Tiziana Morandi is a 49-year-old woman who was sentenced to 16 years and 5 months in prison for having lured, on Facebook or on the street, 9 men between the ages of 27 and 84 and then drugging them.
Tiziana Morandi before arrest
Tiziana Morandi, originally from Roncello (Monza and Brianza), is the 49 year old woman who was arrested in summer 2022 and sentenced in December 2023 to 16 years and 5 months in prison because she was accused of having drugged 9 men aged between 84 and 27 years. Precisely for this reason, she was nicknamed the Brianza mantis.
According to what was reconstructed by the investigators, the victims they would have been hooked up either in town or on Facebook. On the social network she would have presented herself as a surgeon and masseuse and with retouched photos. Once they met live, she would offer the victims some drinks in which she would have dissolved doses of benzodiazepines so as to be able, during the state of unconsciousness, rob them.
After the conviction, Morandi’s defense decided to appeal The first hearing will take place in September. In addition to these episodes, the 49-year-old is involved in another trial: she has in fact been accused of fraud and receiving stolen goods after a complaint presented by a shopkeeper from Bellusco (Monza and Brianza).
He enters a bar and asks a boy for drugs, then attacks him with a shard of glass because he doesn’t have it
Who is Tiziana Morandi and what is the true face of the Brianza Mantis
Tiziana Morandi is a 49-year-old woman who lived in Roncello, a small town located in the province of Monza and Brianza. Her victims were mostly hooked on social networks and in particular on Facebook. Here she showed herself with clearly retouched photographs, probably with the aim of appearing younger. She claimed to be a masseuse and would even tell a man that she was one pediatric neurological surgeon. In reality his words were just lies.
Photo edited on social media
How the Brianza Mantis worked: the ritual of drinking the drug
The investigators discovered that the victims would have been hooked up on social media or live: someone has said she was terminally ill, others to take care of fundraising for children. Once she had gained their trust, she would arrange to meet him either at her house or in other places. He would offer them all a drink, in which he would then dissolve doses of benzodiazepine. The victims then lost consciousness and, at that moment, were robbed. He would have stolen mainly small sums, personal items or credit cards. Some of them, after the meeting, he would be driving and would wake up in hospital after an accident. A pensioner was rescued unconscious at the Turin station.
Who are the victims of the Brianza Mantis and how did it choose them
The men they were victims of the Brianza mantis they were between 27 and 84 years old. An 84-year-old originally from Roncello (the same municipality as Tiziana Morandi) told the police that he had met her because she would have approached him for a fundraiser. After their meeting, he was found unconscious at home by his son who immediately called for help and the police.
Then there is a 28 year old, originally from Trezzo sull’Adda (Milan), who after a massage at the 49 year old’s home, was crashed his car into a wall: he woke up in the hospital. A 51-year-old instead had a date with the woman at the cinema: he woke up in hospital without 150 euros. A 67 year old, met on Facebook, he woke up without the chain around his neck after having a drink at Morandi’s house. And again a 27 year old, originally from Trentino Alto Adige, who on his way home stopped in hospital due to an illness and he discovered he tested positive for the narcotic and still a 71 year old from Turin who was found unconscious outside the station and without his collection of pennies that he planned to sell during the encounter with the Mantis.
The story of Tiziana Morandi’s victims: “He drugged me and I risked dying”
During the investigation and then the trial, the victims told how they met the 49-year-old and what they remembered about the appointment. One of the victims explained that the woman insisted on making him drink a drink: “Then I fell asleep at the wheel on the ring road and hit the guard rail. I could have killed someone“. He explained that he had met her several times and that he had fallen asleep or felt that the drinks had a strange taste and finally reconstructed the incident. Another said that she had to deal with what she had suffered: “It took me five months to get over it because I didn’t deserve it“.
Photos edited on social media
How the Brianza Mantis defends itself
During the trial, Tiziana Morandi provided her own version of events. She said she was the victim of men who would only “do”sexual advances” or they would have given her “morbid” attention. She then explained that some men they took tranquilizers to calm their anxieties: “I helped them recover or hosted them until they were better or accompanied them and, if I left, it was to leave them in the care of relatives or acquaintances“, he explained. The defender had tried to request that a psychiatric evaluation be ordered, but the court rejected the request.
The arrest of Tiziana Morandi and the trial
After the arrest in July 2022, the woman went to trial. She was charged with twenty-one felony counts of robbery, injuries, possession of narcotic substances, improper use of credit cards and causing a state of incapacity. During the hearings, his testimony was heard and that, obviously, of the victims. The defense tried to request that a psychiatric evaluation be ordered, but to no avail. For the judges, as explained in the reasons for the first instance sentence, the 49-year-old has always been lucid.
The words of Tiziana Morandi’s ex-boyfriend
During the hearing on 15 June (exactly one year ago) he was heard Tiziana Morandi’s ex-boyfriend. The man, a 55-year-old, said he had seen customers leaving the woman’s house a few times: “They were always quite sleepy, but he said it was the effect of the relaxing neck massage“. He then explained that he broke off the relationship for some things “which I didn’t like“. He would in fact lend her five thousand euros “because he had to redeem an inheritance” which would never have been returned to him. He remembers very well the 28-year-old from Trezzo sull’Adda who, leaving Morandi’s house, had a car accident.
Another photo edited on social media
The first sentence for Mantis della Brianza, 16 years and 5 months: “Liar and manipulator”
In December 2023 Tiziana Morandi was sentenced in the first instance to sixteen years and five months of imprisonment. They were filed in April the reasons for the sentence: for the judges, the woman acted with “unscrupulous lucidity” and, precisely because of his stories during his testimony, he would have demonstrated a “tendency to lie and manipulation“. The number of victims would demonstrate a seriality that they defined “criminal“and that he represented”a spy of great social danger“. It would also show “coldness of mind“. The 49-year-old’s defense has filed an appeal and the first hearing will take place in September.
The Brianza mantis today: in court for fraud and receiving stolen goods
In addition to the appeal trial, Morandi will have to undergo another trial for a further investigation: it is in fact accused of fraud and receiving stolen goods after the complaint from a hairdresser in Bellusco. The events occurred in November 2020. The two met on social media. After introducing herself as a doctor and raising money for charity, she invited the man to her home. She allegedly told him that she needed 1,250 euros to cover some legal expenses for collecting an inheritance. As collateral she allegedly gave the man two Rolexes and some jewelry. The man had everything appraised by a jeweller, who discovered that the watches were fake. When the trader pointed out that he had discovered the truth, Morandi decided to sue the 60-year-old claiming that she had been defrauded. The man thus also reported her for slander.
