Among the very spookiest of U.S. serial murders was John Wayne Gacy of Chicago, who was found guilty of murdering 33 young men between 1972 and 1978. The remains of 28 of them were found under Gavy's home, and he admitted throwing the bodies of others into nearby rivers.
Rather like a villain in a Batman comic book, the pudgy Gacy, who owned his own construction company, liked to dress the part of Pogo the Clown and entertain sick children. His own depiction of his clown costume appears below.
He sometimes gained control of his victims by luring them to his house, purporting to show them a "magic trick" involving the use of handcuffs, then rendering them unconscious with chloroform. He would sexually abuse them and eventually torture them to death.
The people who knew Gacy had no idea he was such a sadistic monster. He was a cheerful giver to charities, an award-winning Jaycee and politically active, even managing to have his photo taken with President Jimmy Carter's wife Rosalyn.
Gacy was captured after one of his victims, whom he had allow to go free, recognized his car and tipped off police.
Gacy was executed in 1994 by lethal injection.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Mass/serial killers: Sammy Gravano
Known in the press as "Sammy the Bull," Salvatore Gravano has confessed to killing or helping kill 19 people. His punishment for all that mayhem was five years in prison because of his testimony against the Mafia.
The wonder is that Gravano is still alive.
He began as "muscle" for the Colombo Mob family in New York and for the Gambino family in Brooklyn.
Called Sammy after an uncle, Gravano served two years in the Army in the 1960s thanks to the draft. In 1970, he began his string of murders, and he was inducted into the ranks of the mob in 1976. Smart and tough, he moved up the the criminal ranks and gained great influence in construction and trucking in the New York City area. He became the Gambino family's consigliere under family boss John Gotti, the publicity-hungry Teflon Don (also known as the Dapper Don).
In 1991, Gravano took an enormous chance by testifying against Gotti in exchange for a five-year term in prison. On his release, he entered the Witness Protection Program but dropped out after someone recognized him. He moved to Arizona and had some protective plastic surgery.
By the late 1990s, Gravano was into the ecstasy trade. He was convicted of this crime in 2000 and got 19 years. While in prison, he contracted Graves' Disease.
The wonder is that Gravano is still alive.
He began as "muscle" for the Colombo Mob family in New York and for the Gambino family in Brooklyn.
Called Sammy after an uncle, Gravano served two years in the Army in the 1960s thanks to the draft. In 1970, he began his string of murders, and he was inducted into the ranks of the mob in 1976. Smart and tough, he moved up the the criminal ranks and gained great influence in construction and trucking in the New York City area. He became the Gambino family's consigliere under family boss John Gotti, the publicity-hungry Teflon Don (also known as the Dapper Don).
In 1991, Gravano took an enormous chance by testifying against Gotti in exchange for a five-year term in prison. On his release, he entered the Witness Protection Program but dropped out after someone recognized him. He moved to Arizona and had some protective plastic surgery.
By the late 1990s, Gravano was into the ecstasy trade. He was convicted of this crime in 2000 and got 19 years. While in prison, he contracted Graves' Disease.
Mass/serial killers: Leslie Irvin
Known in the press as "Mad Dog Irvin," Leslie Irvin, killer of six, was arrested in 1955. His murders took place in 1954 and 1955 in Kentucky and Indiana.
Irvin's capture was a matter of good luck. He was attempting to pawn stolen jewelry. One of the rings had belonged to someone recently murdered, and police were able to connect the dots.
Irvin is remembered today more for a U.S. Supreme Court decision in his case than for his crimes.
Publicity about his exploits and his capture was so heavy and so lurid that the High Court ruled he had not received a fair trial. In the history of what is called the free press-fair trial controversy, Irvin's case looms large. Due to prejudicial publicity,a new trial was ordered. In 1961, his retrial was held, and again he was found guilty.
Irvin died in prison of lung cancer in 1983 at age 59.
Irvin's capture was a matter of good luck. He was attempting to pawn stolen jewelry. One of the rings had belonged to someone recently murdered, and police were able to connect the dots.
Irvin is remembered today more for a U.S. Supreme Court decision in his case than for his crimes.
Publicity about his exploits and his capture was so heavy and so lurid that the High Court ruled he had not received a fair trial. In the history of what is called the free press-fair trial controversy, Irvin's case looms large. Due to prejudicial publicity,a new trial was ordered. In 1961, his retrial was held, and again he was found guilty.
Irvin died in prison of lung cancer in 1983 at age 59.
Mass/serial killers: Dylan Klebold & Eric Harris
The names of these two young men--Harris 18 and Klebold 17--were on every tongue in 1999 because of the mayhem they caused in what was termed the Colubine High School massacre.
Both boys committed suicide at the end of their killing spree, which left 13 dead and 21 wounded.
The school where the spree killing took place was located in Littleton, Colorado. The attack was carried out on Adolph Hitler's birthday, and only two weeks shy of the boys' graduation.
Both boys looked quite normal, but they had somehow developed an intense hatred for many of the people around them. They got into trouble of various kinds, apparently viewing themselves as societal rejects, and experimented with bomb making.
This dreadful massacre brought painful attention to school bullying and to the violent video games so popular with American youth. Shown below are weapons used in this mass murder.
Both boys committed suicide at the end of their killing spree, which left 13 dead and 21 wounded.
The school where the spree killing took place was located in Littleton, Colorado. The attack was carried out on Adolph Hitler's birthday, and only two weeks shy of the boys' graduation.
Both boys looked quite normal, but they had somehow developed an intense hatred for many of the people around them. They got into trouble of various kinds, apparently viewing themselves as societal rejects, and experimented with bomb making.
This dreadful massacre brought painful attention to school bullying and to the violent video games so popular with American youth. Shown below are weapons used in this mass murder.
Mass/serial killers: Derrick Todd Lee
Known as the Baton Rouge Serial Killer, Derrick Todd Lee was captured after his seventh known murder and is now awaiting execution on death row.
The low-IQ Louisiana man, 34 when captured, committed most of his killings near Louisiana State University. He was unusual in that his methods of killing varied so greatly. The murders took place from 1992 to 2003.
The low-IQ Louisiana man, 34 when captured, committed most of his killings near Louisiana State University. He was unusual in that his methods of killing varied so greatly. The murders took place from 1992 to 2003.
Mass/serial killers: Lee Boyd Malvo
Lee Boyd Malvo, now spending the rest of his life in prison without chance of parole, was the teenage sidekick of John Allen Muhammad in the 2002 Beltway sniper murders that terrorized parts of Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.
The two met in Jamaica, and Muhammad told the impressionable Malvo that the two would so terrorize America that they would be able to extort $10 million from the federal government, which they would use to set up a compound in Canada where they would train other poor black youth as terrorists.
Their plan was to shoot six people a day, but fortunately the two were captured after their 13th killing in the D.C. area. Boyd, 17 when the shootings took place, received multiple life sentences, whereas Muhammad was later executed.
The two met in Jamaica, and Muhammad told the impressionable Malvo that the two would so terrorize America that they would be able to extort $10 million from the federal government, which they would use to set up a compound in Canada where they would train other poor black youth as terrorists.
Their plan was to shoot six people a day, but fortunately the two were captured after their 13th killing in the D.C. area. Boyd, 17 when the shootings took place, received multiple life sentences, whereas Muhammad was later executed.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Mass/serial killers: Charles Manson
The scariest product of America's strange flower-child culture of the 1960s was the grubby but charismatic Charles Manson, who was found guilty of masterminding the 1969 murders of seven people in an attempt to spark a race war in the United States.
Manson had the bizarre notion that the race war he wanted to occur had been prophesied by the Beatles in some of their songs (most notably "Helter Skelter") as well as by the Bible's Book of Revelation.
The wild-eyed Manson had found it easy to recruit drug-addled young people and to establish Rasputin-like control of them, hinting to them that he was a reincarnation of Jesus Christ. By that time he had already spent a good many years in prison for lesser offenses: assault, car theft, stealing pimping, credit card fraud and the like.
Sprung from prison in 1967, he began to recruit followers and moved his "family" to a remote, deserted ranch in California's San Fernando Valley.
From that base of operations Manson ordered three of his followers to execute the people then staying at the home of starlet Sharon Tate, who was at that time married to filmmaker Roman Polanski. Killed alongside the beautiful starlet were hairstylist-to-the-stars Jay Sebring, coffee heiress Abigail Folger and Folger's gentleman friend Wojciech Frykowski.
The following night Manson and three of his "family" murdered businessman Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary. Another murder had been that of a music teacher, Gary Hinman.
Manson was found guilty and was given the death sentence. That sentence was reduced to life in prison when California dropped capital punishment. As of early 2010, Manson remains in prison, where he is likely to remain.
Manson had the bizarre notion that the race war he wanted to occur had been prophesied by the Beatles in some of their songs (most notably "Helter Skelter") as well as by the Bible's Book of Revelation.
The wild-eyed Manson had found it easy to recruit drug-addled young people and to establish Rasputin-like control of them, hinting to them that he was a reincarnation of Jesus Christ. By that time he had already spent a good many years in prison for lesser offenses: assault, car theft, stealing pimping, credit card fraud and the like.
Sprung from prison in 1967, he began to recruit followers and moved his "family" to a remote, deserted ranch in California's San Fernando Valley.
From that base of operations Manson ordered three of his followers to execute the people then staying at the home of starlet Sharon Tate, who was at that time married to filmmaker Roman Polanski. Killed alongside the beautiful starlet were hairstylist-to-the-stars Jay Sebring, coffee heiress Abigail Folger and Folger's gentleman friend Wojciech Frykowski.
The following night Manson and three of his "family" murdered businessman Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary. Another murder had been that of a music teacher, Gary Hinman.
Manson was found guilty and was given the death sentence. That sentence was reduced to life in prison when California dropped capital punishment. As of early 2010, Manson remains in prison, where he is likely to remain.
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