Elena Semander

popular name: Stanford White

date_of_death: June 25, 1906

age: 52

cause_of_death: Gunshot wounds

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Stanford White was a celebrated American architect and a partner in the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White, one of the most significant Beaux-Arts firms at the turn of the 20th century. White designed many houses for the wealthy, in addition to numerous civic, institutional and religious buildings. When White was 25 years old, he embarked on a year-long tour of Europe, gaining inspiration and honing his techniques. Upon his return to New York in 1879, White entered into an architectural partnership with Charles Follen McKim and William Rutherford Mead to form “McKim, Mead & White.” The firm would go on to produce such iconic structures as the Washington Square Arch (1892), the Brooklyn Museum (1895), the Morgan Library (1903), the Rosecliff Mansion in Newport, Rhode Island and the original Madison Square Garden where he would suddenly and violently lose his life. The grave of Stanford White can be found at St James Episcopal Cemetery in St. James, New York.

popular name: Michael Coppola

date_of_death: October 1, 1966

age: 66

cause_of_death: Kidney disease

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Michael "Trigger Mike" Coppola was a New York City mobster who became a caporegime of the 116th Street Crew, with the Genovese crime family. He entered the ranks of the New York mafiosi with a reputation as a morally depraved, sadistic and violent gunman during Prohibition. Coppola headed many Genovese family criminal operations from the late 1930s until the early 1960s. He is suspected of murdering his first wife, Doris Lehman, in 1943 because she overheard Coppola's plans to assassinate New York Republican Party political activist Joseph Scottoriggio. Doris Lehman was reportedly murdered by her Coppola a day after giving birth to prevent her from testifying against him (her scheduled testimony was postponed due to her pregnancy). Ann Coppola, Trigger Mike's second wife, filed for divorce, supposedly due to Coppola supplying drugs to her daughter, and later agreed to testify against Coppola in an income tax investigation. As a result, Coppola ordered several gunmen to kidnap and assault her. Found severely beaten on an isolated beach, Ann Coppola continued with the investigation. She later fled to Europe and overdosed on sleeping pills after sending a letter to the IRS detailing the criminal activities of the Luciano crime family.

popular name: John Philip Nichols

date_of_death: March 17, 2001

age: 71

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: John Philip Nichols, 76, was the controversial patriarch of the family and former CIA agent that brought the Cabazon Indians into the gambling era. After Nichols became financial advisor in 1978, the tribe launched business ventures including a poker club and bingo hall and the sale of tax-free cigarettes and discount liquor. Under his leadership, the Cabazons established health insurance plans and opportunities in education and employment. However despite all the promises, no actual money was transfered to the Cabazons. In actuality the tribe continued to go deeper in debt as the years went by and the casino was flush with visitors and gamblers. The morning he was supposed to meet with an attorney to transfer documents showing embezzlement, money laundering and illegal arms dealings, Cabazon Band of Mission Indians tribal Councilmember Fred Alvarez and his friends, Ralph Boger and Patricia Castro, were found dead on July 1, 1981. The case has remained unsolved for decades but it is strongly suspected that John Philip Nichols either hired the triggerman or was the actual gunman who committed the murders. In addition, Nichols pleaded no contest in 1985 to two felony counts of soliciting the murder of two people he believed were dealing drugs. The killings were never carried out and he spent almost two years in prison.