MASSIMO CARLOTTO was at the centre of one of the most controversial law cases in Italian history. In January 1976, Carlotto, at that time a member of a left-wing movement, stumbled across a brutally stabbed body in his hometown. The police accused him of the murder, and just before the appeal, his lawyer advised him to run. Betrayed finally in Mexico, Carlotto was captured and tortured, and sent back to Italy. Following trials, mistakes, and changes in the law, he was sent to prison, before being pardoned in 1993. His first book was an autobiography, but he then started writing a series in which the main character, Alligator, is a former convict who becomes a detective, and, like Carlotto, has a thirst for truth and justice.