It looked like a violent attack on an innocent man.

When Andreas Plack, a 23-year-old ex-bouncer from the northern Italian town of Merano, was found lying in a pool of blood near a country lay-by, police initially thought him the victim of a sadistic attack.

His left leg was almost severed, seemingly by a chainsaw. Copious bleeding had virtually drained the body of blood.

Emergency call

Plack had tried to call the emergency services on his mobile phone in the wake of the attack, but was so weakened by rapid blood loss that operators heard only a death rattle.





However, the incredible truth of the case was soon to emerge. Plack's 29-year-old cousin, Christian Kleon, has confessed to police that he was the assailant, and that the younger man died in an attempted insurance fraud that went badly wrong. Numerous policies The pair allegedly hatched a plan which was meant to net them over half-a-million dollars in insurance payouts. Plack is said to have taken out policies with several companies, under which he would receive substantial sums in case of injury leading to permanent disability.



