Mafia snitches overstated corpse-dissolving properties of sulfuric acid

A report at the Feb 23 meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences has determined that the mafia snitches' claims regarding the mob's ability to undetectably eradicate the remains of a murder victim with sulfuric acid were overstated. Though informants had claimed that the acid used by crime boss Filippo Marchese in his "lupara bianca" ("white shotgun") torture chambers would liquify a corpse in 15 or 20 minutes, researchers working with pig carcasses concluded that, at a minimum, a bath of sulfuric acid and water (which accelerates the acid's effects) would take two days.

The research suggests that the members of the crime clan were not as good at telling time as they were at ritual murder.
But "they are smarter than some Georgia criminals," said Michael Heninger, an associate medical examiner in Fulton County, where Atlanta is located. "People think they will destroy a body, but they'll do things that preserve it. These guys are more experienced," he said of the Palermo killings.
It isn't obvious whether the new research will translate into something usable for future investigations. "We constantly see cases that are weird," says Heninger. "I'm never going to see this exact case, but when you do see something weird like this, it gets you thinking about how you would figure it out."

Mafia's Corpse-Dissolving Claims Exaggerated (via JWZ)

(Image: melting skeleton, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from 75001512@N00's photostream)

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mdh

I believe this, but, a mixture of Sulfuric and Nitric acids in water might just do the trick in a half hour. Journalists, tv writers, and criminals are all not chemists.
Anonymous

For all those here talking about hydrogen peroxide and nitric-sulfuric acid mixes I’d say that anything beyond “Pour this stuff in the barrel” type instructions would probably get the crooks burned by their own chemicals.

If I ever dabble in organized crime in Palermo I’ll make sure to have a gold piece planted in me with my info on it and a message saying “If you find this I was murdered”. They’d need aqua regia to dissolve that. Maybe have it coated in teflon, then they’d need hydrofluric acid (just as likely to dissolve them).
- mdh
  
  um, nitric/sulfuric mixture IS aqua regia.
  - Ronamo
    
    Yeah, aqua regia is nitro-hydrochloric acid, but its production is a bit more complicated than just “one gallon nitric, one gallon hydrochloric, one singing stool-pigeon.”
    
    Wikipedia actually covers what would happen to gold in the two acids if they weren’t properly combined, interestingly enough.
    
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqua_regia
tyger11

You got to starve the pigs for a few days, then the sight of a chopped-up body will look like curry to a pisshead. You gotta shave the heads of your victims, and pull the teeth out for the sake of the piggies’ digestion. You could do this afterwards, of course, but you don’t want to go sievin’ through pig shit, now do you? They will go through bone like butter. You need at least sixteen pigs to finish the job in one sitting, so be wary of any man who keeps a pig farm. They will go through a body that weighs 200 pounds in about eight minutes. That means that a single pig can consume two pounds of uncooked flesh every minute. Hence the expression, “as greedy as a pig”.
- cory
  
  Same thing I thought of immediately :) Great movie.
  - millrick
    
    unfortunatly not just in the movies…
    
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Pickton
Anonymous

> researchers working with pig carcasses
I’m pretty sure human bodies have a higher surface area.

Regardless, I see the results as being somewhat in the middle. Say, about 12-18 hours.
Anonymous

A rule of thumb in chemistry is that a ten degree centigrade rise in temperature doubles the reaction rate. So a cauldron filled with sulfuric acid heated to 150C might dissolve a corpse in 15 minutes. Adding hydrogen peroxide would help too.
singingdragon

Maybe I’m just weird, but I really want to know what these Georgian criminals are doing that they think will destroy a body, but actually preserve it. Burying it in a plastic bag? Dumping it in an anoxic bog? Sprinkling it with food-grade lye?
bobthecitizen

If Martha Stewart did this she’d not only get the time right, but come up with a useful or decorative way to use the resultant hoodlum/acid slurry.
- Anonymous
  
  “hoodlum/acid slurry” Sounds like a music genre to me.
- MrsBug
  
  bobthecitizen, she’d use it to acidify the soil for her rhododendrons and azaleas.
  - Rich Keller
    
    But not hydrangeas. The acid would make the blossoms change color and Miss Marple would immediately pick up on that.
BB

Although pigs are similar to humans, they have a much greater fat content than most humans. Couldn’t that account for the longer breakdown time?
AlexG55

John George Haigh could have told them that (if they hadn’t hanged him)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_George_Haigh
Neural Kernel

*sigh* nobody proudly displays the corpses of their defeated foes anymore…
I tell you… if things don’t change I’m going to have to give up the iron spike business…