1960s Timeline

Mar. 27, 1962 - Most of the murders committed in New York City last year were not planned, nor were they associated with underworld activity. The majority were committed at home in family disputes. There were 483 homicides in 1961, an increase of 93 over 1960. Eighty-seven percent resulted in arrests. These were the highlights of a study of last year’s homicides released today by Police Commissioner Michael J. Murphy. A spokesman for Mr. Murphy said one reason for the rise in

Mar. 6, 1962 - New York Deputy Police Commissioner Walter Arm told an institute on police and community relations today that there had been 2,525 attacks on policemen in 1961, most of them of “the common garden variety of the individual being arrested and resisting arrest.” He said such attacks were “something which police everywhere contend with and which they generally regard as ‘part of the job.’” “However,” he continued, “there were 223 cases of attacks on police by group

Feb. 25, 1962 - New York City detectives and Federal narcotics agents seized pure heroin worth $20 million last night after subduing a longshoreman in a Bronx tenement. Edward F. Carey, deputy chief inspector of the New York Narcotics Bureau, called the seizure “the second largest ever made by law-enforcement agencies in this country.” The heroin, weighing 88 pounds, was in 66 plastic packets in three plaid airline canvas bags. The suspect was identified as Anthony Fuca (pict

Feb. 7, 1962 - New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller today spared the life of 18-year-old Salvatore Agron (pictured in 1959), who had been scheduled to die in the electric chair for the gang killing of two 16-year-old boys in a New York playground two years ago. Agron, known as the Cape Man or Dracula because he had worn a red-lined nurse’s cape on the night of the killings, had been in the death house for more than a year. The Governor signed an order commuting the youth’s de

Jan. 31, 1962 - In an unexpected move, New York District Attorney Frank S. Hogan appealed to Governor Rockefeller today to spare the life of Salvatore Agron (pictured), the 18-year-old youth awaiting execution in Sing Sing. Agron, known sometimes as the Cape Man or Dracula because he wore a red-lined nurse’s cape, was convicted in the gang killing two years ago of two 16-year-old boys in a West Side Manhattan playground. The youth’s two lawyers asked that the death sentence t

Jan. 28, 1962 - Alvin “Creepy” Karpis (pictured in 1936), once listed as United States Public Enemy No. 1, is seeking a deportation parole that would allow him to return to his native Montreal. Karpis, 53 years old, has been in Alcatraz Prison for 25 years. Karpis was a child when his parents migrated to Topeka, Kan., from Montreal. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for conspiracy in the 1933 kidnapping of William Hamm, a brewer from St. Paul, Minn. The gang that did the

Jan. 19, 1962 - Five persons were held today in $100,000 bail each as a result of a Brooklyn raid Thursday in which $3,500,000 worth of heroin was seized. Jacques L. Angelbin (pictured center), 34, a Parisian television performer, and Francois Paul Scaglia, 34, said to be an owner of a Paris nightclub, were among those held. Federal narcotics officials said the arrests would seriously affect smuggling operations in France. They said practically all the heroin that entered thi

Jan. 18, 1962 - Raw heroin estimated to be worth $3,500,000 in the illicit market was found in the ceiling of a Brooklyn tenement today by Federal and city narcotics raiders. At least seven persons were arrested for questioning, including two Frenchmen. The cache was discovered after a detective had noticed two spots of wet plaster on the basement ceiling. He investigated, and out tumbled two plastic bags containing heroin. A quick search of the entire ceiling turned up 20 mo

Jan. 11, 1962 - The New York Court of Appeals today set Feb. 15 for the execution of Salvatore Agron, 18 years old, for the playground slaying of two 16-year-old boys in New York in 1959. Agron has one final chance to escape Sing Sing’s electric chair — a clemency hearing by Governor Rockefeller. No date for it has been set. The state’s highest court upheld Agron’s conviction and death sentence last year. The U.S. Supreme Court denied him a hearing last November. Agron, who w

Oct. 27, 1961 - A Federal grand jury charged the police chief of Newport, Ky., and five others today with having falsely conspired to arrest George Ratterman (pictured), former football star, in a room with a striptease dancer. Mr. Ratterman had charged that he was drugged in Cincinnati and placed in a room above a Newport nightclub with Juanita Hodges on May 9 in order to discredit him as a reform candidate for Campbell County Sheriff. The indictments were announced in Washi

Oct. 18, 1961 - Luis Antonio Hernandez (pictured right), 18 years old, was sentenced today to serve seven and a half years in prison for his part in a double slaying in a Manhattan playground in 1959. The victims of the attack were two 16-year-old boys. Hernandez admitted that he wielded an umbrella in the attack, and he became known as “the Umbrella Man.” Salvador Agron (pictured left), called “The Cape Man,” was also found guilty of first-degree murder in the double stabbin