The Puccio family was an
Argentine
Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...
criminal family. Three of the Puccios were convicted of four kidnappings and three murders in the early 1980s.
Background
The family, which comprised father
Arquímedes Puccio
Arquímedes Rafael Puccio (14 September 1929 in Barracas, Buenos Aires – 4 May 2013 in General Pico, La Pampa) nicknamed "The crazy sweeper (in Spanish: ''El loco de la escoba'')" was an Argentinian accountant, lawyer,[Alejandro
Alejandro is the Spanish form of the name Alexander.
Alejandro has multiple variations in different languages, including Aleksander ( Czech, Polish), Alexandre ( French), Alexandros ( Greek), Alsander ( Irish), Alessandro ( Italian), Aleksand ...]
, Silvia, Daniel, Guillermo, and Adriana Puccio - lived in a large house in
San Isidro, a wealthy suburb of
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
.
Arquímedes is suspected to have been involved in
forced disappearance
An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person with the support or acquiescence of a State (polity), state followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person's fate or whereabouts with the i ...
s during the
Dirty War
The Dirty War () is the name used by the military junta or National Reorganization Process, civic-military dictatorship of Argentina () for its period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983. During this campaign, military and secu ...
.
Alejandro was a star rugby player, and Silvia was an art teacher.
Victims
*Ricardo Manoukian, aged 23, who disappeared on July 22, 1982, was the Puccio family's first known kidnapping victim. Manoukian's family paid a ransom of $250,000; nevertheless, he was later killed with three shots to the neck.
He had been introduced to Alejandro Puccio by friends in his neighbourhood, and the two often played tennis and football together.
*Engineer Eduardo Aulet was kidnapped on May 5, 1983. Although his family paid $150,000 for his ransom, the Puccios killed him. His body was found four years later.
*Emilio Naum was kidnapped in June 1984 and attempted to resist the kidnapping. He was shot right there, and his body was left in the street.
*Nélida Bollini de Prado, the family's last victim and the only one who could survive, was kidnapped and held for almost a month. She was found and released in a police raid on the Puccio house on 23 August 1985.
The police detained the kidnappers when they attempted to retrieve the ransom; Alejandro and his girlfriend Monica were also detained during the raid on the Puccio house.
Punishment
The family was arrested and taken to jail. While awaiting court sentencing, Alejandro tried to commit suicide by jumping from the fifth floor of the courthouse when he was being taken to testify. He survived, however, with serious health complications.
Arquímedes and his two older sons, Alejandro and Daniel, were convicted of the crimes, along with three other accomplices.
Arquímedes and Alejandro each received a life sentence, while Daniel was jailed for a number of years.
The youngest son, Guillermo, who had escaped from the family long before they were arrested, avoided justice by leaving the country.
Epifanía Calvo, Silvia, and Adriana were never convicted of any involvement in the crimes.
Accomplices
The Puccios had at least three adult male accomplices: Roberto Oscar Díaz, Guillermo Fernández Laborda and Rodolfo Victoriano Franco. Franco, a retired colonel, is simply referred to as "the Colonel" in the TV mini-series, ''
Historia de un clan
''Historia de un clan'' () is an Argentine TV series made in 2015 by Telefe, starring Alejandro Awada. It is based on the 1980s exploits of the real-life Puccio family.
Plot
The Puccio are apparently a family like any other: Arquímedes (Alejand ...
'' Another was Gustavo Contepomi.
Later life
* The location of Daniel, who served only a few years in prison, was unknown
until September 17, 2019, when he was arrested during a routine drug route bus inspection at
Rodovia Castelo Branco
The Rodovia Presidente Castelo Branco (SP-280) is a tollway in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. It was first opened on Saturday, 10 November 1968, by, then, the Governor of the state of São Paulo, Abreu Sodré. The tollway name was given in me ...
in
Itu
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)In the other common languages of the ITU:
*
* is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established ...
, a city in the
State of São Paulo
State most commonly refers to:
* State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory
**Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country
**Nation state, a ...
in
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
. He was arrested for carrying falsified Brazilian identification documents. After checking with Interpol it was concluded that there were no pending arrest warrants for Daniel. In his possession was US$5,000.00 in cash which according to him, it was a gift from his brother.
*In the early 1980s, Guillermo left Argentina and never returned. The statute of limitations for his alleged crimes expired in 2013, so he will never be tried.
*In 2007, Alejandro was paroled. A year later, he died of pneumonia at the age of 49.
*In 2011, Silvia, the second eldest child who taught art locally, died of cancer.
*In 2013, Arquímedes died of a stroke, still proclaiming his innocence.
*As of 2015, Epifanía Calvo and Adriana (the youngest child) still own the house in San Isidro where the crimes were perpetrated.
In popular culture
The family and their crimes are the subjects of several works:
* The film, ''
The Clan'' (2015), starring
Guillermo Francella
Guillermo Héctor Francella (born 14 February 1955) is an Argentine actor and comedian. Besides a long history of working as a Television in Argentina, television leading man, he also has a varied Argentine culture#Cinema and theatre, theatrical ...
as Arquímedes
[
*The ]Telefe
Telefe (acronym for Televisión Federal) is a television station located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The station is owned and operated by Paramount Global through Televisión Federal S.A. Telefe is also one of Argentina's six national televisio ...
TV mini-series, ''Historia de un clan
''Historia de un clan'' () is an Argentine TV series made in 2015 by Telefe, starring Alejandro Awada. It is based on the 1980s exploits of the real-life Puccio family.
Plot
The Puccio are apparently a family like any other: Arquímedes (Alejand ...
'' (2015), starring Alejandro Awada
Alejandro Awada (; December 7, 1961) is an Argentine character actor of Syrian and Lebanese descent. He has appeared in a great number of television series, programmes and onstage.
Personal life
Awada was born on 3 December 1961 in Villa Ball ...
as Arquímedes
*"The secret of the Greco family", (2022) Mexican series produced by Alejandro Ciancio, aired on Netflix, casting Fernando Colunga, Lisa Owen, Manuel Masalva, Luis Machín, Rafael Ferro, Alejandro de Hoyos, Samantha Siqueiros, Antonio de la Vega, Roberta Damián and Paula Reca
References
{{reflist, 30em
1982 murders in Argentina
1983 murders in Argentina
1984 murders in Argentina
1985 crimes in Argentina
Argentine families
Argentine people convicted of murder
Argentine people of Italian descent
Argentine serial killers
Crime in Buenos Aires
Gangs in Argentina
Kidnapping in Argentina
Murder in Argentina
Operatives of the Dirty War
People convicted of kidnapping
Argentine kidnappers