On October 1, 1946, twelve high-ranking Nazis are sentenced to death by the International War Crimes Tribunal in Nuremberg. Among those condemned to death by hanging were Joachim von Ribbentrop, Nazi minister of foreign affairs; Hermann Goering, founder of the Gestapo and chief of the German air force; and Wilhelm Frick, minister of the interior.
Jack the Ripper
On the early morning hours of September 30, 1888, serial killer Jack the Ripper claimed two victims in one night, Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes. Jack the Ripper is the name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the Whitechapel district of London in 1888.
Assassination of Pompey
On September 28, 48 B.C., Roman general and politician Pompey is murdered on the orders of King Ptolemy of Egypt. During his long career, Pompey displayed exceptional military talents on the battlefield. He fought in Africa and Spain, quelled the slave revolt of Spartacus, cleared the Mediterranean of pirates, and conquered Armenia, Syria, and Palestine. Appointed to organize the newly won Roman territories in the East, he proved a brilliant administrator. In 60 B.C., he joined with his rivals Julius Caesar and Marcus Crassus to form the First Triumvirate, and together the trio ruled Rome for seven years.
Wild Bill Hickok
On the early morning hours of September 27, 1869, then lawman Wild Bill Hickok (and future gunslinger) responded to a report of men brawling at a saloon in Hays, Kansas. A local ruffian named Samuel Strawhun and several friends were tearing up John Bitter's Beer Saloon when Hickok arrived and ordered the men to stop, Strawhun turned to attack him, and Hickok shot him killing him instantly.
Phil Spector trial
On September 26, 2007, Music producer Phil Spector's first trial for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson ends in a mistrial. On February 3, 2003, police responded to a 911 call and found the 40-year-old Clarkson dead of a gunshot wound in the foyer of Spector's mansion in Alahambra, California.
Anthony Carfano
On September 25, 1959, mobster Anthony Carfano, known as Little Augie Pisano is shot to death in Queens, New York City on the orders of Meyer Lansky. Carfano was a Captain of the Luciano Organized Crime Family. His was murdered because he refused to meet with Vito Genovese after Genovese took control of the Family in 1957. He was shot to death in his car on a street in Queens, New York, along with Janice Drake, a former Miss New Jersey and wife of comedian Alan Drake.
On September 24, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson receives the Warren Commission’s report on the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Since the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald’s motive for assassinating the president remained unknown. Seven days after the assassination, Johnson appointed the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy to investigate the event. The commission was led by Chief Justice Earl Warren and became known as the Warren Commission. It concluded that Oswald had acted alone and that the Secret Service had made poor preparations for JFK's visit to Dallas and had failed to sufficiently protect him.
On the night of November 29, 1988, near the impoverished Marlborough neighborhood in south Kansas City, an explosion at a construction site killed six of the city’s firefighters. It was a clear case of arson, and five people from Marlborough were duly convicted of the crime. But for veteran crime writer and crusading editor J. Patrick O’Connor, the facts—or a lack of them—didn’t add up. Justice on Fire is OConnor’s detailed account of the terrible explosion that led to the firefighters’ deaths and the terrible injustice that followed. Also available from Amazon
