On May 8, 1963, in the Court of Session in Edinburgh, a judge named John Wheatley began reading aloud from a document so long that reporters in the press gallery had brought spare notebooks. Wheatley was a Lord Ordinary of the Scottish bench, a Catholic, a former Lord Advocate, and a man trained to say … Read more
In 2008, a 93-year-old widow published a book that directly challenged the official government narrative about her late husband. Mayme Johnson, who had been married to Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson for twenty years, released “Harlem Godfather: The Rap on My Husband, Ellsworth ‘Bumpy’ Johnson. ” The word rap in the title was intentional, meaning a false … Read more
On 6 February 1952, Philip was resting at Sagana Lodge in Kenya when his aide, Commander Michael Parker, received a coded telephone message. The prearranged signal, "Hyde Park Corner," had been relayed from Sandringham to Buckingham Palace, confirming the death of King George VI. Parker found a wireless set, positioned it away from Elizabeth, and … Read more
The Lucchese crime family, one of New York’s Five Families, has operated for over a century, but its most violent chapter came when Victor Amuso and Anthony “Gaspipe” Casso took control in the late 1980s. Their reign marked one of the bloodiest periods in Mafia history and ultimately accelerated the family’s long decline. The family … Read more
In March 1954, a dinner at Harlem’s Small’s Paradise was meant to end Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson’s life. Instead, it killed his trusted friend and taster, Raymond “Quick” Lewis, and set off a chain of events that would reshape the rules of the New York underworld. Quick Lewis spotted the problem as soon as he entered … Read more
Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, died at Windsor Castle on April 9, 2021, two months short of his 100th birthday. He had been married to Queen Elizabeth II for 73 years, a record no British consort had ever come close to matching. To understand the man behind that record, it helps to begin not … Read more
On February 15, 1992, the Virginia State Lottery drew six winning numbers on live television: 8, 11, 13, 15, 19, and 20. The $27 million jackpot had just been won, but officials were stunned to discover that one person had also secured six second prizes, 132 third prizes, and roughly 135,000 minor prizes worth an … Read more
On June 5, 1972, a 75-year-old woman in a black Givenchy dress sat in the choir of St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle and watched a coffin draped in the royal standard pass before her. She had flown from Paris the day before and slept at Buckingham Palace, the first time she had been under … Read more
Vincent “Mad Dog” Coll was one of the most feared gangsters of Prohibition-era New York, a ruthless killer whose career ended violently at the age of 23 in a phone booth. Coll was born in County Donegal, Ireland, on July 20, 1908, and immigrated to the United States with his family in 1909, arriving in … Read more
In February 1985, days after burying her husband Antonio, Carlota Rodríguez Sánchez opened a small wooden box in their modest Barcelona apartment and discovered that her 40 years of marriage had been built on a hidden fortune worth roughly one billion pesetas. Antonio had first mentioned “old debts” to her in 1945, using them to … Read more