Births
Wyatt Earp
1787 – Delphine LaLaurie – Born Marie Delphine Macarty more commonly known as Madame LaLaurie, was a New Orleans socialite born on March 19, 1787. She is infamous for her suspected involvement in the torture and murder of numerous enslaved people in her household. LaLaurie was born during the Spanish colonial period and was twice widowed. She married three times in Louisiana, with her third husband being Dr. Leonard Louis Nicolas LaLaurie. She maintained her position in New Orleans society until April 10, 1834, when rescuers responded to a fire at her Royal Street mansion. They discovered bound slaves in her attic who showed evidence of cruel, violent abuse over a long period. LaLaurie’s house was subsequently sacked by an outraged mob of New Orleans citizens. She escaped to France with her family. The mansion traditionally held to be LaLaurie’s is a landmark in the French Quarter, in part because of its history and for its architectural significance. However, her house was burned by the mob, and the “LaLaurie Mansion” at 1140 Royal Street was rebuilt after she departed from New Orleans. She died on December 7, 1849, in Paris, France.
1848 – Wyatt Earp – was a legendary figure of the American West. He was known for his roles as a lawman, gambler, and even a confidence man. His life was marked by stints in various boom towns, including Dodge City, Deadwood, and Tombstone. Earp’s involvement in law enforcement began in Wichita, Kansas, in 1875, and later in Dodge City in 1876. However, he is perhaps best known for his involvement in the infamous gunfight at the O.K. Corral in 1881. During this event, lawmen, including Earp and his brothers, killed three outlaw Cochise County Cowboys. Despite Wyatt often being depicted as the key figure in the shootout, it was his brother Virgil, the Deputy U.S. Marshal and Tombstone City Marshal that day, who had more experience in law enforcement and made the decision to enforce the city ordinance prohibiting carrying weapons in town. In addition to his law enforcement career, Earp was also known for his ventures as a gambler and saloonkeeper. He was even a shotgun rider with Wells Fargo. His personal life was marked by multiple marriages and many run-ins with the law, often related to his involvement with brothels. Earp passed away on January 13, 1929, in Los Angeles, California. His life and exploits have since been immortalized in numerous books, movies, and TV shows, making him a lasting symbol of the American frontier.
1877 – Ignazio Lupo – also known as Ignazio Saietta and Lupo the Wolf, was a Sicilian-American Black Hand leader in New York City during the early 1900s. He was born in Palermo, Sicily, on March 21, 1877, to parents Rocco Lupo and Onofria Saietta. From age 10, he worked in a dry goods store in Palermo. In October 1898, he shot and killed a business rival named Salvatore Morello, reportedly in self-defense after Morello attacked him with a dagger during an argument in Lupo’s store. Lupo went into hiding after the killing and, on the advice of his parents, eventually fled Sicily to escape prosecution. After stops in Liverpool, Montreal, and Buffalo, he arrived in New York in 1898. On March 14, 1899, Lupo was convicted in absentia of ‘willful and deliberate murder’, reportedly due to the testimony of the clerks who worked in his store. Upon settling in New York City, Lupo opened a store at East 72nd Street in Manhattan with his cousin Saitta, but moved his business to Brooklyn after a disagreement. In 1901, he moved his business back to Manhattan and opened a small import store at 9 Prince Street, while also running a saloon across the street at 8 Prince Street. Lupo’s father, Rocco, joined him in New York City in 1902 and together they opened a retail grocery store on 39th Street between 9th and 10th Avenues. Around this time, Lupo began preying on his fellow Italian immigrants, using the extortion tactics of the Black Hand. By the start of the 20th century, Lupo merged his crew with others in the South Bronx and East Harlem to form the Morello crime family, which became the leading Mafia family in New York City. Suspected of at least 60 murders, he was not caught by authorities until 1910, when the Secret Service arrested him for running a large-scale counterfeiting ring in the Catskills. He was paroled after serving 10 years of a 30-year sentence. A few years later, he was forced into retirement by the emerging National Crime Syndicate led by Lucky Luciano.
1891 – Earl Warren – was an influential American jurist and politician, born on March 19, 1891, in Los Angeles, California. His career was marked by notable achievements, with his most significant impact felt during his tenure as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1953 to 1969. While Warren’s biography extends beyond the era of John F. Kennedy, their lives intersected during a pivotal moment in American history. Warren’s political journey began in California, where he served as the state’s Attorney General and later as its Governor. His leadership was marked by a commitment to progressive policies, including civil rights and social justice. In 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed him as Chief Justice, a role in which Warren would leave an indelible mark on the nation’s legal landscape. The relationship between Earl Warren and John F. Kennedy was characterized by the dynamic interaction of the Executive and Judicial branches of the U.S. government during a time of profound societal change. Although Warren was appointed by a Republican president, he often found common ground with the Democratic administration of President Kennedy, particularly in advancing civil rights. One of the most notable instances of collaboration between Warren and Kennedy occurred with the establishment of the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, commonly known as the Warren Commission. In the aftermath of John F. Kennedy’s tragic assassination in 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson tasked Chief Justice Earl Warren with leading an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the event. The Warren Commission’s findings, released in the Warren Report, concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the assassination of President Kennedy. While the report has faced criticism and conspiracy theories over the years, its impact on shaping the narrative and official account of the event is undeniable. Beyond the Kennedy assassination, Chief Justice Earl Warren presided over landmark cases that shaped American jurisprudence, particularly in the areas of civil rights, criminal justice, and individual liberties. His legacy extends far beyond his association with JFK, but their collaboration during the investigation into Kennedy’s assassination remains a pivotal moment in both of their careers and in the broader history of the United States. Earl Warren’s dedication to justice and civil rights continues to be remembered and celebrated as a defining chapter in American legal history.
1944 – Sirhan Sirhan – is a Palestinian-Jordanian man known for the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, the younger brother of American President John F. Kennedy. Sirhan was born in Jerusalem, during the British Mandate for Palestine, into an Arab Palestinian Christian family. He became a Jordanian citizen after Jordan annexed the West Bank. On June 5, 1968, Sirhan shot and mortally wounded Robert Kennedy shortly after 12 a.m. at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles; Kennedy died the next day at Good Samaritan Hospital. The circumstances surrounding the attack, which took place five years after John’s assassination, have led to numerous conspiracy theories. In 1989, Sirhan told British journalist David Frost: “My only connection with Robert Kennedy was his sole support of Israel and his deliberate attempt to send those 50 fighter jets to Israel to harm the Palestinians.” Some scholars believe that the assassination was the first major incident of political violence in the United States stemming from the Israeli–Palestinian conflict (Sirhan attacked on the first anniversary of the 1967 Arab–Israeli War), though it occurred at a time when the American public was overwhelmingly focused on the Vietnam War. On April 17, 1969, Sirhan was convicted of first-degree murder, among other charges, and subsequently sentenced to death by gas chamber. In 1972, this was commuted to a life sentence in the aftermath of Furman v. Georgia. He is incarcerated at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility near San Diego. On August 27, 2021, after 15 years of being denied parole by the local state board, Sirhan was granted parole by a two-person panel. Prosecutors declined to participate or to oppose his release under a policy by American lawyer George Gascón, the Los Angeles County District Attorney. On January 13, 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom blocked Sirhan’s release on parole. He was denied parole again on March 1, 2023.
1945 – Randy Kraft – is an American serial killer convicted of committing a series of gruesome murders during the 1970s and 1980s. Raised in Orange County, Kraft appeared to lead a seemingly ordinary life, working as a computer programmer and holding down a respectable job. However, beneath this facade, Kraft harbored a dark and sinister side. His criminal activities came to light in May 1983 when he was arrested by the California Highway Patrol for drunk driving. During the arrest, the officers discovered the lifeless body of a young Marine named Terry Lee Gambrel in the front seat of Kraft’s car. This grim revelation unraveled a chilling series of murders that shocked the nation. Kraft’s killing spree is believed to have spanned over a decade, with estimates of the number of victims ranging from 16 to over 60. His modus operandi often involved torture, sexual assault, and mutilation. The infamous “Scorecard Killer,” as Kraft came to be known, left behind a trail of horror that stretched across Southern California. In 1989, Randy Kraft stood trial for his heinous crimes, and he was convicted of 16 counts of murder. The prosecution presented a wealth of evidence, including Kraft’s meticulously kept “scorecard” that documented the details of each murder. In 1991, he was sentenced to death. Randy Kraft’s case remains one of the most notorious and disturbing in the annals of American crime. His actions have left a lasting impact on the criminal justice system and society’s perception of serial killers. While incarcerated on death row, Kraft’s story serves as a grim reminder of the darkness that can lurk beneath a seemingly ordinary exterior.
1952 – Harvey Weinstein – is an American former film producer and convicted sex offender. He co-founded Miramax, a successful independent film distribution company, and The Weinstein Company, a mini-major film studio. He and his brother, Bob Weinstein, produced several successful independent films including Sex, Lies, and Videotape; The Crying Game; Heavenly Creatures; Flirting with Disaster (1996); and Shakespeare in Love. Weinstein won an Academy Award for producing Shakespeare in Love and also won seven Tony Awards for plays and musicals including Billy Elliot the Musical, and August: Osage County. After leaving Miramax, Weinstein and his brother Bob founded The Weinstein Company (TWC), a mini-major film studio. He was co-chairman, alongside Bob, from 2005 to 2017. In October 2017, following sexual abuse allegations dating back to the late 1970s, Weinstein was dismissed from his company and expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. More than 80 women made allegations of sexual harassment or rape against Weinstein. The allegations sparked the #MeToo campaign and subsequent sexual abuse allegations against many powerful men around the world; this phenomenon is referred to as the “Weinstein effect”. Weinstein was arrested and charged in New York in May 2018 and was found guilty of two of five felonies in February 2020. Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison and began serving his sentence at Wende Correctional Facility. On July 20, 2021, he was extradited to Los Angeles to face further charges at a subsequent trial, where he was found guilty of three of seven charges on December 19, 2022. He was sentenced to 16 years in the Los Angeles trial, and his California prison term must be served separately from his New York sentence.
1957 – Robert Charles Ladd – He was an American serial killer who was convicted and sentenced to death for murdering a woman in Tyler, Texas, in 1996, after being paroled for a 1978 triple murder in Dallas. His execution for the latter crime in 2015 was a controversial decision due to his alleged mental disability. In October 1978, Ladd broke into the Dallas apartment of 18-year-old Vivian Geanett Thompson, whom he proceeded to stab ten times in the back, neck, chest, and abdomen. He then put her body in the closet and set it on fire, with the fire quickly spreading to the rest of the apartment. While Ladd managed to escape in time, Thompson’s two children, 3-year-old Maurice, and 18-month-old Latoya, died from smoke inhalation. By the time the fire was extinguished, Vivian and Maurice’s bodies were so severely burned that they had been fused. A few weeks later, Ladd was indicted on capital murder and arson charges concerning the murders. He pleaded guilty to these charges and was sentenced to 40 years imprisonment for murder and 20 years for arson, respectively. However, as the law required that he be granted mandatory parole, he was allowed to leave after serving only 12 years of his sentence, whereupon he moved to Tyler and found work as a barber. Approximately six years after his arrest, on September 24, 1996, Ladd broke into the home of 38-year-old Vicki Ann Garner, a mentally ill woman who worked in the copy room of a local rehabilitation facility where Ladd also worked at the time. He then proceeded to tie her hands above her head, rape her, and then ransack the apartment for valuables, before bludgeoning Garner to death with a hammer. Ladd then apparently left and returned to the apartment on at least two or possibly three occasions before deciding to set it on fire to cover his tracks. From there, he went to a friend’s house, where he sold him a TV, video cassette recorder, a microwave, and a cordless phone he had stolen from the apartment in exchange for $100 to buy crack cocaine. Analysis of physical evidence located at the crime scene quickly implicated Ladd in the murder, resulting in his arrest the following day. As he refused to cooperate with authorities, investigators focused on gathering potential witnesses that could conclusively place him on the crime scene. A psychiatric evaluation conducted before Ladd’s trial concluded that he had an antisocial personality disorder, lacked any remorse, and was at great risk of reoffending if released again. He died on January 29, 2015, in Huntsville Unit, Huntsville, Texas, USA, due to execution by lethal injection.
1963 – Lonnie Earl Johnson – In the early morning hours, Johnson approached Fulk and McCaffrey at a Tomball convenience store, seeking a ride from the two teenagers. Witnessed by the store clerk, Fulk and McCaffrey departed in Fulk’s pickup truck, with Johnson seated between them. Approximately 4 miles from the store, Johnson, brandishing a firearm, forcibly ejected the pair from the vehicle and proceeded to shoot them multiple times. Leroy “Punkin” McCaffrey attempted to flee, managing to run about 350 feet before Johnson caught up with him and fatally shot him. Subsequently, Johnson absconded with Sean’s truck, driving to Austin to visit his girlfriend. There, he callously admitted to killing two boys. Later, he abandoned the stolen truck in San Marcos, Texas, and exchanged the murder weapon for cocaine. After eluding authorities for two weeks, Johnson was apprehended, claiming the killings were an act of self-defense. The lifeless bodies of Fulk and McCaffrey were discovered beside a rural road, each bearing the grim evidence of the violence inflicted upon them. Fulk had sustained four gunshot wounds, while McCaffrey had been shot twice.
1964 – Gary W. Ploof – He served as a U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant and was stationed with his wife, Heidi, at Dover Air Force Base in 2001. However, Ploof’s life took a dark turn when he was involved in a tragic incident. In 2001, Ploof began an affair with Adrienne Hendricks, a colleague with whom he worked part-time at a towing service. Around the same time, he learned that the U.S. Air Force would provide $100,000 life insurance for military spouses effective from November 1, 2001. Although he told his supervisor of his intent to refuse the policy coverage, he took no action to do so. On November 3, 2001, just two days after the life insurance policy became effective, Ploof drove with Heidi to the parking lot of the Dover Wal-Mart where he shot her in the head with a .357 magnum revolver. He staged the scene in a way that he believed would suggest she had committed suicide. Following the murder, Ploof constructed an elaborate alibi, making frantic calls to friends, to the police, and even calling Heidi’s cellphone repeatedly feigning concern for his wife. However, a Wal-Mart security camera captured Ploof walking quickly away from the vehicle. Ploof was eventually convicted for the murder of his wife and was sentenced to death on August 22, 2003. His case was notable for the cold-blooded nature of the crime and the elaborate scheme he developed to mislead the police and hide the incriminating evidence.
1974 – Robert Keith Woodall – is a convicted murderer from the United States. His criminal record includes kidnapping and rape, with one confirmed victim. The incident occurred on January 25, 1997, in Greenville, Caldwell County, Kentucky, USA. Woodall’s victim was a 16-year-old girl named Sarah Hansen. On the day of the crime, Woodall abducted Hansen from the parking lot of a local convenience store, the Minit Mart. He then transported her to Luzerne Lake, where he sexually assaulted her. Following the assault, Woodall physically attacked Hansen, using a box-cutter knife to inflict wounds on her throat. Hansen’s life was ultimately taken by drowning; her body was found discarded in the water. The autopsy report confirmed the presence of water in Hansen’s lungs, indicating that she had drowned. Woodall was apprehended and brought to trial for his crimes. On September 4, 1998, he was sentenced to death in Caldwell County for capital murder, capital kidnapping, and first-degree rape. His conviction and sentence were upheld by the Supreme Court of Kentucky.
1995 – Shawn Tyson – is a convicted criminal from the United States. He was found guilty of the murders of two British tourists, James Cooper and James Kouzaris, in Florida in April 2011. Tyson was only 16 years old at the time of the crime. The motive behind the killings was robbery. However, when Tyson realized he would not get what he wanted, he made the conscious decision to kill both victims. The crime was not a spur-of-the-moment event; Tyson first shot Cooper four times, and Kouzaris was shot in the back twice as he attempted to run away. Tyson’s initial conviction was thrown out in 2014 because he was a juvenile when the crime was committed. However, he was re-sentenced to two life terms in prison in June 2016. The judge acknowledged that there are special considerations when sentencing a juvenile on murder charges, but stated that Tyson “killed in cold blood two young men who posed no threat”. The judge also noted that the killings had a significant impact on the victims’ families, their friends, and the community. Witnesses were afraid to assist with the investigation due to the nature of the crime. Despite these considerations, the judge was not persuaded that Tyson could be rehabilitated. Due to changes in Florida law, Tyson’s case will be up for review after 25 years. However, as of now, he remains behind bars.
1999 – Gabby Petito – In 2013, Petito and her step-brothers appeared in a music video to raise awareness about American gun violence in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. She graduated from Bayport-Blue Point High School in Bayport, New York, where she met Brian Christopher Laundrie. From September 2017 to January 2019, she lived in Carolina Beach, North Carolina, working as a hostess and in the kitchen of a restaurant in nearby Wilmington. In June 2021, Petito and Laundrie embarked on a cross-country trip, planning to travel in Petito’s white Ford van to the West Coast and visit state and national parks across the western United States. The trip was planned to last for four months and began on July 2, 2021, but Petito disappeared on August 27. After Petito’s disappearance, Laundrie raised suspicion when he drove the van from Wyoming back to his parents’ Florida home and refused to discuss her whereabouts. He was deemed a person of interest in the case and an arrest warrant was issued on charges of him making withdrawals using her debit card. He left his home on September 13 and was reported missing four days later. On September 19, Petito’s remains were found in Wyoming’s Bridger–Teton National Forest. An autopsy found that she was killed by manual strangulation. After a month of speculation around Laundrie’s whereabouts, and an extended search of the area around his home, his skeletal remains were discovered in Florida’s Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park. It was confirmed by an autopsy that Laundrie had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, and the FBI later announced that he had admitted to killing Petito in his notebook, which was found near his remains. The case gained widespread attention due to the couple’s documenting of their travels on social media, leaked police body camera video footage, 9-1-1 emergency dispatch call recordings, eyewitness accounts, the actions of Laundrie’s parents, and extensive media coverage.
Deaths
John Henry George Lee
1901 – George Henry Parker – was a former marine in the British forces. However, his life took a dark turn after his service. He became a petty thief and was later convicted of murder. Parker was born in 1877. At the age of 23, he was involved in a tragic incident that occurred on a train. On January 17, 1901, Parker boarded a London-bound train at Eastleigh, just north of Southampton. Short of money and desperate, he decided to rob one of his fellow travelers. A wealthy farmer named William Pearson entered the carriage at Winchester. Parker considered him a suitable victim. As the train reached Surbiton, he loaded a gun he habitually carried. He shot Pearson dead and then turned the gun on Mrs King, another passenger who had witnessed the murder, wounding her. Parker rifled the pockets of the farmer and, as the train entered Vauxhall, he jumped onto the platform, thrust the dead man’s ticket at the collector, and fled. However, Mrs King managed to alert others by screaming ‘Murder!’, and Parker was chased and caught. He was found to have items identified as belonging to Pearson. At his trial at Hampshire Assizes before Mr Justice Phillimore, Parker was convicted on overwhelming evidence. After the sentence of death was passed, he admitted to carrying out the robbery to finance his liaison with a soldier’s wife. Parker was executed by hanging in Wandsworth on March 19, 1901.
1945 – John Henry George Lee – also known as “the man they couldn’t hang”, was born on August 15, 1864, in Abbotskerswell, Devon, England. He served in the Royal Navy and was known for his criminal activities, particularly theft. In 1885, Lee was convicted for the murder of his employer, Emma Keyse, at her home at Babbacombe Bay near Torquay on November 15, 1884. The evidence against him was weak and circumstantial, primarily based on him being the only male in the house at the time of the murder, his previous criminal record, and an unexplained cut on his arm. Despite his claims of innocence, he was sentenced to hang. However, Lee survived three attempts to hang him at Exeter Prison on February 23, 1885. The trapdoor of the scaffold failed to open despite being carefully tested beforehand. After these failed attempts, his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Lee continued to petition successive Home Secretaries and was finally released in 1907. After his release, he seems to have exploited his notoriety, supporting himself through lecturing on his life, and even becoming the subject of a silent film. He passed away on March 19, 1945, in the United States of America.
2004 – David Clayton Hill – was a man from South Carolina, United States. He was sentenced to death in 1995 for the murder of a police officer in 1994. The officer was Major Spencer Guerry, the 37-year-old Deputy Police Chief of Georgetown. Hill was scheduled to be executed in South Carolina on 19 March 2004. He was 39 years old at the time of his scheduled execution. His final appeal, which claimed that the way South Carolina puts inmates to death is unusually cruel, was denied. He died quietly by lethal injection.
2014 – Ray Jasper III – was born on August 25, 1980, in the Netherlands. He was a leader of a rap group in San Antonio, Texas. He and his associates, Steve Russell and Doug Williams, frequently used a studio owned and operated by Christian music recording artist David Alejandro to make their recordings. On November 29, 1998, Jasper and his accomplices arrived at the studio with large bags and a black bedsheet. After about two hours in the studio, Jasper walked up behind Alejandro, who was sitting at the soundboard mixing a track for him. He grabbed Alejandro by the hair and slit his throat from ear to ear. Alejandro clutched his throat and started gargling. He then picked up a two-by-four board and started trying to defend himself. Jasper took the board from Alejandro and hit him in the head with it, then called his accomplices for help. He then held Alejandro while Russell stabbed him in the chest until he died. Jasper covered the victim with the bedsheet he had brought so as not to have to look at him. He then began loading vehicles with the equipment inside the studio, estimated to be worth between $10,000 and $30,000. Jasper and his accomplices made several trips taking the property from the studio. David Alejandro died from 25 stab wounds to his chest, back, and neck. A knife was left buried in the back of his neck. Jasper confessed that he had planned the crime and recruited his two accomplices. At his trial, Jasper’s girlfriend and his child’s mother, Christina Breton, testified that Jasper had told her several days before the murder about his plans to steal Alejandro’s equipment. He said he needed to kill Alejandro because he would be able to identify him. Against his lawyer’s advice, Jasper took the witness stand to testify at his trial. He said that he decided to rob and kill David Alejandro because he needed money to move out of his parent’s house and into an apartment with Breton. Ray Jasper III was executed by lethal injection on March 19, 2014, in Huntsville, Texas, for the murder and robbery of David Alejandro. He was 33 years old at the time of his execution.
2014 – Fred Phelps – was born on November 13, 1929, in Meridian, Mississippi, and passed away on March 19, 2014. He was an American minister and a disbarred lawyer who served as the pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church. He also worked as a civil rights attorney and ran for statewide election in Kansas. Phelps was a divisive and controversial figure who gained national attention for his homophobic views and protests near the funerals of gay people, AIDS victims, military veterans, and disaster victims who he believed were killed as a result of God punishing the U.S. for having “bankrupt values” and tolerating homosexuality. He founded the Westboro Baptist Church, a Topeka, Kansas-based independent Primitive Baptist congregation, in 1955. The church has been described as “arguably the most obnoxious and rabid hate group in America”. Its signature slogan, “God Hates Fags”, remains the name of the group’s principal website. In addition to funerals, Phelps and his followers, mostly his immediate family members, picketed gay pride gatherings, high-profile political events, university commencement ceremonies, live performances of The Laramie Project, and functions sponsored by mainstream Christian groups with which he had no affiliation, arguing it was their sacred duty to warn others of God’s anger. Despite numerous legal challenges, some of which reached the U.S. Supreme Court, and near-universal opposition and contempt from other religious groups and the general public, Phelps continued his activities. Laws enacted at both the federal and state levels for the specific purpose of curtailing his disruptive activities were limited in their effectiveness due to the Constitutional protections afforded to Phelps under the First Amendment. Gay rights supporters denounced him as a producer of anti-gay propaganda and violence-inspiring hate speech, and even Christians from fundamentalist denominations distanced themselves from him. Although Phelps died in 2014, the Westboro Baptist Church remains in operation. It continues to conduct regular demonstrations outside movie theaters, universities, government buildings, and other facilities in Topeka and elsewhere and is still characterized as a hate group by the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Events
Josef Fritzl
1687 – Explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, is murdered by his men
1831 – 1st US bank robbery at City Bank in New York, $245,000 stolen
1931 – Nevada legalizes gambling
1943 – Frank Nitti commits suicide
1987 – American televangelist Jim Bakker resigns amid rape accusation by his secretary, Jessica Hahn
2009 – Josef Fritzl is sentenced to 15 years