This week (March 23-29) in crime history – Chilean
Ambassador to the U.S. Orlando Letelier’s assassins were sentenced (March 23,
1979); Mexican Presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio was assassinated
(March 23, 1994); The Jonesboro Arkansas School shooting (March 24, 1998); The
U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the Scottsboro Case (March 25, 1932); King Faisal
of Saudi Arabia was assassinated by his own nephew (March 25, 1975); Torture
chamber found at the Philadelphia home of Gary Heidnik (March 26, 1987); Mass
suicide of the Heaven’s Gate Cult (March 26, 1997); First use of finger print
evidence solved murders of Thomas and Ann Farrow in Great Britain (March 27,
1905); Members of the Duke University lacrosse team were suspended following sexual
assault allegations (March 28, 2006); The Mad Bomber stick in New York City
(March 29, 1951).
Highlighted story
of the week -
On March 29, 1951, a bomb explodes at Grand Central
Station in New York City, but injures no one. In the next few months, five more
bombs were found at landmarks around the city, including the public library.
Authorities realized that this new wave of terrorist acts was the work of the
Mad Bomber.
New York’s first experience with the Mad Bomber was on
November 16, 1940, when a pipe bomb was left in the Edison building with a note
that read, “Con Edison crooks, this is for you.” More explosive devices were found
in 1941, each more powerful than the last, until the Mad Bomber sent a note in
December stating, “I will make no more bomb units for the duration of the war.”
He went on to say that Con Edison, New York’s electric utility company, would
be brought to justice in due time. The Mad Bomber made good on his promise,
although he did periodically send threatening notes to the press. After his
flurry of activity in 1951, the Mad Bomber was silent until a bomb went off at Radio
City Music Hall in 1954. In 1955, he struck Grand Central Station, Macy’s, the
RCA building and the Staten Island Ferry.
The police were unsuccessful in finding the Mad Bomber,
but a private investigative team working for Con Ed finally found him. Looking
through their employment records, they found that George Peter Metesky had been
a disgruntled ex-employee since an accident in 1931. Metesky was enraged that
Con Ed refused to pay disability benefits and resorted to terrorism as his
revenge. Metesky, a rather mild-mannered man, was found living with his sisters
in Connecticut. He was indicted for 47 counts of attempted murder but was declared
legally insane and incompetent to stand trial. He was then committed to the
Matteawan State Hospital where he stayed until his release in 1973. Metesky
died on May 23, 1994 in Waterbury, Connecticut at the age of 90.
Check back every
Monday for a new installment of the “This Week in Crime History.”
Michael Thomas Barry is a columnist for www.crimemagazine.com and is the author
of six nonfiction books that includes the award winning Murder and Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California, 1849-1949.
Visit Michael’s website www.michaelthomasbarry.com
for more information. His book can be purchased from Amazon through the
following link.
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