Seduced and Blackmailed, 51 Minuten, colour

 

 

Director: Aldo Gugolz

Investigation by: Romeo Regenass

Production: prêt-à-tourner Filmproduktion

 

English transcription

Commentary

00:03

County Court, Munich, March 2009. A blackmail case has made headlines all over the world.

Before the Judge stands the Swiss man Helg Sgarbi. The journalists want to know how the accused is doing.

 

Sgarbi

000:18 

Not so good.

Just like it is in jail, hard.

 

Commentary

00:24 Sgarbi already confessed at his first hearing to seducing and cheating four rich women, and blackmailing others with secretly-made sex videos.

 

Sgarbi

00:37

At first I have to deal with what’s happening here

 

Journalist

00:40 There are rumors about a sect, about a manipulator. What can you say about that?

 

Sgarbi

00:46

No comment

 

Commentary

01:06

One woman had the courage to report him, despite exposing intimate details concerning her sex life: It was the richest woman in Germany, the billionaire and major shareholder of BMW, Susanne Klatten.

She gave the Gigolo a lot of money, but she refused to be blackmailed.

 

Susanne Klatten

01:26

The first time he asked me for money, I gave him seven million Euros. Not because I was being blackmailed, it was an act of love.

But later he wanted more, and I said no. He then showed me the photos, I was naked, he was half-dressed in our hotel room in Munich. He threatened to send the photos to my husband and the press, and demanded 14 million, he gave me an ultimatum for the handing over the money.

 

02:04

I let him believe I was agreeing to his demands. In reality I went to the police.

 

Commentary

02:10

During a staged handing over of the money, Helg Sgarbi was arrested at a motorway service station in Austria.

When he went to pick up the 14 million Euros, Helg Sgarbi wasn’t alone on the journey.

An Italian named Ernani Barretta accompanied him.

For many observers he is the man behind the blackmail.

 

02:43

Ernani Barretta lives on a country estate close to Pescara, where he has little luxuries like his own helicopter landing pad. After the arrest of  Helg Sgarbi, the Italian police kept him under surveillance for months and then made a raid on his property. In the safe they found nothing, but a sketch drawn by Barretta himself led them to cash hidden in the attic, in holes in the wall and every possible hiding place.

 

03:23

The amount found came to 1.7 million in cash.

Does this money come from the blackmail loot of  Helg Sgarbi?

 

03:33

Ernani Barretta was arrested, but was released after eight months on remand in 2009. Since then the Public Prosecutors Department in Pescara is trying to prove he built a criminal organization.

 

Ernani Barretta

03:48

The money they found?

That’s my savings! I never met Mrs Klatten and the other women, but I’d like to get to know them. I sincerely love Germany and my friend who is under arrest. Everything that has been said about me is false. We are going to prove this.

 

Commentary

04:14 But who is this Ernani Barretta? 

 

04:25

His friendship with the blackmailer Helg Sgarbi began in the early 90’s.

 

04:32

A woman who has known the two men since then, now talks for the first time about her past. Petra studied law together with Helg Sgarbi in Zurich. She was in the middle of a life-crisis and was urgently looking for help. Sgarbi took her to a secret, esoteric meeting in Zürichberg. Here she got to know the reputed miracle healer Ernani Barretta.

 

Petra, sect drop-out

04:48

People said that he could read minds, look into the hearts of men, cure them of physical and mental troubles, free them from their fears. After which I absolutely wanted to get to know him.

 

Commentary

05:19

Amateur recordings show spiritual gatherings around the Preacher Barretta. A sect-like group developed.

 

05:31

You can feel God, you can play, live, laugh, and drink with God, that is God. He made the sun, the moon, the night and the day especially for us. He also made food and drink to make us happy. To pass on happiness and honesty, not just to ourselves, but also to others, then all will be good. You understand?

 

 

Petra, sect drop-out

06:00

He called himself “Maestro della Vita”, which means “Life Teacher”. We were the pupils. He also said things like: I am the highway to heaven. If you follow and trust me, and  I can guide you, then I will bring you directly to God.

 

 

Commentary

06:28

One of the most fervid followers of  Barretta was the wealthy anthroposophist, Irene Bänninger, who later followed her idol to Italy. As long as she gave her money to the group she was welcome.

 

Thomas Trüb, grandson of sect member Irene Bänninger.

06:45

This is what my grandmother liked. She was very religious, almost saintly, one could say. She annoyed us with Rudolf Steiner, he was The Saint, and she often told us about him. He was her idol. He then got replaced by Ernani Barreta. Then he was The Saint.

 

Irene Bänninger, sect member

07:15

Ernani is real, not just in the mind anymore. You’ve become an emissary of Christ’s love.

 

Commentary

07:34

For almost 20 years the Swiss journalist Romeo Regenass has been hot on the heals of this so cold “emissary of Christ’ love”. This story, being situated somewhere between the mafia, sex and enlightenment, just won’t let him go.

 

Romeo Regenass, journalist

07:48

1993/94 was the first time I heard about this, when one of the first people to drop out of Barretta’s group got in touch with the magazine Beobachter I used to work for. That’s the first time I heard about Barretta and his group. I started my research and wrote my first article about it.

 

Commentary

08:24

Regenass described a hierarchical structure with nontransparent finances and  slave-like disciples who have turned their backs on their ordinary world. Every indication of the existence of a sect.

 

Seven of Barretta’s followers then wrote letters of complaint to the editor. Including the future blackmailer Helg Sgarbi, whose former name was Helg Russak before he married one of Barretta’s followers. He defended his master and even made threats that the article may have extreme repercussions.

 

Helg Sgarbi OFF

08:53

When did you stop doing any serious research? Since when have your journalists relied on unproved statements from dubious sources? I can assure you that in this case your people have made a huge mistake which will have serious consequences.

 

 

Romeo Regenass, journalist

09:09

There were some reactions which were clearly as a result of this article. Some weeks after the article appeared all the tires on my car were slashed, even though it was parked in the entrance to a garage.

 

Commentary

09:28

Meanwhile, Ernani Barretta's group grew to contain 15 people. His stories become ever more fantastic. He claims he wants to build orphanages for children who he himself saved from the war in Yugoslavia.

 

Petra, sect drop-out

09:44

Suddenly, somebody said something horrible had happened. That he was wounded and hanging between life and death. His wife called me and said that American soldiers had taken him to the USA to a private clinic. But he had to escape from this clinic because there was organ-trafficking going on there and they wanted to steal his kidney. A totally crazy story. And she needed money straight away.

 

Pino Costa, Barretta's childhood friend

10:32

For me Ernani Barretta is a man who only thought about money when he was still in diapers. I personally have never done business with him. Perhaps that’s why we remained friends. He always had a good nose for business. Whatever he was doing he always tried to make money out of it.

 

Petra, sect dropout

10:59

Then he explained that during his suffering he’d had a vision. God had given him a mission to build a centre in his home village, Pescosansonesco. We all took this very seriously. We should all chip in and help him. He wouldn’t have the financial resources to realize this. This was a mission from God, and we had been given to him in order to help him with it. He simply needed a place where a lot of people could gather together, and where he could work as a healer and a preacher.

 

Commentary

11:59

At the end of the 90’s one after another, up to a dozen disciples followed their Master to Central Italy. These included the grandmother Irene Bänninger, the future blackmailer, Helg Sgarbi, and the future sect drop-out, Petra.

Petra, Sektenaussteigerin

 

Petra, sect drop-out

12:19

You felt it as an honor that he needed you. Full of expectations we gave up everything we had in Switzerland, our apartments, jobs, and at the same time our pension funds. We all went with him and put ourselves in his hands. He said: if you give yourself into God’s hands then you don’t need a pension. God will look after you.

 

Petra, sect drop-out

13:15

When he showed me the room where I was to stay the night, and the teddy bear he’d put on the bed for me, I immediately became calm and thought: I mustn’t be afraid.

It was as if a whole new world had opened up for me.

Commentary

13:38

Ernani Barretta had the ability to quickly recognize the hopes and wishes of his followers and how to exploit their talents for his own purposes. Under instruction from this charismatic father, the disciples believe they are working for a big thing.

 

 

Thomas Trüb, grandson of sect member Irene Bänninger

The community with younger people rejuvenated her. But the most important thing for her was her Ernani, she always raved about him.

When he was there she was always radiant.

The place in Pescosansonesco where my grandmother lived in the attic, was very pretty, but very small, and when I learned that she was paying 1600 Francs in rent, I was shocked. Eventually she gave her entire savings away there. We think, at this time, she must have owned somewhere between a half or a million Swiss Francs.

 

Commentary

14:52 

As Irene Bänninger’s money ran out Barretta lost interest in the pensioner. Disappointed, the 80 year old went back to Switzerland and tried to apply for welfare. But as she couldn’t account for what she had done with her money, she didn’t get any and died in poverty. The other followers still believe in Ernani Barretta and finance his mission with compulsory labour, their pension funds and partially with private loans.

 

15:27

Barretta started  buying old villas in Pescosansonesco and renovating them. Around the year 2000 he made plans to build the Residential Home, Don Alfredo and the Hotel Complex, Rifugio Vallegrande.

 

15:45

Each one of his followers had a specific function. Within the group Helg Sgarbi was ‘Peter’, the ‘favorite disciple’ and was given important tasks to complete.

 

Petra, sect drop-out

15:54

Helg had to symbolically lay the first stone, as ‘The Centre’, the country house

was built. The first stone, actually became a heavy burden for him, as he became responsible for the finances. He then had to concentrate on how to get the money to complete the building. Officially, Ernani wasn’t allowed to concern himself with such matters anymore. He said: he was forbidden from above, and couldn’t extend any thought on how to obtain the money. That was up to Helg now.

 

Commentary

16:40

What the auto-mechanic Ernani Barretta lacked, Helg Sgarbi had, namely, the ability to move within High Society circles. Helg Sgarbi had studied law in Zurich and served in the Swiss army as a lieutenant. When he got to know Ernani Barretta he worked at the Credit Suisse in the corporate merger department. And therefore had direct contact with rich business women.

 

17:09

Where the richest people hung around, from now on became Helg Sgarbi's hunting ground. His prey: rich, lonely-hearted women. In Monte Carlo he caught the first big fish in his net.

 

17:30

The 83 year old Countess, Verena du Pasquier-Geubels, a Swiss aristocrat from Lucerne lived the whole year around in a suite in the Hotel du Paris.

 

Margrith, a friend of the Countess

17:50

The woman was lonely. That was the reason for everything. Men like him look for that.

Again and again she wished she had a companion. A lady, as rich as her in a big suite that costs 4000 Swiss Francs a night. Because she lived there all year round she got a discount. Despite the occasional exception she was bound to this suite. She received invitations to the Prince’s Palace, she was friends with Madame Calligou, the right hand of Prince Rainier. But these were her high points.

She had a table that was always reserved for her. She was sat there with a couple of people she’d invited. Then she saw him, and courteous as ever, she invited Helg to her table. That was their first encounter. Then she called me and said: ‘You won’t believe it, three roses!’ Something simple like that, he’s got decency, he’s no bluffer.’ That’s how he consciously manipulated her.

 

Commentary

19:34

The Countess didn’t like the name Helg. So she named her new lover and life-companion Alexander.

 

Margrith, a friend of the Countess

19:42 

There are difficult situations for a single lady in that society, like going to the Red Cross ball without a companion. She said to me, he had sincerity, that’s why she could be seen in public with him. After some time she developed other feelings, because he behaved so accordingly. He was very agreeable, no one had recognized the wolf in sheep's clothing yet.

 

Petra, sect drop-out

20:22

Helg had an opaque role from the start. People said he was a freelance corporate consultant and travelled a lot. When Helg came to Pescosansonesco, Ernani was often with him. You noticed there were important things going on, like money.

 

Margrith, a friend of the Countess

20:52

Helg always made a good impression on me; competent, honest and clean. To me, he appeared to be a well-bred Boarding School boy.

 

Commentary

21:03

The Countess was so in love, that she wanted to share her luck with the whole world, she also left messages on the answering machine of her friend Margrith.

 

Voice of Countess Verena du Pasquier

Hello my treasure, I just want to say good morning. Alexander just called, he’s traveling from Locarno over the Gotthard Pass to Zurich. He has to work there, then he’s coming to Lucerne. Isn’t that touching, so lovely. For the first time I’m experiencing real love. I was never loved like this, it's so touching. And he works and works. He’s just got a fantastic contract, just imagine how hard he works. This is really touching, isn’t it? Finally there’s a young man who thinks about working and not about taking advantage. Bye my treasure.

 

Commentary

22:02

Later in a police statement, Helg Sgarbi described the Countess in the following way.

 

Voice for Helg Sgarbi

22:05

She wanted a man by her side, who protected her from all those parasites, a man to show off, someone to manage her finances and a man who wasn’t bothered by her age with whom she could find sexual satisfaction. She had a rare and pragmatic honesty that I liked.

The woman was markedly clear-headed, and her body was very agile. She was very proud of me and our life style and told everybody in a very brisk way which caused quite a sensation in Monte Carlo even at the Palace.

 

Petra, sect drop-out

22:48

Helg was under a lot of pressure. He also had doubts. Ernani had to win him over. He gave him a lot of signs, and went with him to the abbey at Einsiedeln, and apparently in the church Ernani started bleeding from the hands, he got the stigmata, the sign of Christ. Helg once told me that Ernani demanded absolute loyalty and devotion, and that he has to let himself be completely guided by him. Of course Helg had doubts and fears that Ernani wasn’t really a saint, or really a good person. I can still recall when he came to me and said he had seen the signs in Einsiedeln, it was unbelievable, but he was afraid because they could have also come from Satan.

 

Commentary

24:10

After the last doubts were gone, Helg Sgarbi showed a real talent for acting. One day he came back to his lover from a supposed business trip in Italy. He seemed depressed and nervous, claiming the mafia were threatening him. And if he didn’t pay 650,000 Francs immediately, they were going to do something evil to him. Shortly after, according to Sgarbi it was getting even worse. The mafia had apparently found out that Helg Sgarbi was together with a rich woman, and raised their demands to 2 million Francs.

 

24:45

The Countess gave her lover, who was 47 years younger than her the 2 million Francs.

 

24:54

In a talk with a friend the Countess gave reasons for her exceptional generosity.

 

Countess Verena du Pasquier

25:00

I demand fairness from people.

 

Friend of the Countess

25:05

This has nothing to do with money anymore. You can’t own more than you already have.

 

Countess Verena du Pasquier

25:09

When somebody can still love me, I can do something good, then I can easily say, money isn’t everything. Decency is important, and respect, as you always say. I cherish it when someone is honest and clean. That doesn’t happen every day.

25:37

Shortly after the unlikely couple planned to marry.

At this point Alexander Helg Sgarbi decided to play it safe. He sent his 83 year old bride to be for a medical check up. A medical certificate confirms that Verena du Pasquier-Geubels was sound of mind.  On the same day as the check-up, they went to a solicitor, where the Countess made a donation inter vivos to finance their mutual future: Helg Sgarbi, who was still called Helg Russak at this time, received access to 25 million Swiss Francs.

 

Petra, sect drop-out

26:15

We were flabbergasted when Ernani’s wife got a brand new Mercedes for her birthday. Especially as we all worked for free. In winter we heated our rooms with a wood stove. We tried to live very modestly, so as not to become a burden. Then suddenly, all this luxury. We started arranging weddings where hundreds of guests were invited. It became very hectic. Everyone was overworked, exhausted and on edge. Ernani was doing very well. He built a house for himself. Bought new cars.

 

 

Pino Costa, childhood friend of  Ernani Barretta

27:15

A Jaguar, a Ferrari, cars are Ernani’s great love.

Comparable to the love you would have to a woman, or a wife.

This is also a fact.

Today he owns, I guess, 30 to 40 cars. All legally registered and running.

 

Commentary

27:42

Since the raid, Ernani Barretta's entire car fleet has been confiscated. However, Barretta got the keys to his garage from the police, so he himself can keep his cars in good condition.

 

28:01

Shortly before the planned wedding with Helg Sgarbi several people warned the Countess that her groom was nothing but a conman, and that she wasn’t his first victim.

But the Countess didn’t want to hear about anything that could destroy her second spring. 28:20

 

Margrith, friend of the Countess

28:20

Verena and I were on a cure together. After three days Helg appeared and stayed for a couple of days. Then the hotel management called me and said that some guests had threatened to leave immediately if this conman didn’t leave the building right away. As they didn’t want to tell her personally, they asked me to inform her. Then I knocked on their door. They were both sitting there in their bathrobes, and I said: “Helg, I’m sorry, but by order of the management I have to inform you that you have to leave the building immediately.”

She called me the next morning at 8 and told me that Helg had left during the night.

 

Romeo Regenass, journalist

19:17

The Countess du Pasquier then brought Helg Sgarbi to trial. But then her legs turned to jelly.

Margrith, Freundin der Gräfin.

 

 

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Margrith, friend of the Countess

29:27

He behaved so pitifully after being in prison for 14 days. He looked at Verena again and again during the trial, then suddenly she felt sorry for him and withdrew the charge.

 

Commentary

29:45

Her conditions were, Sgarbi had to pay back the money he hadn’t spent yet to the Countess. Four million Francs have gone forever. 

 

Petra, sect drop-out

29:53

I’m absolutely convinced that Helg didn’t keep any of the money for himself. Everything flowed into the mission in Italy, into Ernani’s hands.

 

Pino Costa, childhood friend of Ernani

30:19

We all invest 100 lire and try to make a 1000. This was how Ernani also conducted business in Switzerland, and in the end his activities were profitable. Obviously he also had the ability to make money into more money, because I lost touch with him for a couple of years, and when I met him again he was rich.

 

30:51

Barretta’s new wealth was obvious to everyone in the village. He hung around more and more with big show business celebs and politicians, for instance, Bud Spencer or Alessandra Mussolini, and also his competition, the Catholic Church were coming in and out.

 

Petra, sect drop-out

31:10

Ernani justified this by claiming that he, just like Jesus had become a public figure. That today we live in a materialistic society, and he had to blend in with this. In order to reach the people with his message he couldn’t wander around like a beggar, nobody would take him seriously. He therefore needed a certain appearance and wealth in order for people to take him seriously and listen.

 

31:48

While Ernani Barretta showed off his prosperity, his followers hoped for the confirmation of his promise of salvation and continued to live modestly.

 

Petra sect drop-out

31:58

We all fell into a deep dark hole from time to time, because it was no life, and thought that maybe everything wasn’t true. But then we prayed, and distracted ourselves with work. We prayed when we worked. The work was pretty mindless, cleaning, weeding, planting flowers, kitchen work. Washing the pots, serving people. When I was frustrated, I told myself that I was still small and stupid and that I should grow up. That’s how you coped with it.

 

32:47

During one of our first talks with Ernani we went for a walk in the woods on Zürichberg, and we passed a tree. He said: You are like this tree, it has sick roots and it’s going to die, there is no use in just talking with you, I can’t do much more for you. But that there was another way, he could heal people with his saliva, with his hands. He could make tumors vanish, dematerialize them, and take them out. This was how he convinced me to willingly have a sexual relationship with him. The women concerned saw this more as a form of treatment or therapy than a sexual act. Maybe that’s why you didn’t notice that it was all about that, he needed it, and it was all for himself, and it simply wasn’t true that he could help anybody with that.

 

34:19

There was often a video camera running at these intimate ‚healing sessions’. During his research another drop-out who wants to remain anonymous  sent  Journalist Romeo Regenass some secretly taken home made photos and a blackmail letter supposedly written by Ernani Barretta. Here he had stumbled on an actual criminal offense and decided to hand over the material to the police

 

Romeo Regenass, journalist

34:45

Sequentially, that is the first letter: „I have two nice little films of us here, if you would like to see them call me, and don’t give me any shit.” And these are the photos that were with it.

 

Giancarlo Pavone, agent of the Pescara police.

35:07

Did he demand money too?

 

Romeo Regenass, journalist

35:12  

No, he wanted to put her under pressure because she wanted to leave the group. She’d had enough.

 

35: 22

It took place in this room. She says there was a camera installed here all the time.

 

Giancarlo Pavone, agent of the Pescara police.

35:30  

Did she know about it?

 

Romeo Regenass, journalist

35:33

No, she found out later.

 

Commentary

35:38

The journalist's unremitting investigations provoked Ernani Barretta. When Romeo Regenass drove to Barretta’s home town Pescosansonesco, an unwelcome surprise was waiting for him.

 

Romeo Regenass, journalist

35:53

 

No, unbelievable! They've got to be joking!

36:05

That shows the level of these people.

 

Commentary

36:10

Then Barretta ranted and raved about the Swiss journalist on local television.

 

Ernani Barretta

36:16  

You journalists, there’s one there, you are one, you must all be respectful. Because what you do to others may be done to you one day as well. It’s a disgrace what has been written about me. Above all, a certain Mr Regenass, a Swiss wrote such a lot of shit about me, he’s such a miserable little worm. I hope he can hear that.

 

36:41

You journalists haven’t behaved well at all. All over the world there were photos of me and Klatten. Even though I’ve never seen or known Klatten. At the trial she stated that she didn’t know me. They found money here, but that is my earnings. They say it’s Klatten’s money, but that’s simply not true.

 

Commentary

37:08

In summer 2007 the affair began in Tyrol that would put Ernani Barretta, Helg Sgarbi and Susanne Klatten in the headlines all over the world. Sgarbi had targeted the richest woman in Germany, the 11 time billionaire, Susanne Klatten.

The gigolo had done a lot of detective work about his victim. When he first spoke to the woman he already knew a lot about her business activities, and even her favorite book.

 

Susanne Klatten’s statement (read by an actress)

37:37

In July 2007, I stayed in a Spa Hotel in Tyrol for two weeks. During the last three days Mr Sgarbi made contact with me. In this time we had a couple of talks with each other while taking a walk. He introduced himself as a Swiss who worked as a consultant for buy-outs and amalgamations, specializing in the fields of alternative energy and new technology. I found it very interesting, as I’d been concerned with the same themes for a year.

 

Commentary

38:10

After this Susanne Klatten met Helg Sgarbi several times in Munich, where they became intimate with one another. What the business woman didn’t know was that their romantic evenings at the hotel had been filmed. And in the room next to them staying overnight was an Italian called Ernani Barretta.

 

Ernani Barretta

38:31

I wasn’t the one who did the filming. You think I made a hole in the wall with a drill and filmed them making love?!

 

journalist

But that’s what is being reported all over the world.

 

Ernani Barretta

That’s the scandal. That’s what the journalists are insinuating.

Sgarbi did everything on his own, and the women agreed to it.

What’s  that got to do with me?

 

Commentary

39:00

That same summer Helg Sgarbi seduced and cheated three more women, relieving them of around 2.4 million Euros.

38:59 

The reconstruction of his appointment book shows a remarkable stint.

 

39:14

9th, 7th. to 10th. 7th. Tyrol, Mrs Klatten.    

11th.7th. Tutzing, Bayern, Mrs H.

12th.7th. till 19th.7th. Tyrol, Mrs Klatten

20th. 7th. Auenkirchen, Austria, Mrs R.

21st. and 22nd.7th Tyrol, Mrs Klatten

26th.7th. Munich, Mrs S, money transfer of 300.000 Euro

3rd. 8th. Munich, Mrs H.

17th.8th. South of France, Mrs Klatten

19th. 8th. Oberschleissheim, Bavaria, Mrs R.

21st.8th. 2007 Holiday Inn, Munich, Mrs Klatten

 

Petra, sect drop-out

39:47

Helg came and went. Sometimes you didn’t see him for months. Suddenly he’d appear.

Ernani would say, you’re completely exhausted, you must sleep. Once Helg came to Pescosansonesco and had to sleep in for four days.

 

Commentary

40:11

The reason he gave his lovers for making so many trips was that he was an undercover special emissary for the Swiss government. One day he returned to Munich, allegedly from the USA. Then just like with the Countess, he used the tried and tested scam about the mafia on Mrs Klatten.

 

Susanne Klatten’s statement (read by an actress)

40:32

He told me he’d run over the daughter of a mafia boss in Miami, and now had to pay seven million Euros in compensation. I wanted to help him, and handed over the money as a loan in a cardboard box in a basement garage in a Munich Hotel. To me he was a man of the world, and I trusted him.

 

Commentary

40:52

Afterwards Helg sent Susanne Klatten an SMS that said he’d successfully handed the money over to the mafia.

 

41:09

Meanwhile the parties became more and more opulent, obviously there was enough money coming in.

 

41:15

The conman Sgarbi now had no limits any more. He suggests to Susanne Klatten that she should pay 290 million Euros into a fund, that he himself will administer.

 

41:29

Now the business woman realizes the real intentions of her lover and washes her hands with the affair. Sgarbi doesn’t give up and tries to achieve his aims through blackmail. He threatens to go public with the secretly filmed videos from the hotel, and demands 14 million Euros in hush money.

 

Now Susanne Klatten contacts the police. She lets the blackmailer believe she is agreeing to his demands.

 

41:57

Sgarbi suggests a motor service area in Tyrol for the hand over of the 14 million Euros. Now the trap was set. A special unit of the Austrian Police arrested Sgarbi and at the same time temporarily detained Ernani Barretta who was in a second car at the same service station.

 

Petra, secr drop-out

42:19

In the middle of January Ernani came back looking very distressed, Helg was no where. He appeared nervous and tense. He told us Helg had been involved in a car accident and was now on remand. We were very astonished, and believed him at first. Shortly after he told us it was even worse. Helg had deliberately run over a cyclist. This was very strange and every time his story sounded different. Ernani seemed very nervous. He started to gather all his papers and files together, he said he could sense that financial police would be dropping by soon to search the place.

 

43: 34

Barretta’s fears became true five months later. He was put on remand for 8 months, and has since had to face the charge of  forming a crime ring. In the eyes of his lawyer, this charge was made up out of thin air.

 

Sabatino Ciprietti, lawyer to Ernani Barretta

43:53

It is said that a certain woman has given money to someone.

According to the charge then the figure of Barretta appears.

If a woman gives money to a man that isn’t a swindle.

For a swindle you need deception and cheating.

Something that provokes a mistake by the other.

It is said that Barretta organized the whole thing. But that’s something that only the gods know. We don’t have the slightest proof of  this. Even after the phone tapping there is not a hint that Barretta had organized any thing.

 

Romeo Regenass, journalist

Today in Pescara begins the trial against Ernani Barretta concerning the formation of a crime ring, which was created for the purpose of deception and blackmail. It fills me with a certain gratification that it came to trial, because this cannot be taken for granted in Italy.

 

Commentary

45:08

On the first day of the main hearing in Pescara, Ernani Barretta doesn’t show up at court. He lets himself and two other accused be represented by two lawyers.

 

The threatening letters and sex-photos given to the police by Romeo Regenass are crucial evidence at the trial.

 

45:33

At the court, the plaintiff, Susanne Klatten is interviewed for three hours as a witness.

 

Luciano Monaco, lawyer to Susanne Klatten

45:41

It is in Mrs Klatten’s full interest that justice is administered, and the guilty parties will be punished for these crimes.

The charges seem sound to me. In this village, Pescosansonesco a crime ring was formed, that committed crimes, not only in Italy but also abroad.

 

Commentary

46:06  

The court found two more women who had been cheated by Sgarbi, to prove Barretta and his associates had built up a crime ring for the purpose of deception and blackmail.

 

46:21  

Almost four years after Barretta’s arrest and after three more trials the proceedings are still going on: the outcome is uncertain. Ernani Barretta is still at large, but not allowed to leave Italy due to a European warrant for his arrest.

 

Ernani Barretta

46:41

I’m not the monster that people describe me as. The whole world should know this.

This is what you should report now, not all these insults like in the newspapers: “The Sect-Leader from Pescosansonesco“. “You can find treasure in Pescosansonesco”. So you all come here with picks and shovels and dig around. It’s a disgrace. Sometimes I’m ashamed to be Italian.

This is all on my shoulders. A mess is what you have made. Amen.

 

Commentary

47:16    

Only a handful of followers have remained loyal to Ernani Barretta and still live together with him in his ‘spiritual centre’. Many have lost faith, for instance Petra.

 

Petra, sect drop-out

I find it very severe, that Ernani, who always presented him as a father-figure denies everything and pretends to have nothing to do with the whole affair.

 

Commentary

47:50

Shortly after the arrest of  Helg Sgarbi, after 16 years under Ernani Barretta’s influence, Petra returned to Switzerland to start a new life.

 

Petra, sect drop-out

48:01  

It’s a year and a half after I saw Ernani the last time, and today I’m still trying to erase him from my memory. Every day, I’m reminded of him; when I look at complete strangers I see him walking towards me. Then I notice that there’s a similarity, but it’s not him.

 

48:41

In contrast to Petra and the other breakaways, Helg Sgarbi is still loyal to his master, who in better times he once described in an essay like this:

 

Voice for Helg Sgarbi

48:57 For me Ernani is more than a father who protects me. Even though I’m not his flesh and blood son, he has given me more than I ever got from my own parents. When I weigh-up the difference between what I’ve given, and what I’ve received, I see myself with a debt that I can never repay. For me he will forever be „maestro della vita“, in words and especially by example.

Commentary

49:29 Helg Sgarbi is currently serving a six year sentence in the Bavarian prison in Landsberg. Because he didn’t give evidence or testify against his accomplices, or disclose the whereabouts of the loot and the videos, an early release, even for good behavior will not be granted.

 

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