Few tragedies go by without some idiot moron connecting some dots to find whatever pattern their deranged brains wanted to see, and then forming some lunatic and dumb conspiracy theory. You can probably think of a few examples yourself, and the case in the present post is just an illustrative example chosen more or less at random: When Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace was gunned down in front of his South Miami Beach estate in 1997 by serial killer Andrew Cunanan, one who didn’t accept the official story but created his own was New York-based private detective and one-time Jackie Onassis bodyguard Frank Monte. According to Monte, as described in his book The Spying Game, Cunanan didn’t kill Versace; rather, it was the Italian Mob. According to Monte himself, he was hired by Versace a year before the latter’s death (false) because Versace had fallen afoul of the mob, and the hit was carried out by them using Cunanan as a patsy. The cops, according to Monte, never ran a match on the bullets. As for Cunanan, the Mob had killed him at least a week before the murder and kept his body on ice in the houseboat where he was eventually found. The videotape from Versace’s security camera, which clearly shows Cunanan running from the murder scene, is as far as we know left unexplained.
Apparently Monte has a bit of a story to him, failing in 2012, for instance, a legal bid to prevent the police cancelling his private investigator’s licence due to his “lack of moral integrity” and a history of ripping off clients. There is certainly a possibility that “loon” is not the most apt description of Frank Monte.
Diagnosis: Ok, so it’s just a bit silly and not nearly as crazy (or nasty) as some conspiracy theories. But it is still a fine example of how village idiots like to just make things up and then vehemently believe them regardless of evidence, truth or reason. Probably harmless, but the trend he exemplifies is not, which is why we include him.
Hat tip: jcs-group