greatreporter.com, October 5th, 2007
10:
Leopold
and
Loeb
It was the ‘trial of the century’ in 1924: the story of two rich, intelligent American men who had decided to kidnap and kill a boy just to prove that they could commit the ‘perfect crime’.
Loeb
was killed in prison;
Leopold
was released after 33 years.
9: Lindbergh Baby
All of
America
was fascinated when the toddler son of legendary aviator
Charles
Lindbergh
was spirited away from his bedroom in 1932 and found dead 73 days later. It was three years before anyone was charged for the crime, but some believe the real killer was never found.
8:
Lord
Lucan
Who killed nanny
Sandra
Rivett
in 1974? Was it really the high-society figure
Lord
Lucan
, who disappeared that very night? It seems that we'll never know, even though sightings of
Lucan
rival those of Elvis.
7: Great Train Robbery
Inspired by the stories of
Butch
Cassidy
, a group of 15 men pulled off one of the biggest heists of all time in 1963, when they stole millions from a Royal Mail train. Folk herodom followed.
6: Rosenbergs
The Rosenbergs were an American couple who were electrocuted in 1953 after having been charged with passing nuclear secrets onto the
USSR
. It was the emblematic trial of the Cold War.
5: Watergate
In 1972, a group of men were caught breaking into an office building in
Washington
. The trail would lead right back to the White House and bring down an American president.
4: St Valentine's Day Massacre
On February 14th, 1929, seven members of
Bugs
Moran
's gang were lined up against a wall and shot to death by
Al
Capone
's foot soldiers. It remains the most infamous gang hit of all time.
3:
OJ
Simpson
Yet another ‘trial of the century’, this one featured a car chase, an ex-football star and the ugly, sweltering issue of racism. Did
OJ
do it? In many minds the case remains wide open.
2: Theft of the
Mona
Lisa
How could the world's most famous painting have been stolen from the Louvre in 1911? Very easily, as it happened. An employee simply slipped it under his coat and walked out the door.
1: JFK
It is the greatest murder case of all. Who shot
President
John F
Kennedy
as he drove through
Dallas
on November 22nd, 1963? A lone nut, or a sinister conspiracy? Best watch that footage again.
