Crimes of the Century - No. 19 - The Unabomber, 1996

The Unabomber, 1996

Ted Kaczynski, PhD, killed three people and wounded 22 with his mailbombs, but it could have been much worse. He managed to sneak a bomb onto American Airlines Flight 444 from Chicago to Washington D.C. It exploded but only caused a small fire. Otherwise, a Boeing 747 passenger jet might have fallen out of the sky on Nov. 15, 1979. As it is, the mad genius, whom investigators tagged as the University and Airline Bomber, would terrorize the country for nearly two decades. 

From his cabin in the woods in Montana, the reclusive mathematician would send out bomb after bomb, and letter after letter haranguing victims who had survived his attacks and taunting the media. No one was able to figure out who he was. And then, in 1995, in a blast of egotistical rage, he sent out a 35,000-word manifesto against technology and industrialization, which the Washington Post and the New York Times published in order to prevent the Unabomber from carrying out his threat to blow up a plane over Los Angeles. Someone recognized his ideas in that manifesto. It was his brother, David. And so, the brutal chess game between bomber and government came to an end as a family drama between two brothers, very much alike and yet different enough for one to give the other up for the public good.

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One of the FBI's costliest investigations, Kaczynski was accepted into Harvard at the age of 16; 25 when he started teaching as a professor at U.C. Berkley.  When the FBI took over the investigation from the U.S Postal Service, they code named the incidend UNABOM (UNiversity and Airline BOMber).  To read more about this idiot and how he terrorized a nation, go here.  Sources: Time, Wikipedia

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TIME Magazine posted this article online several years ago, along with a list of 24 additional notorious crimes that I have been posting and will continue to post every Saturday on my blog.  Hope you enjoy.

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To read the previous 18 crimes - click my logo below.

 

Crimes of the Century - No. 6 - The Brinks Job

THE BRINKS JOB, 1950

A gang of 11 men set out on a meticulous 18-month quest to rob the Brinks headquarters in Boston, the home-base of the legendary private security firm. The planning and practice had a military intensity to them; the attention to detail -- including the close approximation of the uniform of the Brinks' guards -- was near genius. It all came off without a hitch: the perfect crime of the century. And the haul was astonishing: more than $1.2 million in cash and $1.5 million in checks and securities, the biggest heist at that time in American history. But while the plan was perfect, the participants proved to be all too human. Even as the authorities spent years trying to figure out who was behind the "great Brinks robbery," the 11 were falling out among themselves. 

Eventually, someone associated with the mob allegedly hired a hit man to kill Joseph "Specs" O'Keefe, a gangmember who had been grousing that he had been cheated of his proper share of the robbery. At that point, O'Keefe -- wounded in the attempted rub-out -- decided to talk to the FBI. By 1957, most of the gang had been sentenced to life in prison, except for O'Keefe who got four years. None would account for the bulk of the stolen funds. To this day, no one has found the money.

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According to investigators the heist took place like this:

On January 17, 1950, after six aborted attempts, the robbers decided that the situation was favorable. They donned clothing outwardly similar to that of a Brink's uniform with Navy pea coats and chauffeur's caps, along with rubber Halloween masks, gloves, and rubber-soled shoes. While Pino and driver Banfield remained in the getaway car, seven other men entered the building at 6:55 PM.

With their copied keys, they came to the second floor through the locked doors and surprised, bound, and gagged five Brinks employees who were storing and counting money. They failed to open a box of the payroll of the General Electric Company but scooped up everything else.

The robbers walked out at 7:30 PM. In addition to money, they had taken four revolvers from the employees. Afterwards, the gang rapidly counted the loot, gave some of the members their cut, and agreed not to touch the loot for six years, after which the statute of limitations would have expired. The robbers scattered to establish their alibis. [Wikipedia]

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In the coming weeks, as you read through the 25 crimes Time Magazine has selected, you will wonder which of them will remain in the popular, perhaps even the artistic imagination in the years to come? How will they be retold and with what kinds of lessons and cautions in mind?  Visit my blog every Saturday as a new crime will be posted each week.

Killers on the Road

Came across a small article in Newsweek regarding the following chart.  It was created by the FBI after they followed-up on a murder investigation that occurred off Interstate 40 in Oklahoma.  You can read the article here, and click on the picture to enlarge.  Even though a majority of serial killers are Truckers, and most deaths prostitutes, it's still chilling to know these people are out there - killing every day.

click to enlarge

The red dots denote locations where bodies or remains have been found in more than 500 cases in the FBI’s Highway Serial Killings Initiative database from 1979 - 2009. According to its study, suspects involved in these killings are primarily truck drivers, and most victims are women "who are living high-risk, transient lifestyles, often involving substance abuse and prostitution."

They Killed Off My Queen!!!!

Last night, when Ryan and I finished watching the season 2 finale of V, we were left dumbfounded, breathless and in total shock.  Glee, I hope you get the hint on how to kill off major characters on a show, not just a bird.  I absolutely loved the finale. Tyler's death was so unexpected, but I'm actually glad he was killed off, seriously he is the biggest twat I have ever seen on TV besides Charlie Sheen of course. Erica will surely be out for Anna now!  I Could care less about Ryan being gone, but I also didn't expect his young daughter to kill him.  Hell, the whole show was full of "unexpected" story lines, and deaths.  This is surely a cliffhanger for the ages - it may even beat out Dallas's "Who Shot J.R." episode.  Um.. No, I don't think so, But it was a thriller and shocker nonetheless.

Not My Queen!!!! Diana, Nooooo!!! As elegant and beautiful as her entrance was, what a waste to finally get her out of the dungeon and then kill her off! After a failed plot to have Lisa kill Anna, the Visitors' High Commander came back with a vengeance and killed her own mother, Diana, in front of the entire ship. While the murder was horrendous, I loved the line Anna threw at her daughter Lisa when she turned back and said, "Now that’s how you kill your mother!" 

ABC, you know what you have to do, don’t you? You have to renew V. It can’t stay like this. The “Evil Lisa” was awesome. As for the inbred child, blissing the humans was something I sort of saw coming.  Also getting to realize Erica’s FBI workers are actually on her side; All along I thought they might be on the other side. It was good to know that there is more help out there.  I could go on for a while about V’s finale but I’ll stop there for now. lol

Please ABC we need Season 3 we really do.