
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: racing faster than he thought was even possible. And he
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: almost felt paralyzed, like this was just too much to
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: even process. He also, like basically everybody else, had no
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: clue what was going on here. But I mean, navigating
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: his family through an emergency was already going to be
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: horrifying and terrifying and dangerous. But now he would also
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: 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 10 minutes for Brian and his family to
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: navigate the the maze of hallways they had just walked
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: into until finally they stepped outside and were in the
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: open air. But when they finally got out there, Brian
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: realized they actually had a really big problem because the
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: exit they had just taken had taken them not to safety.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: It had led them to this expansive outdoor terrace with
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: a railing on the fourth floor of the resort, which
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: meant they still needed to get down multiple levels in
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: order to, you know, evacuate safely. But just the fact
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: they were on the fourth floor was not the big issue.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: The big issue was the terrace was clearly packed with
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: other people, other people from the resort who were also
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: trying to evacuate. There was all these people basically blocking
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: their way. So basically, everybody who has no idea what's
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: going on is just like pushing and shoving each other.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: And there were no authority figures or any staff around
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: to actually direct the what now was basically an evacuation.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: And Brian could tell that the crowd was clearly starting
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: to panic. And really he was too. Everybody was just like,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: what's happening here? And so Brian was about to suggest
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: to his family that they try to find another way
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: out when they heard the crackling of the resort's public
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: speaker system. And a voice came on that finally delivered
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: some information about what was happening. It said that there
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: had been an electrical blackout, but everything was fine and
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: technicians were hard at work trying to fix the problem.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: So in the meantime, all the guests should stay calm,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: and just go to their rooms for safety. And at
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: this point, it was very obvious that the mood all
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: around Brian and his family completely changed. People stopped pushing
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: and arguing and panicking. And Brian himself felt that that
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: knot of dread in his stomach sort of loosen a bit.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: I mean, an electrical blackout didn't seem like a life
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: or death situation. So he, and clearly everybody else, felt
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: a whole lot less scared. Pretty much right away, many
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: of the guests began heading back inside, you know, making
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: their way to their rooms. And Brian actually spotted a
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: few staff members who were in the crowd encouraging people
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: to do just that, go back to your rooms. And
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: so for a few moments, Brian and his family and
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: the others just kind of stayed put and just kind
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: of let things play out, you know, kind of watching
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: things settle back into normal. But then it was like
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: with no warning, there was this other huge banging sound
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: and the floor once again buckled under Brian's feet. And
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: this triggered a whole new wave of just absolute chaos
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: out on this terrace. All at once, everybody started shouting
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: and pushing each other in pure panic. And at the
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: same time, there were all these new announcements coming out
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: frantically over the loudspeaker. But it wasn't doing anything. It
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: was like the crowd had decided something bad is happening
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: and no one can tell me otherwise. I have to leave.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Everybody is just trying to evacuate immediately. all at once.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: And so pretty much right at this point, you had
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: a group of people who were out on the terrace
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: who decided to charge into the resort to try to
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: find another way to evacuate. And also you had the
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: group of people who had already gone back inside to
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: go back to their rooms, who had changed their mind,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: who charged right back out back onto the terrace.
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: And so for a moment, it was like these.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: Two pools of people kind of smashing into each other
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: And Brian and his family were kind of off to
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: the side because they just barely stepped out onto the
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: terrace when all of this stuff was happening.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: But then Brian watched in complete shock as he saw
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: some of the people after they pushed through all the
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: way to the edge of the terrace to the railing.
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: They began climbing over the railing to climb down from
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: the fourth floor. Seeing this was horrifying for Brian. But
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: then he felt yet another shudder under.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: His feet and a loud industrial groaning sound from the
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: resort right behind him. And he knew if he didn't
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: do what these people were doing, he and his family
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: might not be able to evacuate. Clearly, there was a
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: real problem. They didn't know what it was, but they
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: had to go. So he grabbed his wife and his
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: daughter's hands. He shoved his way through the crowd to
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: the railing. Over the railing they went, and down they
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: began to climb. Meanwhile, back up in the top-level operations center,
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Francesco was staring out the room's huge window, just completely
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: frozen in shock. His resort was in complete pandemonium. Below,
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: guests were running, others were fighting and shoving, and some
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: were literally leaping to their potential deaths from the upper-level
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: balconies and terraces. And so as Francesco watched all of
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: this carnage... He tried to wrap his head around how
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: the night had gone so horrifically wrong. The worst part
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: of all of it was there was absolutely no way
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: to fix it. He'd been trying to show Dominica and
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: everybody else how amazing and impressive and in control he was.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: But he'd completely lost control of this whole situation. And
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: he'd also lost his girlfriend because Dominica had quickly fled
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: the resort. And then there was a loud crashing sound
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: somewhere in the distance. And his heart pounded and he
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: realized it was time for him to start running too.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: Minutes later, Francesco and some of his staff sprinted through
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: the halls of the resort. And as they ran, thunderous
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: noises and bangs came from every direction and debris from
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: the ceiling and walls crashed to the ground all around
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: them as they were shaken loose. And all the while,
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: over the noise, Francesco could hear the continuous shrieks of
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: panic from people who were still clearly trapped inside the
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: resort and just couldn't get out. But he and the
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: others he was with finally did make it to the exit.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: And this exit was not overrun with panicking people. So
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: Francesco was lucky enough to be able to pretty quickly
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: make it to the bottom level and then keep on going.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: And he did not look back, not until he was
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: far away and definitely to safety. But when he did
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: finally stop running, and he did turn around and looked
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: back at his resort, his stomach pitched so hard he
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: nearly vomited. Because finally, he could see right in front
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: of 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 of a record number of terrible choices
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: he 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 fired. 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.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: A cruise ship salute also involves steering the massive boat
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: much closer to shore than usual to appropriately show off
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: to the locals on land.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: But because Francesco literally couldn't see very well, was obviously
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: distracted and possibly drunk, he didn't notice that when they
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: did this salute... They were going way too fast and
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: way too close to shore. That shape he saw rushing
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: towards them in the darkness was an enormous cluster of rocks.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: By the time he saw it, it was too late.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: The Concordia had smashed into the rocks, tearing a 230-foot-wide.
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: Hole in the hull, which.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Immediately flooded the ship. And then making matters even worse,
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: Francesco delayed rescue efforts for more than an hour by
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: trying to convince people that what had happened was just
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: an electrical outage. And then when he finally did issue
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: an evacuation order, He broke a sacred rule for ship captains.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: He fled the boat before the remainder of his crew
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: and the passengers. Like he was the first one off.
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: He did not go down with his ship. That American passenger,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: Brian Aho, and his family would survive. Because after they
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: decided to go over the railing, they, you know, perilously
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: climbed down four levels all the way to a lifeboat.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: And so they survived. But unfortunately, 32 other people who
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: were on board the boat ultimately died. all because of
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: Francesco's desire to show off. Francesco himself was ultimately arrested
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: for manslaughter and was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: He was subsequently named Italy's Most Hated Man. Thank you
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: so much for watching today's episode. Let me know what
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: you thought of it in the comments below. And remember,
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: we have a whole playlist of Places You Can't Go
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: episodes ready for you to binge right now. So go
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: ahead and click here and give them a watch. Alright,
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: until next time, see ya.