On March 29, 1971, Lt. William L. Calley is found guilty of premeditated murder by a U.S. Army court-martial at Fort Benning, Georgia. Calley, a platoon leader, had led his men in a massacre of 200 Vietnamese civilians at My Lai, including women and children on March 16, 1968. My Lai 4, was a cluster of hamlets in Quang Ngai Province of Vietnam. The unit had been conducting a search-and-destroy mission to locate local Viet Cong forces. The unit entered Son My village but found only women, children, and elderly. Frustrated by recent casualties, the U.S. soldiers took out their anger on the villagers, indiscriminately shooting people as they ran from their huts. The soldiers rounded up the survivors and led them to a nearby ditch where they were shot. During the trial, Chief Army prosecutor Capt. Aubrey Daniel charged that Calley ordered Sgt. Daniel Mitchell to “finish off the rest” of the villagers. The prosecution stressed that all the killings were committed despite the fact that Calley’s platoon had met no resistance and that he and his men had not been fired upon. Initially, the massacre was covered up but came to light one year later. An Army board of inquiry, headed by Lt. Gen. William Peers, investigated the massacre and produced a list of 30 people who knew of the atrocity, but only 14 were charged with crimes. All eventually had their charges dismissed or were acquitted with the exception of Calley, who was found guilty of personally murdering 22, and sentenced to life imprisonment. His sentence was reduced to 20 years by the Court of Military Appeals and further reduced later to 10 years by the Secretary of the Army. Proclaimed by much of the public as a “scapegoat,” Calley was paroled in 1974 after having served about a third of his 10-year sentence.

Michael Thomas Barry is a columnist for www.crimemagazine.com and is the author of numerous books that include the award winning, Murder and Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California, 1849-1949 (2012, Schiffer Publishing). The WINNER of the 2012 International Book Awards and a FINALIST in the 2012 Indie Excellence Book Awards for True Crime.

On March 28, 1814, the funeral of Joseph Ignance Guillotin, the namesake but not the inventor of the infamous execution device, takes place outside of Paris, France. Guillotin, a member of the General Assembly had what he felt were the purest motives for proposing the use of the device. The machine was intended to show the intellectual and social progress of the French Revolution; by killing aristocrats and journeymen the same way, equality in death was ensured. The first use of the guillotine was on April 25 1792, when Nicolas Pelletier was put to death for armed robbery and assault in Place de Greve. The newspapers reported that guillotine was not an immediate sensation. The crowds seemed to miss the gallows at first. However, it quickly caught on with the public and many thought it brought dignity back to the executioner. However, the prestige of the guillotine fell precipitously due to its frequent use in the French Terror following the Revolution. It became the focal point of the awful political executions and was so closely identified with the terrible abuses of the time that it was perceived as partially responsible for the excesses itself. The association with the guillotine so embarrassed Dr. Guillotin’s family that they petitioned the French government to rename it; when the government refused, they instead changed their own family name. By coincidence, a person named Guillotin was indeed executed by the guillotine, he was J.M.V. Guillotin, a doctor of Lyons. This coincidence may have contributed to erroneous statements that Guillotin was put to death on the machine that bears his name; however, in reality, Guillotin died in Paris on March 26, 1815 of natural causes, and was buried at Pere Lachaise Cemetery. Still, it was used sporadically in France into the 20th century.

Michael Thomas Barry is a columnist for www.crimemagazine.com and is the author of numerous books that include the award winning, Murder & Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California, 1849-1949 (2012, Schiffer Publishing). The WINNER of the 2012 International Book Awards and a FINALIST in the 2012 Indie Excellence Book Awards for True Crime.

On March 27, 1977, two 747 jumbo jets crash into each other on the runway at an airport in the Canary Islands, killing 582 passengers and crew members. Both Boeing 747s were charter jets that were not supposed to be at the Los Rodeos Airport on Santa Cruz de Tenerife that day. Both had been scheduled to be at the Las Palmas Airport, where a group of militants had set off a small bomb at the airport’s flower shop earlier that day. Thus, a Pan Am charter carrying passengers from Los Angeles and New York to a Mediterranean cruise and a KLM charter with Dutch tourists were both diverted to Santa Cruz. The Los Rodeos airport is known for its sudden fog problems and was not a favorite location for pilots. At 4:40 p.m. on a typically foggy afternoon, the KLM jet was cleared to taxi to the end of the single main runway. The Pan Am jet followed behind it and was to wait in side space while the KLM jet turned around to begin takeoff. However, in the fog, the Pan Am pilot was unable to keep the KLM jet in sight and did not move into the proper position. The Dutch crew of the KLM jet, apparently unable to understand the accented English spoken by the flight controllers, began to take off down the runway before the Pan Am jet was able to move to the side space. At the last minute, the Pan Am pilot saw the other 747 coming straight at his own jet and screamed “What’s he doing? He’ll kill us all,” while attempting to swerve into a grassy field. It was too late, the KLM 747 slammed into the side of the Pan Am jet and both planes erupted into a huge fireball. The only survivors on either plane were those in the very front of the Pan Am 747. 114 victims on the Pan Am flight were from Leisure World in Laguna Hills, California and were buried in a mass grave at Westminster Memorial Park in Westminster, California.

Michael Thomas Barry is the author of numerous books that includes Final Resting Places Orange County’s Dead & Famous.

On March 27, 1905, neighbors discover the badly bludgeoned bodies of Thomas and Ann Farrow in their South London shop. Thomas was already dead, but Ann was still breathing, but died four days later without regaining consciousness. The brutal crime was solved using the newly developed fingerprinting technique. Only three years earlier, the first English court had admitted fingerprint evidence in a petty theft case. The Farrow case was the first time that the cutting-edge technology was used in a high-profile murder case in Britain.  Since the cash box in which the Farrow’s stored their cash receipts was empty, it was clear to Scotland Yard investigators that robbery was the motive for the crime. One print on the box did not match the victims or any of the criminal prints that Scotland Yard possessed. Fortunately, a local milkman reported seeing two young men in the vicinity of the Farrow house on the day of the murders. They were identified as brothers Alfred and Albert Stratton, and a week later, authorities caught up with them and fingerprinted them. Alfred’s right thumb was a perfect match for the print on the Farrow’s cash box. The fingerprint evidence became the prosecutions only solid evidence when the eye witness was no able to positively identify the Stratton’s. The defense used expert Dr. John Garson to attack the reliability of the fingerprint evidence, but the prosecution countered with evidence that Garson had written to both the defense and prosecution on the same day offering his services to both. The Stratton brothers, obviously not helped by the discrediting of Garson, were convicted of the murders and hanged on May 23, 1905. Since then, fingerprint evidence has become commonplace in criminal trials and the lack of it, is often used by defense attorneys.

Michael Thomas Barry is a columnist for www.crimemagazine.com and is the author of numerous books that include Murder and Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California, 1849-1949.

On March 26, 1997, police enter a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, an exclusive suburb of San Diego, California, and discover 39 victims of a mass suicide. The deceased were all found lying peaceably in matching dark clothes and Nike sneakers and had no noticeable signs of trauma. It was later revealed that the men and women were members of the “Heaven’s Gate” religious cult, whose leaders preached that suicide would allow them to leave their bodies and enter an alien spacecraft hidden behind the Hale-Bopp comet.

The cult was led by Marshall Applewhite, a music professor who, after surviving a near-death experience in 1972, was recruited into the cult by one of his nurses, Bonnie Lu Nettles. In 1975, Applewhite and Nettles persuaded a group of 20 people from Oregon to abandon their families and possessions and move to eastern Colorado, where they promised that an extraterrestrial spacecraft would take them to heaven. Nettles, who called herself “Ti,” and Applewhite, who took the name of “Do,” explained that human bodies were merely containers that could be abandoned in favor of a higher physical existence. As the spacecraft never arrived, membership in Heaven’s Gate diminished, and in 1985 Bonnie Lu Nettles, died. During the early 1990s, the cult resurfaced as Applewhite began recruiting new members. Soon after the 1995 discovery of the comet Hale-Bopp, the Heaven’s Gate members became convinced that an alien spacecraft was on its way to earth, hidden from human detection behind the comet. In October 1996, Applewhite rented a large home in Rancho Santa Fe, explaining to the owner that his group was made up of Christian-based angels. Applewhite advocated sexual abstinence, and several male cult members followed his example by undergoing castration operations. In 1997, as part of its 4,000-year orbit of the sun, the comet Hale-Bopp passed near Earth in one of the most impressive astronomical events of the 20th century. In late March 1997, as Hale-Bopp reached its closest distance to Earth, Applewhite and 38 of his followers drank a lethal mixture of phenobarbital and vodka and then lay down to die, hoping to leave their bodily containers, enter the alien spacecraft, and pass through Heaven’s Gate into a higher existence.

Michael Thomas Barry is a columnist for www.crimemagazine.com and is the author of numerous books that include the award winning, Murder and Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California, 1849-1949 (2012, Schiffer Publishing). The WINNER of the 2012 International Book Awards and a FINALIST in the 2012 Indie Excellence Book Awards for True Crime.

On March 25, 1932, the United States Supreme Court hands down its decision in the case of Powell v. Alabama. The case arose out of the infamous Scottsboro case. Nine young black men were arrested and accused of raping two white women on train in Alabama in March 1931. The boys were fortunate to barely escape a lynch mob sent to kill them, but were railroaded into convictions and death sentences. The Supreme Court overturned the convictions on the basis that they did not have effective representation. Victoria Price and Ruby Bates, the alleged victims, were not the virtuous women that the white establishment in Alabama had tried to portray. In fact, both were prostitutes who had invented the charges out of thin air. Bates eventually recanted her testimony. The accused boys were not given lawyers until the morning of the trial and these attorneys made almost no effort to defend their clients. On the same day that the case began, the defendants were convicted and received death sentences. The blatant unfairness of the case attracted the attention of liberals across the country. The transcript of the trial left the Supreme Court with no other choice but to throw out the convictions. Still, Alabama insisted on retrying the defendants. This time, Samuel Liebowitz, one of the premier defense attorneys of the day, came to represent the Scottsboro nine. It didn’t matter. The jury made up of all white men, convicted them all again. In fact, there would be many more trials of the Scottsboro defendants over the years and each time they were convicted, the convictions were over turned on appeal. When the saga finally ended in 1937, four of the defendants were released without any further trials, while the five remaining defendants were convicted again and sentenced to long prison terms. All them were eventually released or pardoned for the original rape offenses, but several were arrested for unrelated crimes and served many more years in jail.

Michael Thomas Barry is the author of numerous books that include the award winning, Murder and Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California, 1849-1949 (2012, Schiffer Publishing). The WINNER of the 2012 International Book Awards and a FINALIST in the 2012 Indie Excellence Book Awards for True Crime.

On March 21, 1963, Alcatraz Prison was closed. At its peak period of use in 1950s, “The Rock” housed over 200 inmates at the maximum-security facility. Alcatraz remains an icon of American prisons for its harsh conditions and record for being inescapable. The twelve-acre rocky island, one and a half miles from San Francisco, featured the most advanced security of the time. Some of the first metal detectors were used at Alcatraz. Strict rules were enforced against the unfortunate inmates who had to do time at Alcatraz. Nearly complete silence was mandated at all times. Some its infamous inmates included Al Capone, Alvin Karpis, Arthur “Doc” Barker, Mickey Cohen, and Robert Stroud “The Birdman of Alcatraz.” The island was first explored by Juan Manuel de Ayala in 1775, who called it Isla de los Alcatraces (Pelicans) because of all the birds that lived there. It was sold in 1849 to the U.S. government. The first lighthouse in California was on Alcatraz. It became a Civil War fort and then a military prison in 1907. The end of its prison days did not end the Alcatraz saga. In March 1964, a group of Sioux claimed that the island belonged to them due to a 100-year-old treaty. Their claims were ignored until November 1969 when a group of eighty-nine Native Americans representing the American Indian Movement occupied the island. They stayed there until 1971 when they were finally forced off the island by federal authorities. The following year, Alcatraz was added to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. It is now open for tourism.

Michael Thomas Barry is a columnist for www.crimemagazine.com and is the author of numerous books that include the award winning, Murder & Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California, 1849-1949 (2012, Schiffer Publishing). The WINNER of the 2012 International Book Awards and a FINALIST in the 2012 Indie Excellence Book Awards for True Crime.

On March 19, 1943, mobster Frank “The Enforcer” Nitti, one of Al Capone’s henchmen and later front man for the Chicago Outfit, committed suicide after being indicted for extorting money from Hollywood producers. Born on January 27, 1886 in Italy, Nitti came to the United States in 1893, at the age of 7. His family settled in Brooklyn, but Frank moved to Chicago by 1920. Using his barbershop as a meeting place for small-time hoods, Nitti started fencing stolen jewelry, attracting the attention of big-time mobster Johnny Torrio and one of his strongmen, Al Capone. Nitti joined Al Capone’s criminal empire, called the Chicago Outfit. Rising quickly in the organization, he displayed a talent for business, becoming known for efficiently smuggling Canadian whiskey into Chicago speakeasies, which served as distribution points throughout the city. By the mid-1920s, Nitti was a high ranking member of the Capone mob. Although his nickname was “The Enforcer,” Frank Nitti rarely took part in violent activities, delegating them instead to underlings. In 1931, he and Capone were convicted of tax evasion and sent to prison, but Nitti received an 18-month sentence, while Capone received 11 years. Severely claustrophobic, Nitti served his time in extreme discomfort, an experience that would mark him until the day he died.

When Nitti was released in 1932, the media dubbed him the new boss of Capone’s gang, although it has since been revealed that Nitti was the face, and perhaps brains of the Chicago Outfit, while another man, Paul Ricca, was its true leader. Aiming to take down the Outfit’s presumed head, in December 1932, Chicago policemen raided Nitti’s office, shooting him in the back and neck. Nitti survived, and during the trial it was revealed that one of the officers had been paid $15,000 to kill Nitti. Needing to reinvent the Outfit after the end of Prohibition, Nitti turned the Outfit’s attention to the labor unions and, even more, Hollywood. But in 1943, Nitti and many top members of the Chicago Outfit were indicted for extorting money from some of the largest movie studios in Hollywood, including MGM, Paramount, and 20th Century Fox, and they faced stiff sentences if convicted. Because of his claustrophobia, enhanced during his first prison term, Nitti feared the idea of a long confinement. So, faced with life in prison or perhaps murder by fellow Outfit members to keep him quiet, Nitti shot himself in the head on March 19, 1943, in a train yard, near his home in Riverside, Illinois.

Michael Thomas Barry is the author of numerous books that include the award winning, Murder and Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California, 1849-1949 (2012, Schiffer Publishing). The WINNER of the 2012 International Book Awards and a FINALIST in the 2012 Indie Excellence Book Awards for True Crime.

On March 18, 1999, Carole Sund and Silvina Pelosso are found dead in their charred rental car in a remote wooded area of Long Barn, California. The women, along with Sund’s daughter Juli, had been missing since February when they were last seen alive at the Cedar Lodge near Yosemite National Park. Juli Sund’s body was found a week later. The mysterious disappearance of the three women drew national attention and police initially focused their investigation on Eugene Dykes, Michael Larwick, and a group of drug users in Northern California. However, things changed in July, when Joie Ruth Armstrong, 26, a Yosemite Park worker, was found brutally murdered near her cabin in the park. The discovery of Armstrong’s body led investigators to Cary Stayner, 37, who worked at the Cedar Lodge motel, where the Sunds were last seen. Stayner was tracked down and caught in Northern California. Stayner confessed to the murder of Armstrong and then surprised the detectives by admitting that he was also responsible for the murders of the Sunds and Pelosso. Years earlier, Stayner had been on the other end of another high-profile crime. His younger brother, Steven, was abducted in Merced when Cary was eleven years old. Steven Stayner was held captive for more than seven years by Kenneth Parnell. Following his escape, a television movie, I Know My First Name is Steven, dramatized the incident. Steven Stayner died in a tragic motorcycle accident when he was twenty-four. The family saw further tragedy when Jesse Stayner, Cary and Steven’s uncle, was shot to death in 1990 during a bungled robbery attempt. Cary Stayner pled guilty to the Armstrong murder in 2001. He was convicted of the other three counts of murder in 2002 and sentenced to death.

Michael Thomas Barry is a columnist for www.crimemagazine.com and is the author of numerous books that include Murder and Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California, 1849-1949.

On March 15, 44 B.C., Julius Caesar was stabbed to death at a meeting hall next to the Pompey’s theatre by 60 conspirators led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. Caesar was scheduled to leave Rome on March 18 and had appointed loyal members of his army to rule the Empire in his absence. The Republican senators, already chafing at having to abide by Caesar’s decrees, were particularly angry about the prospect of taking orders from Caesar’s subordinates. Cassius Longinus initiated the plot against the dictator, quickly getting his brother-in-law Marcus Brutus to join.

Caesar should have been well aware that many of the senators hated him, but he dismissed his security force not long before his assassination. Reportedly, Caesar was handed a warning note as he entered the senate meeting that day but did not read it. After he entered the hall, Caesar was surrounded by senators holding daggers. Servilius Casca struck the first blow, striking Caesar in the neck and drawing blood. The other senators joined in, stabbing him repeatedly about the head. Marcus Brutus wounded Caesar in the groin and Caesar is said to have remarked in Greek, “You, too, my child?” In the aftermath of the assassination, Mark Antony attempted to carry out Caesar’s legacy. However, Caesar’s will left his adopted son, Octavian in charge. Cassius and Brutus tried to rally a Republican army and Brutus even issued coins celebrating the assassination, known as the Ides of March. Octavian vowed revenge against the assassins, two years later Cassius and Brutus committed suicide after their armies were defeated by Octavian’s forces. Antony took his armies east, where he joined forces with Caesar’s mistress, Egyptian Queen Cleopatra. Octavian and Antony fought for many years until Octavian prevailed. In 30 B.C., Antony committed suicide. Octavian, later known as Augustus, ruled the Roman Empire from 27 B.C. until 14 A.D.

Michael Thomas Barry is a columnist for www.crimemagazine.com and is the author of numerous books that include Murder and Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California, 1849-1949.