Tupac Shakur
On September 13, 1996, rapper Tupac Shakur died from gunshot wounds suffered in a Las Vegas drive-by shooting. More than a decade after his death Tupac Shakur remains one of the most recognizable faces and voices in music. A steady stream of posthumous album releases has kept his name near the top of sales rankings. But unlike other rappers with whom his story is intertwined, Shakur’s stature has grown with each passing year since his still-unsolved murder.
Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz
On September 12, 2002, three former executives from Tyco International, including the CEO and CFO, are indicted in New York on charges that they stole hundreds of millions of dollars from the company. Two of the men, CEO Dennis Kozlowski and CFO Mark Swartz, were later convicted and given lengthy prison sentences. The case became symbolic of the era's corporate corruption and greed.
Roscoe "fatty" Arbuckle
On September 11, 1921, Fatty Arbuckle, a silent-film era performer at the height of his fame, is arrested in San Francisco for the rape and murder of aspiring actress Virginia Rappe. Arbuckle was later acquitted by a jury, but the scandal essentially ended his film career.
Mugshots of Charlene Williams and Gerald Gallego
On September 10, 1977, Charlene Williams meets Gerald Gallego at a poker club in Sacramento, California, resulting in one of the most infamous serial killing teams in American history. Before they were finally caught, the Gallegos killed and sexually assaulted at least 10 people over a two-year period.
On September 9, 1971, prisoners riot and seize control of the maximum-security Attica Correctional Facility near Buffalo, New York. Later that day, state police retook most of the prison, but 1,281 convicts occupied an exercise field called D Yard, where they held 39 prison guards and employees hostage for four days. After negotiations stalled, state police and prison officers launched a disastrous raid on September 13th, in which 10 hostages and 29 inmates were killed in an indiscriminate hail of gunfire. Eighty-nine others were seriously injured.
On September 7, 1911, French poet Guillaume Apollinaire is arrested and jailed on suspicion of stealing Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa from the Louvre in Paris. The 31-year-old poet was known for his radical views and support for extreme avant-garde art movements, but his origins were shrouded in mystery.
South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd
On September 6, 1966, South African Prime Minister is assassinated during a parliamentary meeting in Cape Town. The assailant, Demetrio Tsafendas, was a Mozambique immigrant of mixed racial descent--part Greek and part Swazi. As minister of native affairs and later as South African leader, Verwoerd oversaw the introduction and application of South Africa's racist apartheid policies.
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
