Massimo Carlotto

In 2004 he published L'oscura immensità della morte ("Death's Dark Abyss"), a particularly dark and nihilistic noir centered on the theme of revenge, which was adapted into the Hindi film Badlapur.

In 2001 he released Arrivederci, amore ciao (which was adapted into the movie The Goodbye Kiss by Michele Soavi, 2005).

In 1998 he published Le irregolari, and the autobiographical novel of inquiry in which is told the Argentine civil war and repression of the seventies, during the so-called dirty war; knows and interview the founder of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, Estela Carlotto, who out to be her relative and seeking news of her daughter and newborn grandson, desaparecidos.

Massimo Carlotto begins literary activity, particularly writing novels noir genre, with Il fuggiasco ("The Fugitive", 1995), fictionalized autobiography about his time on the run. The book was made into a film in 2003, directed by Andrea Manni, with Daniele Liotti as Carlotto.

Public opinion was on Carlotto's side and in 1993 the Italian President, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, granted him a pardon.

In 1989 the Supreme Court ordered retrial, sending the case back to the Court of Appeal of Venice to establish whether Carlotto should be acquitted in accordance with the old or the new penal code. In 1990, the question of constitutional legitimacy was raised. In 1991, the Italian Constitutional Court rendered its decision, but the President of Court's retirement meant yet another trial was necessary, during which Carlotto (suffering by a serious metabolic disease) was sentenced to 16 years in prison. This new conviction violated, Carlotto's lawyers argued, the principle of double jeopardy/ne bis in idem.

In the first trial, he was acquitted for lack of evidence by the Criminal Court of Padua but was then sentenced upon appeal to 18 years imprisonment by the Court Call the Venice. This sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court in 1982. He became a fugitive, first in France and then in Mexico, where he was captured after three years on the run and extradited to Italy. A large popular movement took up Carlotto's cause; in addition, a number of prominent figures signed a petition on his behalf including Ettore Gallo, Jorge Amado, Nilde Iotti, Norberto Bobbio, Giandomenico Pisapia, and Ferdinando Imposimato.

In 1976, a 25-year-old student, Margherita Magello, was found dead at his home, killed by 59 stab wounds.

Massimo Carlotto (born 22 July 1956) is an Italian writer and playwright.