Italy: Final Payment

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What does a man do who is hounded by his creditors and tired of his wife? In the port of Reggio Calabria on Italy's toe. he sells his wife.

Last June, debt-ridden Vincenzo Marino, 32, a baker's assistant, sealed a deal with his friend Antonio Raffa, a courtroom attendant who greatly admired his wife Francesca. After some haggling, Marino agreed to let Francesca, 29, and two of their three children move in with Raffa for a consideration of $1,600. Although he already had a wife in Sicily, Raffa seemed glad to pay the charges—in easy installments. Since Raffa, 30, was better off financially than her husband, Francesca had no objections to the transaction. The trio agreed to remain good friends, and Marino was permitted to visit his children any time he liked.

Raffa dutifully paid off the first three installments adding up to $1,100, then reneged on the final payment. Desperate for the money, Marino went to his friend's apartment and demanded the last $500. Raffa refused, and the two men got into a slugging, furniture-throwing fight. Finally Raffa grabbed a pistol and shot Marino three times in the chest. Marino died on the way to the hospital, and soon afterward, Raffa surrendered to the police. Perplexed as to how to enter Marino's death on the police blotter, Reggio Calabria's cops finally settled on the notation: "Killed in a dispute over the final payment on his wife."