Chicago State Hospital
4200 West Irving Park Road,
Chicago IL 60634
Mental
Fitness to Stand Trial Assessment - addendum to file
Mr. Giovanni Redonna
November 1, 1930
I regret to inform the
court of the unexpected passing of Mr.
Redonna, who
died by his own hand last night in his cell. The incredible violence of his demise is currently under independent investigation.
Passersby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood. Mr. Redonna, who was under my
care, showed signs of a seriously declining mental state, lapsing into a pre-
catatonia between periods of intense
psychotic episodes. His
death, while alarming, is not at all uncommon in this type of mental
breakdown. The extent of Mr. Redonna's illness cannot be
understated. He was completely mentally isolated from
reality, living in a
nightmarish world of his own
creation. It is the assessment of this doctor that Mr. Redonna was utterly
unfit for trial, and furthermore, it is quite extraordinary that a man suffering from such
extensive mental illness was even able to appear even marginally
sane, let alone function independently in
society. I would call into question the investigative techniques of the
Chicago Police Department, if not for the independently verified reports of Mr. Redonna's
lucidity in the weeks prior to his
incarceration. Had this testimony not come forth, I would caution the court that Mr. Redonna's case fits the
textbook description of pinning a crime on a
mental defective in order to have it off a
precinct's
rap sheet. I feel
ill at ease about this case, as I have never, in all my years of study and practice, come across so rapid a
decline in mental fitness. It is a disturbing
anomaly in the annals of psychiatry, and I have forwarded this case to the
American Psychological Association and the
American Medical Association for review. I would recommend the court
strike the testimony of Mr. Giovanni Redonna on the basis of his highly fractured mental state and deep
psychosis. He cannot be held responsible for his actions, or be used as a reliable source of
testimony on the actions of others.
Attached for
review are the most recent notes taken while assessing the patient.
Dr. John Bellweather
CSH
October 29th, 1930
11:36 am
Dr. Bellweather: Good morning Mr. Redonna. How are you
feeling today?
Giovanni Redonna: ...
DB: Come now Giovanni, are we going to do this again? If you don't answer my questions, how can I help you?
GR: You can't help me
Doc.
Trust me.
DB: You keep saying that Giovanni. How do you know I can't help? What makes you feel helpless?
GR: (whisper) I keep telling you. Stupid
fuck.
DB: Come now Giovanni, do we need to keep using such foul lang..(Interrupted)
GB: (shouting) It was the fucking Devil! What the fuck can you do about the Devil you fucking
shrink? Nothing! (screams) (sound of chair moving)
(Sounds of struggle)
DB: Sedate him.
GR: You're fucked! We all are! He's fucking here. (laughter)
DB: Take him back to his cell.
Orderly: Come on you.
GR: (whisper) it was the fucking
Devil, clear as day you dumb ...
DB:
Stop the tape.
October 30th, 1930
3:04 pm
GR: (singsong) I haven't had this much fun since
Whitechapel. It's almost as fun as
Lorient!
DB: Giovanni, can you hear me?
GR: (singsong) Eight little
whores, with no hope of heaven.
Gladstone may save one, and then there'll be
seven.
DB: Note for the recording, the
patient has been heavily sedated. Shock treatments may be used to reverse
catatonia later today. Patient is non-responsive.
GR:
Se non è vero, è bene trovato.
DB: I'll have to get that translated later. Giovanni, tell me about the night in the processing plant. Tell me about it again.
GR: Oh, I remember that! That was quite a
night, quite a night! We were making a mess and cleaning it up, cleaning it up and making a
mess...
(whisper) They all don't believe me doctor, but I saw him. Plain as day. HE was as
red as a
cardinal. He talked to me you know. He said "Hello Giovanni, lovely day isn't it? Come, lets us see about these here fuckers what we gotta cut up". I.. I..
DB: Go on Giovanni.
GR: We hung them on the
hooks, like the sides of
beef they was designed for. Up under the
chin. These
mooks had been on
ice for months. I had to haul on they's feet to get the hooks in. We hung up all the
kikes in a row. They was
Hershel's boys from up on the West side. We had them in the back of the freezer at Don Paulo’s on
Front Street for months. I dropped the
Mick shopkeeper who ratted on Jimmy the Nose off the back of the truck and he broke like a slab a
ice. (shout) Holy fuck that was funny. I had three pieces a frozen fucking Mick on the
floor. (laughter)
DB: What where you doing at the
meat processing plant Giovanni? What did you see?
GR: Hey Jimmy. Look at this freaking Mick. He's
broke! (laughter) I don't know where the guy is. Boss says he meets him here. Hey fuck you Jimmy, you ask him. Like I wanna know where the
fuck these frozen bastards go. As long as they ain't in Donnies freezer making the meat taste funny, I could give a fuck. Hey shut up Jimmy. Here he comes.
DB: (aside) Subject appears to be in a
fugue state. He is non-responsive to external stimuli.
GR: No! NO! NO! (screams)
DB: Giovanni! Wake up! What’s happening? What did you see?
GR: (screams)
DB:
Stop the tape.
October 31th, 1930
9:36 am
DB: Subject seems to remain
unresponsive even after heavy sedation and mild shock treatments last night. He is
violent and
suicidal, apparently terrified that some one is coming to kill him. He has been given a large dose of
Sodium Pentothal (30 ml) and is restrained. He has bitten his tongue and knocked out several teeth.
DB: Giovanni, can you hear me?
GR: Yah doc.
DB: What are you afraid of Giovanni? Was it something from that night?
GR: I told you doc. It was the
Devil. He's not done the job.
DB: Ok Giovanni. I believe you. So, this man..(unintelligible)
GR: (interrupting) No doc. It was no man. No fucking way. It was the Devil, with a capital D.
DB: Ok. Go on. Tell me what happened.
GR: May as well. We is all fucked anyhow.
DB: Why?
GR: Cause, the Devil is loose
again. He's been around for a long time
Doc, and I think he's out on
vacation. Me and Jimmy and Toni was down at the plant, Mario's plant where they make the
sausages, and we was getting rid of some bodies of guys we
whacked for the boss. A bunch of stiffs nobody wanted floating in the
Lake, right? So we takes the stiffs to the plant and get ready to
grind em up and toss em in the
furnace. We are supposed to meet a
clean up guy who makes sure nothing gets left laying around for the
Feds. Antoni gets all
pale right after we get there and says that he has to go call the
Boss. The
rosary he fucks with all the time breaks and he runs off down the street screaming in
Italian like a fucking
Sicilian. Me and Jimmy laugh until we almost
piss our pants and then I drop the
Mick on the floor and bust him up. Then, right out of the fucking furnace, this
shape pops up. (shout) Fucking on
fire and bloody and red! Jimmy just fucking died. His.. his face..(unintelligible)
DB: Go on.
GR: He.. he just started
bleeding, all over. Like somebody hit him with a
plate glass window. I was scared doc. I wanted to run or scream or piss my pants but I was stuck. It.. It came up to me.. I..(unintelligible)
DB: What’s the matter?
GR: It was like it happened, but it was so fucking real.. He was in my head I think and then he said "Oh this is a
great place you have here I love the
decorations" and then he told me that he was here for a while and stuff was going to happen and that he was
looking forward to seeing me later and then about the future and the past and how
proud he was of us all and....
DB: (interrupting) Giovanni, slow down.
GR: (shout) I had a great time in
Whitechapel! The last
War was great! Lets do it again! You're all gonna cut your own throats! Oh have I can't wait for that lovely
bomb! The Mick’s head talked to me and swore it would eat me fucking
balls in
Hell and I saw that (unintelligible)
girl I choked back in the alley when I was twenty and she fucked me and
stabbed me in the heart and the
eyes of the black
dark stuck in my guts and the burning ate me shining
black soul chewed up fuck (unintelligible) kill (unintelligible)
hell (screams)
DB: Giovanni! Somebody get
stick him. (shout) He's loose from the restraints!
GR: (screams) He is coming for me! Help me! Fucking help me!
DB:
Stop the tape! Get him out of here!
GR: (screams)
For The Blood is the Life: A Frightful Halloween Quest.