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On This Date in Crime History

The Reno Brother's Gang -1868

reno gang

The Reno Bros. Gang

by Michael Thomas Barry

On December 6, 1868, a guard, who had been shot by brothers Frank, William, and Simeon Reno during a train robbery in May, died of his wounds. His death so infuriated the public that a group of vigilantes yanked the three brothers from their Indiana jail cell five days later and hanged them. Although the Reno gang had a short reign of terror, they are credited with pulling off the first train robbery in American history and are believed to be the inspiration for criminal copycats like Jesse James and others. 

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Boston Belfry Murderer Claims First Victim - 1873

church

Warren Avenue Baptist Church

by Michael Thomas Barry

On December 5, 1873, Bridget Landregan is found beaten and strangled to death in the Boston suburb of Dorchester. According to witnesses, a man in black clothes and a flowing cape attempted to sexually assault the dead girl before running away. In 1874, a man fitting the same description clubbed another young girl, Mary Sullivan, to death. His third victim, Mary Tynan, was bludgeoned in her bed in 1875. Although she survived for a year after the severe attack, she was never able to identify her attacker. 

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Chicago Police kill two members of the Black Panther Party - 1969

Hampton

Black Panther leader Fred Hampton

by Michael Thomas Barry

On December 4, 1969, Black Panthers Fred Hampton and Mark Clark were gunned down by police in their Chicago, Illinois apartment. About a hundred bullets had been fired in what police described as a fierce gun battle with members of the Black Panther Party. However, ballistics experts later determined that only one of those bullets came from the Panthers' side.

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Militant Abolitionist John Brown was executed - 1859

brown

by Michael Thomas Barry

On December 2, 1859, militant abolitionist John Brown was executed on charges of treason, murder, and insurrection. Brown was born in Connecticut in 1800. He first became militant during the mid-1850s, when as a leader of the Free State forces in Kansas he fought pro-slavery settlers. Achieving only moderate success in his fight against slavery in Kansas, Brown settled on a more ambitious plan in 1859. 

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Serial Killer Aileen Wuornos Claims First Victim - 1989

Wournos

Aileen Wuornos

by Michael Thomas Barry

On November 30, 1989, Richard Mallory, a storeowner in Palm Harbor, Florida, is last seen taking a ride with Aileen Wuornos. The following day, his car was found abandoned in a remote area of Ormond Beach. Nearly two weeks later, his body turned up in a Daytona Beach junkyard with three bullets in his chest. Mallory's murder was the first of seven committed by Aileen Wuornos over the next year. Perhaps because she was one of the few women killers to gain widespread fame and notoriety, she has been inaccurately dubbed "America's first female serial killer." 

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Warren Commission established to investigate JFK assassination - 1963

waren commission

by Michael Thomas Barry

On November 29, 1963, President Lyndon Johnson issued Executive Order No. 11130, appointing the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, commonly referred to as the Warren Commission, after its leader, Chief Justice Earl Warren. 

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San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk were murdered - 1978

Moscone and Milk

Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk

by Michael Thomas Barry

On November 27, 1978, Dan White murders Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk at City Hall in San Francisco, California. White, who stormed into San Francisco's government offices with a .38 revolver, had reportedly been angry about Moscone's decision not to reappoint him to the city board. 

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The Great Diamond Hoax was exposed - 1872

diamond hoax

by Michael Thomas Barry

On November 26, 1872, the Great Diamond Hoax, one of the most notorious mining swindles of the 19th century was exposed with an article in the San Francisco Evening Bulletin. 

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Iran-Contra Scandal Connection was Revealed - 1986

North

by Michael Thomas Barry

On November 25, 1986, three weeks after a Lebanese magazine reported that the United States had been secretly selling arms to Iran; Attorney General Edwin Meese reveals that proceeds from the arms sales were illegally diverted to the anti-communist Contras in Nicaragua. 

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Boss Tweed was extradicted back to the U.S. - 1876

Tweed

William Marcy "Boss" Tweed

by Michael Thomas Barry

On November 23, 1876, William Marcy "Boss" Tweed, leader of New York City’s corrupt Tammany Hall political organization during the 1860s and early 1870s, is extradited back to the U.S. after his capture in Spain. 

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