Carmela Tafani is a notable character who appeared in the Season Two episode of Beyond Borders, "Il Mostro".
Background[]
In her earlier years, Carmela was hired by the Italian government as an assistant state prosecutor. She was too naive at the time to realize that her employment was just for the sake of political correctness and that she was otherwise useless to them. During the 1970s and 1980s, a notorious serial killer named the Monster of Florence killed seven couples in Florence before disappearing. During the height of the investigation, the government commissioned the American Behavioral Analysis Unit to create a profile on the Monster in 1993. Carmela received the profile, read it, and realized it matched a surgeon with the Ministero della Salute[1], Dominico Scarpa.
Carmela tried to have him prosecuted, but the government, wanting to preserve its status of power and unwilling to admit a woman was right, decided to bury the profile. In January 1994, Carmela still got her chance to prosecute Scarpa, not for the murders, but for the rape of his own sister Renada. She promised Renada that she would protect her, but despite her best efforts, Scarpa was acquitted after the defense managed to paint Renada as a drug-addicted, mentally unstable woman. The next day, Carmela was fired from her job. Renada fled Florence right before the acquittal, and Carmela would later learn that she died in Naples. When Scarpa fled Italy due to the bad publicity, and the Monster murders stopped altogether, Carmela spent her later years obsessed with the case. As an older adult, she eventually decided to let the case go, but was still haunted by her lack of success with it.
Il Mostro[]
Carmela is first seen being interrogated by Garrett and Seger in her apartment about the Monster of Florence case. Carmela thinks that they came because they think that she covered up evidence, but Garrett says that they are looking for the truth so that they can find the killer. Carmela tells them that she was naive that her position was merely for appearance. Then, she tells them about what happened between her and Rossi and leads them to Scarpa, who is suspected of being involved with the killings. Then, Carmela gives them a key to a locker, which holds all of her case files and notes.
The following night, Carmela is abducted by Scarpa and taken to an attic above her own residence. As Scarpa is about to kill Carmela, Seger appears, holds him at gunpoint and orders him to let go of Carmela. Suddenly, Onario appears behind Seger and tells her to drop the gun, which she does. As Seger tells both men that there is no escape and she called for back up, Carmela and Scarpa speak in Italian. Onario starts to believe what Seger is telling him about Scarpa still not seeing him for what he is. He points his gun at Scarpa and is about to kill him. But, Seger takes out a gun from her ankle holster and shoots Onario twice, killing him instantly. Then, the International Response Team show up and arrest Scarpa. Carmela is last seen in the police station, where she is allowed by the Commissioner to escort Scarpa to jail.
Real-Life Comparison[]
Carmela seems to be a combination of two different people involved in the investigation of the Monster of Florence:
- Female assistant prosecutor Silvia della Monica, who was taunted by the Monster before dropping out of the case.
- Examining Magistrate Mario Rotella, who clashed with Chief Prosecutor Pier Luigi Vigna because of his conviction that the Monster was a rapist in custody but had no evidence to prove it (Dominico Scarpa in the show and Salvatore Vinci in real life), and lost the popularity contest because of circumstances beyond his control (Carmela for being a woman, Rotella for being a Southerner and a poor speaker who did not like to treat with the press).
Coincidentally, both della Monica and Rotella were from Naples, the city Scarpa's sister fled to in the show.
Appearances[]
References[]
- ↑ "Ministry of Health" in Italian