Benvenuto, Dr. Gaetano Pascale!

San Francisco  November 30, 2007

The most recent addition to the Center for Forensics has a record. He’s been arrested for involvement in organized crime and suspected of association with outlaw motorcycle gangs. Yet instead of going to jail, Gaetano Pacale is at Alliant International University, conducting lectures on its Fresno campus.

Dr. Gaetano Pascale

CFS students aren’t in danger; they’re privy to the experiences of one of the Italian police force’s most successful undercover agents. Gaetano’s arrest wasn’t real, it was just for show, in order to convince the mob he wasn’t a cop.

From 1985, until he retired in 2006, Pascale worked for the Italian State Police, both in Rome and Turin. He’s been a detective and Chief of the Investigative Squad, and in 1996, after training as an undercover agent in Rome’s anti-drug police department, he entered the world of organized crime, posing as a member of the Italian mafia. 

In recent years, Pascale has shared his knowledge and experience with others, as an instructor and presenter. He’s taught at the Modena Police Academy and the State Police Inspector’s Institute, and serves as Assistant Professor at University of Bologna, where he taught Forensic Psychology and Introduction to Criminology. He's presented to the Society for Police and Criminal Psychology at events in Arizona, Massachusetts, Washington, DC and Orvieto, Italy, and since February of this year, he’s lectured at State University of California, Fresno twice, on “Organized Crime in Italy and Undercover Policing” and “Organized Crime in Italy and Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs.”

Gaetano was an invited guest speaker for the Forensic Summer Institute at Alliant International University’s Fresno campus in July, and currently teaches Juvenile Delinquency and Introduction to Forensic Psychology.
“It is so different here than in Italy, where classes are simply lectures,” says Gaetano. “There’s only instruction, where here, at Alliant, there’s discussion and practice.”

Gaetano’s relationship with Alliant is continuing to grow. He’ll soon take part in a language immersion class, and with his improved English, he hopes to teach even more, perhaps someday at an Alliant campus in Italy. “Why not?” he says. “I think it can be done.”