In August 1944, inside the Wolf's Lair in East Prussia, the mood in Hitler's situation room was suffocating. On the Western map table, red arrows marked the advance of General George S. Patton's Third Army tearing through France. German generals argued loudly about how to contain him. They asked for fuel and panzers, and they … Read more
On April 29, 1945, with only eleven days left in the war in Europe, Colonel Robert Sparks commanded the 157th Infantry Regiment of the 45th Infantry Division. His men liberated the Dachau camp that morning. They entered through its gates and saw what twelve years of imprisonment had produced: bodies, survivors barely alive, and the … Read more
On September 23, 1931, Salvatore Maranzano, a powerful Italian mob boss who controlled organized crime in East Harlem, walked into a warehouse on 142nd Street expecting to dominate a meeting with the man who ran Harlem’s numbers rackets and protected its businesses. Instead, he was stripped of his gun, tied to a chair with dock … Read more
Ernst Kaltenbrunner was born on October 4, 1903, in Ried im Innkreis in northern Austria. After secondary school, he studied law at the University of Graz and earned his degree in the late 1920s. He joined the Austrian Nazi Party in 1930, at a time when membership carried real personal risk. The party was banned, … Read more
On the morning of June 15, 1951, eight-year-old Marcus Johnson Jr. walked to school in Harlem, just three blocks from his home on 142nd Street. His mother, Elena, watched from the window as she did every morning. She saw him turn the corner, waved, and he waved back. It was the last time she saw … Read more
On April 16, 1984, investigators entered an abandoned industrial warehouse in Garfield, New Jersey, and approached several steel drums stored inside. The drums were the type used for glue, oil, and industrial chemicals. Nothing on the outside explained why they had been left there. Then one was opened. Inside were human remains. Another drum held … Read more
A princess of the Italian royal family died in agony on an operating table inside Buchenwald concentration camp after Nazi SS doctors amputated her infected arm without adequate anesthesia, and historians now say her death may have been a deliberate execution ordered at the highest levels of the Third Reich. Mafalda Maria Elisabetta Anna Romana … Read more
On December 19, 1944, a jeep pulled up to the main gate of Supreme Headquarters in Versailles, France. Inside were three men in American military police uniforms, with correct insignia and perfect English. The guard raised his hand and asked for the password. The driver smiled and said, "Patton." The guard hesitated. Something felt wrong. … Read more
On March 3, 1956, at 2:47 p.m., May Johnson was grocery shopping on 125th Street in Harlem when three men in suits grabbed her. There was no warning and no negotiation, just a black Cadillac, a chloroform rag, and the sound of her shopping bags hitting the pavement. By 3:15 p.m., every street soldier in … Read more
On the night of April 8, 1956, Robert "Bobby" Washington was waiting in a black 1955 Cadillac DeVille outside Wells restaurant on 132nd Street in Harlem. He had driven for Bumpy Johnson for 15 years, and in that time he had become more than a driver. He was family. Bobby knew every alley and escape … Read more