Great Crimes and Trials

It was a crime that shattered America. A case so improbable that nobody ever dreamed it could happen. Despite a ransom being paid, after 72 days the body of American legend Charles Lindbergh’s kidnapped baby son, was found murdered. A German carpenter was tried, sentenced and sent to the electric chair, but to this day it is not known if he acted alone…

He started out as a violent street thug, but soon became a ruthless leader, who rose to the top of the Mafia. He always kept one step ahead of the law and infamously once boasted, ‘I buried hundreds of guys’. Even when finally imprisoned he found a way of securing his freedom.

On St Valentine’s Day 1929, the brutal massacre of six gangsters in a Chicago warehouse signalled the emergence of Al ‘Scarface’ Capone as the undisputed Godfather of crime. He was vain, violent and notoriously ruthless. A man who won ultimate respect by exacting total fear.

His name struck fear into the hearts of New Yorkers and brought terror to the streets. He unleashed all his hatred on the one group which he considered had rejected him the most - women.

Within weeks, the hillsides around Los Angeles became the scene of a terrible carnage - more than ten strangled corpses. The police soon realised they were no longer dealing with a serial murderer but hunting something frighteningly new - two killers, who were out on a ‘spree’.

In the world of gangsters, he was notorious, ruthless, a man destined to become a legend. He turned to crime out of boredom and soon found it was too addictive to give up. He blazed a trail across the States, robbing banks with a violent and authoritative ease.