A Maltese True Crime Story: A Look Back At The Island’s Only Convicted Serial Killer
Interest in serial killers and their morbid personal stories have experienced a resurgence in recent years, with Netflix shows on the likes of Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer partly responsible for the surge.
Our deep curiosity draws us to these serial killers… we want to understand what goes through the minds of people like us who carry out twisted and horrible acts. We simultaneously humanise and dehumanise them, to make them less terrifying and to build a moral boundary between us and them.
Although we indulge in content about foreign serial killers and killings, many Maltese aren’t aware of Salvatore ‘Silvio’ Mangion, Malta’s only renowned serial killer.
Born in Żejtun in 1965, Mangion committed his murderous crimes over a 14-year-period between 1984 and 1998.
His first victim was 54-year-old Rosina Zammit, who was stabbed multiple times in her Safi home and was found lying in a pool of blood between two beds.
He got away with it for a while, but the crime was eventually solved years later, when Mangion had been jailed for other crimes and police received confidential information that he had told other inmates that he had been involved in her death.
Maria Stella Magrin, 68, was his second victim. Magrin was in her Cospicua house in 1986 when three outsiders, including Mangion, came knocking at her door. After robbing her of around LM6,000, Mangion stabbed her to death.
Mangion’s last victims were his neighbours, 75-year-old Francesco “Frenċ” Cassar and his sister Giuseppa Cassar. Court testimony reveals that Mangion had tried to rob the Cassars’ Żejtun home but was spotted by Giuseppa Cassar.
Fearing that she would expose him, he rang her doorbell and stabbed her in the stomach and right arm when she opened the door.
When her brother tried to help her, Mangion stabbed him in the chest. While Giuseppa Cassar survived the attack, her brother succumbed to his injuries.
This was one murder too many for Mangion; he was arrested shortly afterward and received a life sentence.
He pleaded guilty in 2004 and was given a 21-year imprisonment after pleading guilty at the start of his trial. He was later given two life sentences after he was convicted for the earlier murders of Zammit and Magrin.
There seems to be a pattern behind these murders: all of the victims were above the age of 50, Mangion stabbed them all, and he often stole – or tried to steal – their possessions.
The schizophrenic and alcoholic was actually found to be sane, both during his homicides and during his initial court hearing in 2002.
During his court proceedings, Mangion was interrogated about the unusual tattoos on his two ears; one ear has the letter ‘S’, and the other, the letter ‘K’.
Mangion tried to be humorous, saying: “Aren’t they for serial killer sir?”, after he had said that they stood for his name and nickname – ‘Silvio Kalang.’
Silvio Mangion is still living and imprisoned at the Corradino Prison. Lovin Malta sends our respect to his victim’s living families and everyone who knew them.
Are you interested in true crime, and did you know about these murders?
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