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Every 29 00:01:27.840 --> 00:01:31.480 week another fascinating author talking about the most shocking and 30 00:01:31.640 --> 00:01:36.120 infamous killers in true crime history. True Murder with your host, 31 00:01:36.519 --> 00:01:39.040 journalist and author Dan Zufanski. 32 00:01:48.760 --> 00:01:52.719 Good evening. Nineteen twenty six was the year that Americans 33 00:01:52.799 --> 00:01:55.480 all over the country said screw it, and screw it 34 00:01:55.560 --> 00:01:59.239 they did. Mixing too much bootleg booze, marijuana, cocaine, and 35 00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:02.680 heroin with fast car sex and jazz music can only 36 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:07.040 lead to trouble. The number of allegedly normal people senselessly 37 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:11.680 committing ghastly murders in nineteen twenty six is astounding. Is 38 00:02:11.719 --> 00:02:14.080 like a switch got turned on and some people went mad, 39 00:02:14.199 --> 00:02:17.639 unlike any other time in American history. The book they 40 00:02:17.639 --> 00:02:21.599 were featuring this evening is nineteen twenty six Homicide in 41 00:02:21.719 --> 00:02:25.560 America with my special guest, journalist and author David Colchick. 42 00:02:25.960 --> 00:02:28.560 Welcome to the Welcome to the program, and thank you 43 00:02:28.680 --> 00:02:34.560 very much for agreeing to this interview. Again, David Colcheck, Hey, It's. 44 00:02:34.439 --> 00:02:37.039 Always great being on this show, and I'd like to 45 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:39.800 thank you and your listeners for liking me. 46 00:02:41.159 --> 00:02:44.000 Thank you very much for joining us once again. For 47 00:02:44.199 --> 00:02:48.520 your latest book. Let me ask this. What was the 48 00:02:48.919 --> 00:02:53.719 impetus for this book, nineteen twenty six Homicide in America. 49 00:02:55.039 --> 00:02:57.879 Well, while I was writing my other five books about 50 00:02:58.039 --> 00:03:02.319 mostly about California crime, Maybay, they all were about California crime, 51 00:03:02.840 --> 00:03:06.800 I kept finding nineteen twenty things happening in nineteen twenty 52 00:03:06.840 --> 00:03:09.560 six that were just outrageous. A lot of them weren't 53 00:03:09.560 --> 00:03:11.759 happening in California, so I didn't put them in the book, 54 00:03:12.039 --> 00:03:14.159 although I have in my other books, like the terror 55 00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:18.439 Bandits of San Francisco happened in nineteen twenty six, Tan't 56 00:03:18.520 --> 00:03:21.680 Go and Hall happened in nineteen twenty six. There were 57 00:03:21.719 --> 00:03:25.240 two murderers that cop killers that escaped from San Quentin 58 00:03:25.639 --> 00:03:29.400 were on the run for a long time. It's pretty crazy. 59 00:03:29.560 --> 00:03:32.639 Happened all through the middle of California. So I'm finding 60 00:03:32.759 --> 00:03:35.000 all these odd things, and I started a file, and 61 00:03:35.080 --> 00:03:37.759 I started putting away, you know, the news clippings of 62 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:42.360 what these crimes that happened, and came up to it, 63 00:03:42.439 --> 00:03:44.400 and I had decided I had enough that I could 64 00:03:44.840 --> 00:03:48.520 write a book about it. The weird thing about what 65 00:03:48.879 --> 00:03:53.280 happened there is that people they were fooled by World 66 00:03:53.319 --> 00:03:56.719 War One. You know, God in country. Everybody went out 67 00:03:56.759 --> 00:03:58.960 there and everybody, you know, so many people got killed, 68 00:03:59.240 --> 00:04:04.439 but so many people people were injured, severely injured. There 69 00:04:04.479 --> 00:04:07.159 were laws in some towns that if you were missing 70 00:04:07.199 --> 00:04:10.080 a leg or an arm, you had to you couldn't 71 00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:13.520 be out in certain like the business district during the daytime. 72 00:04:14.360 --> 00:04:16.759 And it just you know, people were just you know 73 00:04:17.160 --> 00:04:20.439 a lot of people had damage to their lungs. And 74 00:04:20.839 --> 00:04:23.279 you know, a lot of the soldiers during World War 75 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:25.959 One it took them ten years to die. You know, 76 00:04:26.040 --> 00:04:28.480 same thing in World War Two. My father had a 77 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:32.639 cousin who died in like nineteen fifty three from the 78 00:04:32.759 --> 00:04:35.120 effects of what happened to them in World War two. 79 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:38.240 And so after a war like that, and then they 80 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:42.680 had a Spanish flu pandemic, so everyone knew somebody who 81 00:04:42.839 --> 00:04:48.759 died the pandemic flu. The Spanish flu killed young people 82 00:04:48.879 --> 00:04:53.720 and healthy people, kind of left older and sick people alone. 83 00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:56.319 But you would get it and you'd be dead. You'd 84 00:04:56.399 --> 00:04:59.680 be dead. In forty eight hours, you'd just start coughing. 85 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:04.920 Blood just splattered. So everyone knew my wife's my wife's grandmother, 86 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:08.920 her her parents actually would be her great grandparents died 87 00:05:09.079 --> 00:05:13.720 in the epidemic, and her grandmother was an orphan. You know, 88 00:05:13.879 --> 00:05:16.759 it's like everyone knew somebod who died. People were just 89 00:05:16.879 --> 00:05:19.040 going like, you know, what's what's the point? You know, 90 00:05:19.319 --> 00:05:22.399 what's the point of everything? You know, when they saw death, 91 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:24.839 you know what else could scare them? What else could 92 00:05:24.920 --> 00:05:28.040 bother them? And aroun At the same time, we had 93 00:05:28.120 --> 00:05:32.680 probation here in America where they outlawed alcohol, which brought 94 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:35.399 everything underground and made it on to a big party. 95 00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:39.360 We had the rise of jazz music, which was something 96 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:43.160 that you know, people never hurt anything like it. I've 97 00:05:43.240 --> 00:05:46.879 been reading some other stories about my friend Bill Berg 98 00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:49.839 here in Sacramento this story, and he's writing about a 99 00:05:50.040 --> 00:05:53.360 section of Sacramento that was torn down d' an urban 100 00:05:53.439 --> 00:05:56.839 renewal to put the throughway through. And you know, jazz 101 00:05:56.959 --> 00:06:00.399 music hit Sacramento like crazy at all happened in the 102 00:06:00.519 --> 00:06:05.000 early twenties and and people never heard things like that. So, 103 00:06:05.319 --> 00:06:08.199 you know, then we also had women had the right 104 00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:11.720 to develop and both my grandmothers were able to vote 105 00:06:11.720 --> 00:06:15.759 in the very first election because of that. But you know, 106 00:06:15.879 --> 00:06:19.120 women started saying, you know, hey, I don't need these 107 00:06:19.319 --> 00:06:22.800 Victorian rules, and you know, they got rid of the 108 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:28.000 corsets and started relaxing a bit, showing some leg smoking cigarettes, 109 00:06:28.079 --> 00:06:31.600 going out unescorted, you know, moving out by themselves. There's 110 00:06:31.600 --> 00:06:35.079 a lot of things happened, caused a lot of friction 111 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:38.920 among families and things, you know, And at the same 112 00:06:38.959 --> 00:06:41.600 time too, a lot of things are being modernized. For 113 00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:45.519 some people that had you know, guaranteed job like a 114 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:51.319 blacksmith or something, or the quintisential buggy whip maker, completely 115 00:06:51.759 --> 00:06:55.399 lost their occupations. It just disappeared, you know, kind of 116 00:06:55.439 --> 00:06:59.480 like a kind of like a little type of writer 117 00:06:59.680 --> 00:07:02.639 or some and you know, so all these changes were happening, 118 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:05.600 and at the same time, this is what I think 119 00:07:06.120 --> 00:07:10.639 caused the whole thing. It was the first modern epiphany 120 00:07:11.199 --> 00:07:16.160 is that in nineteen twenty six or NBC, the National 121 00:07:16.399 --> 00:07:23.839 Broadcasting Corporation, had simultaneously been able to broadcast coast to 122 00:07:23.959 --> 00:07:28.879 coast a show all at the same time, so everyone 123 00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:33.000 in the country was hearing the same thing. First time 124 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:36.800 in history. Everyone was listening to the same thing, and 125 00:07:37.480 --> 00:07:40.399 it's kind of like, you know, the moonshot that just 126 00:07:40.519 --> 00:07:43.079 happened the fifty eight or anniversary, you know, and everyone 127 00:07:43.240 --> 00:07:45.720 was like, wow, you know, the look at that the 128 00:07:45.800 --> 00:07:52.199 same thing kind of happened, except they weren't is articulate 129 00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:54.319 about it. You know, there was still a lot of 130 00:07:54.800 --> 00:07:57.680 not much modern thinking. People were really second on out 131 00:07:57.720 --> 00:08:01.120 old world waste, so they didn't realize what was actually 132 00:08:01.240 --> 00:08:07.160 really happening. So all these things combined, you know, along 133 00:08:07.240 --> 00:08:09.959 with fast cars. You know, cars were all of a sudden, 134 00:08:10.040 --> 00:08:15.680 they were pretty affordable. The economy in the cities were booming. 135 00:08:17.279 --> 00:08:22.240 Almost every almost every city in the United States. Their 136 00:08:22.279 --> 00:08:25.439 original downtown was built during the nineteen twenties the mid 137 00:08:25.560 --> 00:08:29.319 nineteen twenties. Almost all of San Francisco, of the downtown 138 00:08:29.839 --> 00:08:32.639 of the old buildings, was built during that time. So 139 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:35.840 it was very prosperous. People had money. They had, you know, 140 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:38.759 money to drink, they had money to buy cars, They 141 00:08:38.799 --> 00:08:43.120 had money to go out and have a long drinken 142 00:08:44.679 --> 00:08:45.720 drug filled weekends. 143 00:08:47.480 --> 00:08:50.600 But as you write, but as you write, this is 144 00:08:50.840 --> 00:08:54.000 a time that unlike any other time in American history. 145 00:08:54.159 --> 00:08:57.759 I mean, you talked about all the conditions that were 146 00:08:58.360 --> 00:09:02.039 ripe for this to happen. But despite that, this is 147 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:06.480 an unusual time regardless this nineteen twenty six, Let's talk 148 00:09:06.519 --> 00:09:09.679 about one of the first stories that you that really, 149 00:09:10.840 --> 00:09:12.600 I guess jumps out of you at this book. This 150 00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:15.799 book the story they Urged for Overkill June twenty eighth, 151 00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:18.759 twenty eighth, nineteen twenty six, and it goes to May 152 00:09:18.840 --> 00:09:23.080 twenty sixth, nineteen twenty seven, a year and you talk 153 00:09:23.399 --> 00:09:29.879 about Eva Lina Roll and her friend. She's looking for 154 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:32.440 her friends, so she goes to the house looking for 155 00:09:32.600 --> 00:09:36.120 her tell us about what happens at the Role house 156 00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:38.679 and this friend and what she finds along with her 157 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:41.159 father that one day when they go to see her friend. 158 00:09:42.519 --> 00:09:46.159 Well, Rolled in a big house in the old part 159 00:09:46.200 --> 00:09:48.360 of Tampa. I guess it's called the Canal District. And 160 00:09:48.519 --> 00:09:52.080 Tampa at that time was a major port to Cuba 161 00:09:52.360 --> 00:09:55.759 in the Caribbean and stuff, very busy, prosperous place. There's 162 00:09:55.759 --> 00:09:58.879 about fifty thousand people there. So they had this big house, 163 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:05.240 extended family, uncles, aunts, niece's, uh, the grandmother. She was 164 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:08.519 anywhere between ninety six and one hundred and one years old. 165 00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:11.720 They all lived in this house, and in this big house, 166 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:15.679 they had a lot of you know, social things happening, 167 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:18.679 and they also rented out some rooms to border some stuff. 168 00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:23.879 So this girl, Eva or Ruby uh comes over to 169 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:26.559 Eva Roland's house. They were going to go look for 170 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:29.960 a job together, to have some interviews and Ruby's father 171 00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:32.360 was going to drive them around so that, you know, 172 00:10:32.399 --> 00:10:34.320 it could be a lot nicer. She goes to the 173 00:10:34.440 --> 00:10:36.720 door and there's no one there, and you know, this 174 00:10:36.840 --> 00:10:39.840 house is pretty much away twenty four seven, with you know, 175 00:10:39.960 --> 00:10:42.639 the range of ages of people in the house and stuff. 176 00:10:43.080 --> 00:10:45.480 She looked through the window and saw the bloody body 177 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:49.440 laying there. So the police show up and not everybody 178 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:51.279 that lives in the house is there. You know, some 179 00:10:51.399 --> 00:10:54.000 people had some jobs out of town, some people were 180 00:10:54.039 --> 00:10:57.399 just staying over somewhere else. They find four bodies there. 181 00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:01.679 Eva was still alive, but she died in the hospital 182 00:11:01.720 --> 00:11:05.200 a couple hours later without getting consciousness. Everybody's head was 183 00:11:05.279 --> 00:11:08.320 bashed in with a railroad spike, which is like a 184 00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:11.919 hammer with a spike on the end of it. Right, 185 00:11:12.039 --> 00:11:16.399 So her forty five year old uncle Bee which is 186 00:11:16.799 --> 00:11:20.720 that great name, Uncle b and her her grandmother Caroline 187 00:11:20.759 --> 00:11:23.600 and a border who was thirty six year old Charles Anderson, 188 00:11:24.039 --> 00:11:26.960 were all just all chopped up. So the cops, you know, 189 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:30.399 they thought, oh, is this a crime thing, and they 190 00:11:30.600 --> 00:11:33.679 you know, arrested everybody that had visited him in the 191 00:11:33.799 --> 00:11:39.159 last day. And after a year it went cold. They 192 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:43.200 could not figure out who killed this whole family. And 193 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:47.919 so a year later, and this is weird, how I 194 00:11:47.960 --> 00:11:50.360 found this story is that originally I just found the 195 00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:54.480 murder story, and then later while I was really doing 196 00:11:54.559 --> 00:11:57.240 the research for this book, I was scouting through Tampa 197 00:11:57.279 --> 00:12:01.000 papers and I found the conclusion of this This is 198 00:12:01.080 --> 00:12:04.759 like one of the strangest, strangest murder cases I have 199 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:12.919 ever come across. So a year later, on me twenty six, 200 00:12:13.080 --> 00:12:16.759 nineteen twenty seven, there's like a three bedroom, three roomhouse 201 00:12:17.320 --> 00:12:20.039 and this little kid that lived their eight year old 202 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:22.600 Hugh Merrill, who woke up on the floor of his bedroom. 203 00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:24.840 He'd fallen out of bed, and he went to his 204 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:26.879 parents room and he found them dead. He ran to 205 00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:30.519 the house on the sixteen year old brother who was 206 00:12:30.600 --> 00:12:37.399 coming home from there. They killed a baby, the husband 207 00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:41.320 and wife, eleven year old, a five year old, and 208 00:12:41.399 --> 00:12:43.600 a three month old baby. They all had their heads 209 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:46.360 crushed in and so the police are going like, what 210 00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:50.399 it's going on here, you know, and turns out that 211 00:12:50.519 --> 00:12:56.399 there's this guy who was is this so strange? He 212 00:12:56.600 --> 00:12:59.840 was a heroin at His name was Benjamin Franklin Levin's 213 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:02.519 and he was hanging out with this other guy and 214 00:13:02.639 --> 00:13:06.840 they were drinking, you know, like raw alcohol and trying 215 00:13:06.840 --> 00:13:09.879 to score heroin and stuff, and they were just loud 216 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:12.440 in bars, and they went to a fortune teller and 217 00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:15.399 asked if they were going to get caught, and a 218 00:13:15.440 --> 00:13:17.639 couple of people are probably called, you know, but. 219 00:13:20.279 --> 00:13:20.799 These guys. 220 00:13:22.039 --> 00:13:24.639 The cops ended up picking these guys up. And this 221 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:28.320 eleventh guy was a fisherman and a dope beend for amusement, 222 00:13:28.720 --> 00:13:31.039 and he admitted right up that he killed that family. 223 00:13:31.480 --> 00:13:36.559 And it turned out that one of the Rolls, one 224 00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:40.399 of the royal family, lived at that house until recently 225 00:13:41.240 --> 00:13:43.639 and they had moved and a new family moved in. 226 00:13:44.200 --> 00:13:47.120 He broke into the house because he wanted to kill them, 227 00:13:47.720 --> 00:13:50.679 so hopefully he wouldn't get caught with his crime or something. 228 00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:54.519 Who knows what was going on in his brain, you know, 229 00:13:55.200 --> 00:13:59.440 this guy was very chemically dependent, so he broke in 230 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:01.320 his buddy. He told the pointed it out to him 231 00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:03.200 and said, it's well, one of those guys lived that 232 00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:06.279 was in that murder, you know, and he broke into 233 00:14:06.279 --> 00:14:10.879 their house and killed them off five people. And the 234 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:15.840 people in Tampa were various, you know, the Royal family 235 00:14:16.519 --> 00:14:21.120 were longtime residents there, and they wanted to lynch the guy, 236 00:14:21.799 --> 00:14:24.440 and they went to the jail started throwing bricks and things, 237 00:14:24.519 --> 00:14:27.399 but the police had already gotten him like three counties 238 00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:30.679 away into another jail, just because they knew this was 239 00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:33.720 going to happen. So that three thousand people, like for 240 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:38.320 three nights in a row, kept on barricading the jail 241 00:14:38.440 --> 00:14:41.559 throwing bricks. A group of them actually had a big 242 00:14:41.919 --> 00:14:44.879 timber of bean and they bashed a hole in the 243 00:14:44.960 --> 00:14:48.000 side of the jail and they were met with shotgun 244 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:52.080 pellets and all arrested. So the National guardgets called in 245 00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:57.000 and they set up and stuff with machine guns, and 246 00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:01.080 somebody in the crowd. No one knows, it's the way 247 00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:03.279 it always happens, you know, No one knows who shot 248 00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:06.399 first or what happened. But they ended up opening fire 249 00:15:06.519 --> 00:15:09.559 and they killed five more people that were just there. Yeah, 250 00:15:10.440 --> 00:15:13.240 and one person was just like walking by had nothing 251 00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:15.399 to do with what was going on. This guy hit 252 00:15:15.440 --> 00:15:18.440 with some bullets, so they ended up getting you know, 253 00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:21.960 they they let the leaders go into the jail to 254 00:15:22.039 --> 00:15:23.919 see that the guy wasn't there, you know, just to 255 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:28.039 cool everything off because it was going crazy. So yeah, 256 00:15:28.120 --> 00:15:31.600 they took him the trial and he was like, oh, 257 00:15:32.360 --> 00:15:34.720 they beat the confession out of me and stuff, and 258 00:15:35.879 --> 00:15:40.039 he was like found guilty, like right away, is just 259 00:15:40.720 --> 00:15:43.559 because of this one guy. It turns out that the 260 00:15:43.639 --> 00:15:47.960 reason why he killed in the house in nineteen twenty 261 00:15:48.039 --> 00:15:51.120 six is that he went to see the border the 262 00:15:51.240 --> 00:15:55.039 person who was just renting a room from them, Charles Anderson. 263 00:15:55.399 --> 00:15:59.919 They went to discuss with him about some female jail 264 00:16:00.399 --> 00:16:02.879 problem and he ended up smashing him in the hat 265 00:16:03.320 --> 00:16:05.440 and he realized that he would be caught, so he 266 00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:08.559 just kept quiet until everybody went to bed in the 267 00:16:08.679 --> 00:16:13.519 house and there were actually like visitors visiting the teenagers 268 00:16:13.559 --> 00:16:17.879 and then there was like a card party happening in 269 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:23.639 the kitchen with Uncle B and he killed them. 270 00:16:23.879 --> 00:16:28.279 Step into the world of power, loyalty and luck. 271 00:16:28.519 --> 00:16:30.919 I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse. 272 00:16:31.039 --> 00:16:35.039 With family Cannoli's and spins mean everything. 273 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:37.799 Now you want to get mixed up in the family business, 274 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:41.879 introducing the Godfather at Champa Casino dot com. 275 00:16:42.480 --> 00:16:45.919 Test your luck in the shadowy world at the Godfather Sludge. 276 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:48.320 Some day I will call upon you to do a 277 00:16:48.440 --> 00:16:49.080 service for me. 278 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:51.960 Played the Godfather now at Champacasino dot com. 279 00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:55.159 Welcome to the Family vdW group. No purchase necessary. 280 00:16:55.159 --> 00:16:56.879 If we were bravited by loss, he terms and conditions 281 00:16:56.919 --> 00:16:57.639 eighteen less. 282 00:16:57.440 --> 00:16:59.919 For my reason. Then he killed the other people because 283 00:17:00.039 --> 00:17:02.559 he thought that was a relative of them. So because 284 00:17:02.600 --> 00:17:11.200 of this one guy, fourteen people died. You write about protesters. 285 00:17:11.640 --> 00:17:15.680 Yeah, you talk about the interesting trial of his cohort Thompson. 286 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:19.200 Would you write that when they drank this ethanol, it 287 00:17:19.519 --> 00:17:24.240 looked like this Thompson passed out and he did. He 288 00:17:24.359 --> 00:17:27.559 did the carnage himself. Richard did the carnage himself. Now, 289 00:17:27.720 --> 00:17:30.160 he was supposed to testify because he admitted to killing 290 00:17:30.359 --> 00:17:36.319 in Orlando Benjamin Franklin Levin's admitted to it. What does 291 00:17:36.359 --> 00:17:39.880 he do at the trial of Leonard Thompson's when Thompson 292 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:42.640 is facing what the death penalty? Tell us what happens? 293 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:47.480 Yeah, they brought in Levin and he told the court 294 00:17:47.559 --> 00:17:50.440 that he had committed the murders alone, and Thompson had 295 00:17:50.599 --> 00:17:53.240 nothing to do with the crimes, and they had no 296 00:17:53.359 --> 00:17:56.440 alternative but to release him. They discharged the guy and 297 00:17:57.200 --> 00:17:59.759 he went on with his wife. He's probably pretty lucky guy. 298 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:03.039 You know, he didn't commit the crimes, so I could see. 299 00:18:03.720 --> 00:18:11.559 But it's actually almost commendable for person like Levin's to 300 00:18:11.720 --> 00:18:13.519 actually save one person's life. 301 00:18:14.680 --> 00:18:16.799 Yeah, but it's something automoly. 302 00:18:16.920 --> 00:18:20.559 Oh yeah, oh, after the murder. I didn't even include this. 303 00:18:20.680 --> 00:18:23.920 This is like really important. After the murder, the first murders, 304 00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:26.599 Levins went and signed up on a fishing boat and 305 00:18:26.799 --> 00:18:29.680 was like in the golf of Mexico for a whole year. 306 00:18:30.440 --> 00:18:33.039 That's why he was gone. He just signed up right 307 00:18:33.079 --> 00:18:35.640 away and you know, left town, and you know when 308 00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:38.200 you went to look for him, I mean, he finally 309 00:18:38.240 --> 00:18:41.279 came back and he opened his mouth. That's one of 310 00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:44.400 the craziest I can't really think of anything as crazy 311 00:18:44.440 --> 00:18:45.039 as that crime. 312 00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:49.319 I've got some more in the book here. Let's talk 313 00:18:49.359 --> 00:18:53.960 about let's talk about panic in Cicero, Cicero, Illinois and 314 00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:58.519 July eleventh, nineteen twenty six, and maybe can help me 315 00:18:58.559 --> 00:19:03.519 out with the pronunciation James Christius, and yeah, he was 316 00:19:03.559 --> 00:19:07.400 angry and wanted revenge. Tell us about James Christius. Why 317 00:19:07.480 --> 00:19:08.960 he was angry and wanted revenge? 318 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:15.119 Well, James Christmas was this guy who was working in 319 00:19:15.240 --> 00:19:21.359 a manufacturing plant in Chicago, and the owner's son told 320 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:26.480 him to use this one late that everyone knew was unsafe, 321 00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:30.039 and so he pertest that he did it anyways, and 322 00:19:30.119 --> 00:19:38.559 he lost his finger. It's like I'm training, I have 323 00:19:38.680 --> 00:19:39.920 everything marked in my bood. 324 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:42.880 But of course that well, I could tell you he 325 00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:46.160 lost his left thumb in the industrial accident at work. 326 00:19:46.799 --> 00:19:47.200 And then the. 327 00:19:47.240 --> 00:19:51.720 Owner's son, Saul Schwartz, had, like you say, he had 328 00:19:51.880 --> 00:19:54.920 insisted did he operate this late? And then after that, 329 00:19:56.039 --> 00:19:59.240 you say, he wasn't compensated for his injury whatsoever? And 330 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:02.839 then with his lump thumb missing and his hand bandaged, 331 00:20:02.920 --> 00:20:04.880 what was his fate in terms of trying to find 332 00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.880 work and what was his uh inevitable fate as a result. 333 00:20:10.039 --> 00:20:15.039 Yeah, he he wasn't even compensated. He was fired for 334 00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:20.000 losing his thumb, and uh so he uh just ended 335 00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:23.759 up becoming homeless, sleeping in parks and freebag motels. And 336 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:27.960 he met this guy named Thomas mcwing. Now he said 337 00:20:28.039 --> 00:20:32.400 later in his trial that he wanted to rob to 338 00:20:32.519 --> 00:20:35.480 get money to get a good attorney so he could 339 00:20:35.559 --> 00:20:39.480 see his former boss. But you know, these these guys 340 00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:42.319 were both drug addicts too. You know, a lot of 341 00:20:42.319 --> 00:20:44.319 people don't think about it, but you know, there was 342 00:20:45.640 --> 00:20:48.799 a lot of people were doing heroin and speed and 343 00:20:48.920 --> 00:20:53.119 cocaine and crazy stuff like that, and so these guys 344 00:20:53.160 --> 00:20:56.440 that's kind of all they did. They he sent away, 345 00:20:56.559 --> 00:20:59.400 so he met this Thomas mcwing guy, who was not 346 00:20:59.559 --> 00:21:06.200 much better than crisis. They ordered a mail ordered gun. 347 00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:08.880 They got it like in a week, and they went 348 00:21:08.920 --> 00:21:11.319 out and robbed some people, like I'm almost right away. 349 00:21:11.640 --> 00:21:14.359 They got ruby wing and twenty eight bucks, which wasn't 350 00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:17.359 that bad of a score. The next day, just before midnight, 351 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:22.000 the flag down a cab and this guy named Legwig 352 00:21:22.200 --> 00:21:26.240 Rose was the driver, and they wouldn't really give him 353 00:21:26.279 --> 00:21:30.400 an address to go to. When he finally said, hey, 354 00:21:30.440 --> 00:21:32.440 you know, I got to know where I'm going, poked 355 00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:34.640 a gun in the back of his head and then stopped. 356 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:39.119 They took his uniform, tied him up with snow tire 357 00:21:39.240 --> 00:21:41.599 chains and stuff, and took his cash box and the 358 00:21:41.720 --> 00:21:44.720 weird thing is like the Terror band it's in San 359 00:21:44.759 --> 00:21:47.880 Francisco did the same thing where they got a cab 360 00:21:48.039 --> 00:21:51.400 driver and they got us clothes and stuff and then 361 00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:54.400 they shot and killed him. So I guess it's always 362 00:21:54.440 --> 00:21:57.200 been bad, hard time to be a cab driver. So 363 00:21:57.319 --> 00:21:59.839 these guys started driving around looking for somebody to wrap. 364 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:04.400 Just after midnight, they saw nineteen year old Mary Blaine 365 00:22:04.720 --> 00:22:07.920 who worked in the offices of Cracker Jacks, and she 366 00:22:08.119 --> 00:22:11.400 was with her her kind of suitor, Frederick Hyne, who 367 00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:17.400 was like the church seeing church, Sunday school and stuff 368 00:22:17.480 --> 00:22:20.440 like that. And they belonged the Saint Church in Cicero, 369 00:22:21.240 --> 00:22:27.599 Cicero right cro that's where El Capone had his headquarters too. 370 00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:32.359 It was completely bought by the mobsters and things. So 371 00:22:33.680 --> 00:22:35.960 they're sitting in front of her house. They just got 372 00:22:36.039 --> 00:22:38.400 back from like a church service or something. They were 373 00:22:38.440 --> 00:22:43.039 doing something at their church and mcwayne and Christmas pulls 374 00:22:43.119 --> 00:22:46.720 up and they jump out wanted money and they hin 375 00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:50.400 had the collection money from their evening meeting, and they 376 00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:53.839 shot him in the had this boom and then they 377 00:22:53.920 --> 00:22:56.960 shot Marie, which was like dead right in the head, 378 00:22:57.079 --> 00:22:59.839 both of them, just headshots. They took the money jump 379 00:22:59.880 --> 00:23:03.319 out in the cab and rode off, and Rose was 380 00:23:03.359 --> 00:23:05.880 still tied up. The candy was still in the back 381 00:23:05.960 --> 00:23:08.759 seat and he heard all this. They started driving fast, 382 00:23:08.839 --> 00:23:12.039 and he kicked the door open somehow and managed to 383 00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:15.720 fall out of the cab. So the bandits stopped and 384 00:23:15.799 --> 00:23:18.039 they just got out and shot him dead right there, 385 00:23:18.160 --> 00:23:20.759 so that there was three people dead in this little 386 00:23:21.039 --> 00:23:24.960 little problems. They ended up wrecking their car and uh 387 00:23:25.680 --> 00:23:29.839 and uh mcween got caught in his pin and the 388 00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:34.000 cops took him to the jail, to Cook County Jail, 389 00:23:34.079 --> 00:23:36.640 and on the way they stopped at the Morgue where 390 00:23:37.720 --> 00:23:42.119 where Marie was just dropped off on this lab you know, 391 00:23:42.200 --> 00:23:44.640 in a big hole in her forehead, and the guy 392 00:23:44.759 --> 00:23:48.119 totally just cracked, just cracked and said everything he knew 393 00:23:48.279 --> 00:23:51.720 and but you know, he only knew crisis as Eddie 394 00:23:52.440 --> 00:23:55.640 and uh, you know he didn't know he went us 395 00:23:55.720 --> 00:24:00.480 for another name too. Uh. So everyone's looking for the craze, 396 00:24:00.519 --> 00:24:02.920 this guy, and it turns out he was hiding on 397 00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:06.039 a roof of this apartment building. It's still there too. 398 00:24:06.119 --> 00:24:10.000 The whole neighborhood is really attacked. It's it's actually quite fascinating, 399 00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:12.880 and he hung out out of the roof next to 400 00:24:12.960 --> 00:24:16.200 like the you know, gable thing or something, and he 401 00:24:16.599 --> 00:24:18.839