Byte Sized Biographies…

For twenty years, Whitey Bulger terrorized Boston with the full collusion of the FBI.  On the run for sixteen years, he was eventually arrested on June 22, 2011. Louis Litif, murder victim Litif got off with this stern warning but then made the mistake of telling Bulger that he was going to murder his bookmaker partner, a last straw.  On April, he was invited to the Triple O’s where Bulger stabbed...

For twenty years, Whitey Bulger terrorized Boston with the full collusion of the FBI.  On the run for sixteen years, he was eventually arrested on June 22, 2011. The Massachusetts State Police Wanted poster for Whitey. Whitey did not limit himself geographically to South Boston.  No longer able to access Marshall Motors because a jailed, cash strapped Howie Winter’s family needed to rent it out, i...

Few personalities have achieved the worldwide fame and popularity of Harry Houdini.  Successful in several different media ranging from vaudeville to motion pictures, this performer was also an astute businessman who incorporated both groundbreaking copyright implementation and sensational publicity to establish himself as the first 20th century entertainment superstar. Houdini, early publicity ph...

Few personalities have achieved the worldwide fame and popularity of Harry Houdini.  Successful in several different media ranging from vaudeville to motion pictures, this performer was also an astute businessman who incorporated both groundbreaking copyright implementation and sensational publicity to establish himself as the first 20th century entertainment superstar. Houdini, moments before jum...

In March of 1895, Oscar Wilde enjoyed fame and fortune as one of Britain’s foremost literary figures.  Only four months later he was inprisoned for the crime of “gross indecency,” convicted of violating Britain’s laws against same sex relationships.  Upon his release, he exiled himself to France, his career in ruins and never saw his family again. Oscar Wilde, college years At Oxford, Wilde contin...

In March of 1895, Oscar Wilde enjoyed fame and fortune as one of Britain's foremost literary figures.  Only four months later he was inprisoned for the crime of "gross indecency," convicted of violating Britain's laws against same sex relationships.  Upon his release, he exiled himself to France, his career in ruins and never saw his family again. Wilde and Douglas in Naples, 1897 Unfortunately, t...

On August 7, 1974, a twenty-five year old man named Philippe Petit walked across a 200 foot wire between the twin towers of the World Trade Center, 1,350 feet above the ground, something that even the policeman who arrested him described as a once in a lifetime event. Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris, site of Philippe Petit's 1971 coup On the night of June 25th and the early morning of June 26th ,1971...

On August 7, 1974, a twenty-five year old man named Philippe Petit walked across a 200 foot wire between the twin towers of the World Trade Center, 1,350 feet above the ground, something that even the policeman who arrested him described as a once in a lifetime event. Philippe Petit, entertaining the police who arrested him on August 7 After Philip and Jean Francois are booked and fingerprinted, t...

On November 14, 1959, two petty criminals, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, crossed Kansas, murdered the Clutter family in the tiny hamlet of Holcomb, Kansas and unwittingly enabled a New York City writer named Truman Capote to achieve immortality for all three of them. Capote, as he would have dressed while visiting Holcomb and Garden City Kansas When Truman Capote arrived in Kansas, Smith and Hicko...

On November 14, 1959, two petty criminals, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, crossed Kansas, murdered the Clutter family in the tiny hamlet of Holcomb, Kansas and unwittingly enabled a New York City writer named Truman Capote to achieve immortality for all three of them. The stolen license plate spotted by Las Vegas police that led to Smith and Hickock's arrest. This arrest was most likely the result...

In 1942, the Czech government in exile decided to parachute two commandos into the former Czechoslovakia to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich, considered the most brutal and sinister Nazi in Occupied Europe.  Code named Operation Anthropoid, this suicide mission remains one of the most heroic and remarkable stories of World War II. Himmler and Heydrich, Vienna, 1938 Nazi lore has it that Heinrich Himm...

In 1942, the Czech government in exile decided to parachute two commandos into the former Czechoslovakia to assassinate  Reinhard Heydrich, considered the most brutal and sinister Nazi in Occupied Europe.  Code named Operation Anthropoid, this suicide mission remains one of the most heroic and remarkable stories of World War II On the evening of June 26, 1942, Heydrich hosted a concert featuring c...

In 1961, an unemployed cab driver, Kempton Bunton, pulled off one of the most remarkable art thefts of the 20th century.  Or did he? Kempton Bunton, 1965 Bunton’s mother named him Kempton Cannon Bunton after a British jockey, Kempton Cannon, who won the Epsom Derby only days before her son’s birth, June 14, 1904, a victory she financially backed.  When asked about his unusual name, Bunton also alw...

In 1961, an unemployed cab driver, Kempton Bunton, pulled off one of the most remarkable art thefts of the 20th century.  Or did he? Kempton Bunton, entering court in 1965 Although Bunton was initially only charged with one count of larceny, the prosecution submitted an indictment that was much more severe.  He was now charged with two counts of larceny, one for the painting, one for the frame, th...

In 1929, Al Capone was worth an inflation adjusted 1.5 billion dollars. Al Capone as a child with his mother On January 17, 1899, Alphonse Gabriel Capone became the fourth child born into this family, and the second native American.  Including the two born in Italy, the Capone family later consisted of nine children, eight surviving into adulthood.  Al’s father was a barber by trade, eventually mo...

In 1929, Al Capone was worth an inflation adjusted 1.5 Billion Dollars. Green Mill Cocktail Lounge, Chicago. Most speakeasies and night clubs serving illicit alcohol provided entertainment in some form, mostly jazz or a vocalist with a band.  One of these entertainers named Joe E. Lewis was a regular performer at the Green Mill, a club that was owned by the Outfit.  As compensation, Al Capone gave...

On February 3, 1959, Buddy Holly was in the middle of the tour from hell and would do anything to avoid another three hundred mile, overnight bus ride that already had inflicted frostbite on another band member.  That determination changed American popular music forever. Buddy Holly, early Brunswick Records publicity photo Charles Hardin Holley was born in Lubbock, Texas on September 7, 1936.  The...

On February 3, 1959, Buddy Holly was in the middle of the tour from hell and would do anything to avoid another three hundred mile, overnight bus ride that already had inflicted frostbite on another band member.  That determination changed American popular music forever. Buddy Holly and Waylon Jennings in a NY photo booth. In mid-January, when the three band members got to NY, Allsup and Bunch che...

Possessing a 167 IQ, admitted to Harvard University at age 16, a uniquely talented mathematician, this former Berkeley college professor became the subject of the longest and most expensive investigation in FBI history. Ted's high school yearbook photo. As a youngster, Ted did develop a precocious interest in reading, math and science, his mother reading to him articles from Scientific American th...

Possessing a 167 IQ, admitted to Harvard University at age 16, a uniquely talented mathematician, this former Berkeley college professor became the subject of the longest and most expensive investigation in FBI history. Kaczynski's drivers license. But Kaczynski had another motive for heading to Chicago.  Before he left Montana on a Greyhound bus, he constructed the first of his explosive devices....

Adolf Hitler intended the 1936 Berlin Olympics as a coming out party for his Aryan Master Race.  African-American Jesse Owens crashed the venue by winning four gold medals. Jesse Owens 1936 At the Penn Relays, he won the long jump and the 100 meter dash.  Unfortunately for Eulace Peacock, the sprinter completely tore his hamstring during a preliminary heat, an injury so severe that Peacock was una...

Adolf Hitler wanted the 1936 Berlin Olympics to be a coming out party for his Aryan Master Race.  Jesse Owens crashed the venue by winning four gold medals. Jesse Owens in the 1936 Olympic Long Jump Owens then had to hustle to the long jump competition which also began at 10:30 AM.  Here he faced an athlete from Germany who was his first formidable foreign competition, a 22 year old German; Carl L...

Of the many political figures involved in Mexico's 1910 Revolution, Pancho Villa remains the most famous and charismatic. Pancho Villa on horseback. Like the history of Mexico itself, Villa’s early life and biography is obscured or disputed.  Much of the information about Pancho Villa came from his own self-serving autobiography or biased journalism and glorifying newsreels from the time period. ...

Of the many political and military figures  involved in Mexico's 1910 Revolution, Pancho Villa remains the most famous and charismatic. Felipe Angeles Villa formally requested that Felipe Angeles be permitted to officially join Villa’s military staff. Angeles was a traditional army officer with an expertise in artillery.  He served during the Diaz government but was in France when the revolution b...

In 1925, a diphtheria epidemic threatened to wipe out the town of Nome, Alaska. Hear the incredible story of the men and dogs who saved the day. Leonard Seppala and his team with Togo (far left) and Fritz (far right. Seppala was employed by Hammon Gold as its main dog driver and the supervisor of freight logistics into the remote areas and mining camps that the company operated.  But Seppala was a...