Canadian resident Luciano Frattolin was arrested hours after his nine-year-old daughter was found dead in upstate New York Sunday afternoon, July 20. Melina Galanis Frattolin’s body was found in Ticonderoga, shortly after Luciano’s bogus report in which he claimed his daughter may have been abducted.
While it is unclear if Luciano is currently facing charges, here are five facts we know about him:
- Luciano, 45, is an entrepreneur and the founder of Gambella Coffee. Gambella Coffee’s website says, “With a background in the humanities and social sciences, his formal education, together with his pragmatic understanding about the complexities of life, motivates him to maintain an understanding of the world grounded in a distinct cross-cultural ethos.”
- Luciano is the son of an Ethiopian mother and an Italian father, the website says, adding that he was born in the small village of Gambella. “With a childhood spent running between rows of crimson coffee buds on the Ethiopian family plantation, and the neoclassical architecture of his father’s Milano, his vision of the world and his pursuits within, reflect these hyphenated cultures,” the website says.
- Luciano faced incidents of racism due to his “mixed” ethnicity, which led to feelings of "isolation," according to the website. He lost his father when he was 17, and wished to have life “far away from these painful experiences.” The website adds, “While continuing his education in the United States and London, he witnessed and felt an acceptance he had always longed for. He was left reinvigorated and reconciled the difficulties he faced during his youth by embodying the Nietzschean attitude of, “That which does not kill him makes him stronger”.”
- Luciano had great financial success across numerous ventures,” the website says, including architecture, real estate, construction, and mining. “While enjoying the rewards of his efforts, Luciano ultimately lost his passion for the art of life and his commitment to elevating the social consciousness of his peers and compatriots,” the website says. “He forgot the gifts his unique dual-nationality granted him—the innovation and creativity born out of the simplicity and extravagances found across both countries. He readily admits the mistakes of his past life and uses such reminiscences as momentum for doing better.”
- Luciano was met with an “unfortunate event” in February 2019, something that “severely affected his well-being.” It adds, “Though his road to recovery was long and arduous, he remained determined. As he persevered through his recovery, he realized that he was no longer lured by profit and instead, decided to invest in people and ideas that resonated with the promise of futurity, creativity, and community well-being.”

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