In the fall of 2016, Rosalía P. was going through “a very bad personal and financial moment”. Diagnosed with a hernia, she urgently needed to sell the family home to solve the problems with her ex-husband. One night, at home, he came across a television channel in which dozens of people called a woman live to thank her for having solved their problems: it was the tarot reader Pepita Vilallonga. “I never believed in those things, but I was in a hole; She gave me a call and asked for an appointment, ”says this woman, a retired professor and law graduate, in the trial for fraud against the seer and two collaborators who, this Tuesday, uncovered the secrets of the esoteric business. Vilallonga was already arrested in 2017 accused of defrauding another elderly woman 300,000 euros by exercising psychological control over her through a series of rituals. The case ended up being shelved.
Rosalía went to the Vilallonga Futurology Cabinet, on Mallorca street in Barcelona, and asked him to cast her tarot cards (100 euros) “to see if she could sell the house soon.” It was the beginning of his nightmare. “He told me: ‘You have an evil eye, you have a dead man on your back and your dogs and you are going to die, you don’t make it to the weekend.” Luckily for her, the tarot reader had the right remedy for such a fatal outcome: David L., a collaborator “specialized in the evil eye” who, through a prayer ritual known as “path opener”, could save her. “I walked into a room crying. They sank me further. The man told me that he had been very late to the consultation, that perhaps he did not arrive alive for the weekend ”.
David L and Fran B – Pepita’s son and also a defendant – had to go to work immediately. But they needed 4,400 euros in cash, which Rosalía gave them for fear of dying. The contacts continued in the following weeks. But the evil that the woman carried within was “very strong” and the accused needed external help. It was going to be provided by a certain “Father Giorgio”, a man who spoke Italian and who was presented as “a chaplain who came from the Vatican,” said the alleged victim of the deception. They asked him 10,000 euros more for the special intervention of Giorgio, who had to travel to Jerusalem to bury some dog collars and Rosalía’s socks there. “They told me, what is worth more, your life and that of the dogs or money?” Fully immersed in that delusional spiral, Rosalía paid the 10,000 euros. And then he paid another 17,000 euros that they demanded in December to complete the ritual and prolong his life, at least until Christmas.
The torment began to end when Rosalía spoke with her friend Mercè (“but are you crazy?” She told her when she learned the story) and when she saw, again on television, the appearance of reports of fraud against Vilallonga. She understood that she had been deceived, asked in vain for invoices to justify her payments, and was even threatened when she was caught trying to record a conversation in the consultation, as she has told before the magistrates of the Barcelona Court in a trial in which (something unpublished) has expressly waived a refund of the amounts paid. “I just want no one else to get over this fear and panic.”
The woman’s lawyer asks for eight years in prison (six for fraud and two for a criminal group) for Vilallonga and his two collaborators. The prosecution, on the other hand, does not accuse with the argument that there is no crime, that whoever goes to this type of magical services and is not in a situation of mental vulnerability already knows what to expect. “And did you believe it all?” The prosecutor asked skeptically. Rosalía has said yes. “At that time, if they had told me that I had to pay 100,000 euros, I would have stolen them, I would have done anything.”
The ritual of the “road opener”
The defendants have denied the facts and accused the woman of lying. Vilallonga, dressed in rigorous black and with a slow and firm speech, has assured that not only did he not read the tarot or threaten her, but that he never saw her. She moves with difficulty and her son Fran helps her to sit on the bench, where she has affirmed that complaints such as Rosalía’s, and the media, have ruined her life. “I had a very big depression because of everything that came out and I had to retire. It was the worst time of my life. They destroyed me so much… They threw my name on the ground ”.
Vilallonga, who learned the trade from her grandmother (“a great medium”) has tried to give a prestigious patina to what has been her occupation for 40 years. “We do not sell cars, we sell a spiritual issue, problem solving, nothing more.” Asked by the victim’s lawyer and the magistrates, the tarot reader has unraveled, incidentally, the ins and outs of the divination business. The commercial brand Pepita Vilallonga was operated by two companies: one to contract advertising for the television programs that it recorded on the upper floor of the shop on Calle Mallorca; the other, of which she was employed, to throw the tarot and offer other “spiritual” services to clients.
The three defendants have agreed that they never threatened Rosalía and have assured that a tarot reader never mentions health issues. “It cannot and should not be done, because we are not doctors. We simply treat the soul, ”said Vilallonga. “We believe in angels, in spirits, we are peaceful people.” Apart from the prices set for the tarot, the extra services are agreed between the client and his tarot reader. The client is made to sign a consent contract and a clause indicating that the services provided are not subject to obtaining results.
The son, Fran B., has said that he was dedicated to recording his mother for the televisions and radios that broadcast the show. Both he and David L. have insisted that it was Rosalía who “asked for a road opener”, a process by which the tarot reader prays for a person for several hours a day so that “things go better”. “She was never unhappy. We agreed to just over 4,000 euros and he left something to owe. But I am a professional and I finished the road opener ”, said David. It doesn’t seem to work. One of Rosalía’s dogs, the woman said, fell ill and died a few months later.
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