Elena Semander

popular name: Sam Battaglia

date_of_death: September 7, 1973

age: 64

cause_of_death: Natural Causes

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Sam "Teets" Battaglia joined the Torrio-Capone gang at the age of 16, right at the beginning of the Beer Wars of the 1920s. As a high-level member of the Chicago Outfit criminal organization, Sam Battaglia quickly rose in the ranks of the gang, and was known as a brutal loan shark. He became head of the Chicago Outfit in 1966 but was convicted and sent to federal prison that same year and died at his home shortly after his release.

popular name: Henry Bedard, Jr.

date_of_death: December 16, 1974

age: 15

cause_of_death: Homicide - blunt force trauma

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Henry E. Bedard Jr. was a 15‑year‑old sophomore at Swampscott High School in Massachusetts. He was active in school sports—playing youth baseball and "Big Blue" football—and also worked at his father’s service station. Henry was considered a beloved member of his community, known for spending time with family and friends. On December 16, 1974, Henry was last seen after school doing some Christmas shopping. He stopped at a CVS in Vinnin Square, buying perfume as a gift for his sister. After leaving the mall, witnesses (including Swampscott Police Lieutenant Peter Cassidy) saw him walking along Paradise Road and entering a wooded area near the town’s Department of Public Works yard, a place known locally as “Swampscott View” or “Kite Hill.” The next day his body was discovered in that wooded area, behind the DPW building, under a pile of leaves. He had been severely beaten to death. Investigators found a Louisville Slugger baseball bat near the body—31‑inch, wooden—with distinctive carvings or markings on the handle, possibly Roman numerals or letters. The bat is believed to be a key piece of evidence. Despite investigations, including interviewing dozens of people, reviewing the evidence, and even exhuming Henry’s body recently to run updated forensic tests (such as DNA) and autopsy work, no one has been charged in his murder. The case remains unsolved half a century later with no suspect and no motive.

popular name: Michael Maggio

date_of_death: March 14, 1959

age: 69

cause_of_death: Natural causes

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Michael Maggio was one of the original Philadelphia organized crime figures beginning in the 1910s. The leader of "the Greaser Gang" in south Philadelphia, he quickly ascended to a leadership role in the Philly crime family. Known in the city as a wealthy cheese importer, manufacture and businessman, we was also a leader in the criminal underworld who did not hesitate to use violence as a means to the end. In his early 60s. Due to health reasons, he turned the family operations over to his son Peter. He sponsored future Philadelphia Organized Crime Boss Angelo Bruno for membership into the Philadelphia Family during the 1930s who gradually ascended to the role of mafia Don. Michael died of natural causes in Miami, Florida at age 69. After mobster Michael Maggio died in March 1959 his protege Angelo Bruno used the Maggio Cheese Company on 11th and Washington Streets in Philadelphia, PA as headquarters from which the mob boss then ran his numbers racket. Upon his death, he was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, PA.