On This Date in Crime History

by Michael Thomas Barry

On March 4, 1944, mobster Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, was executed at Sing Sing Prison in New York. Lepke was the leader of the country's largest crime syndicate dubbed “Murder, Inc.” throughout the 1930s. His downfall came when several members of his notorious killing squad turned states witness for the government.

by Michael Thomas Barry

On March 1, 1692, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba, an Indian slave from Barbados, are charged with practicing witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. Later that same day, Tituba, possibly under coercion, confessed to the crime, encouraging the authorities to seek out more Salem witches. Trouble in the Puritan community began the month before, when nine-year-old Elizabeth Parris and 11-year-old Abigail Williams, the daughter and niece, respectively, of the Reverend Samuel Parris, began experiencing fits and other mysterious maladies.

by Michael Thomas Barry

On February 27, 1991, pornographer Artie Mitchell was shot to death by his brother Jim at his Marin County, California, home. When police responding to a 911 call by Artie's girlfriend arrived at the house they found Jim wandering aimlessly outside carrying a .22 rifle. Artie had been shot multiple times in the chest and head and was already dead.

by Michael Thomas Barry

On February 25, 1949, actor Robert Mitchum is released from a Los Angeles County prison farm after completing a two-month sentence for marijuana possession. In the fall of 1948, Mitchum, the star of classics such as Cape Fear and Night of the Hunter, was smoking a joint at a party in the Laurel Canyon area of Los Angeles when detectives burst in and arrested him. Mitchum reportedly said at the time, "Well, this is the bitter end of everything, my career, my marriage, everything."