Elena Semander

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: Frank Sheeran

date_of_death: December 14, 2003

age: 83

cause_of_death: Cancer

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Frank Sheeran was a truck driver, corrupt labor union official and alleged mafia hitman. Sheeran is thought by some to have murdered Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa, (among dozens of others) and was the subject of the 2019 film "The Irishman" starring Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci. The truth of the matter is that Sheeran, near death struggling with cancer, dictated his life story to writer Charles Brandt who created a book that was adapted into the movie "The Irishman." In the book Sheeran told Brandt that he had committed one of the country's most infamous unsolved crimes: the murder of Jimmy Hoffa, a powerful onetime leader of the Teamsters Union with ties to organized crime. Sheeran also took credit for killing "Crazy Joe" Gallo, a mobster who was taken out at his own birthday party in 1972. Sheeran's claims got even wilder. He portrayed himself as a peripheral character in JFK's assassination, and a minor player in the Bay of Pigs invasion. Somehow, this previously low-profile thug was the lynchpin in every major unsolved, mob-linked hit. In the end, he claimed to have killed more than 25 people yet the FBI has not been able to link Sheeran to a single killing. Upon his death, he was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, PA.

popular name: Dan Broderick

date_of_death: November 5, 1989

age: 44

cause_of_death: Murdered - gunshot wounds

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: In 1965 Betty met her future husband, Dan Broderick at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. After bearing him four children, working a variety of jobs and keeping the household running, Dan was able to graduate with both a law degree from Cornell University and a medial degree from Harvard University. After working at a couple of law firms, Dan struck out on his own in San Diego, California. In short order Dan was pulling in up to $300,000 a month and was, for the most part the most powerful attorney within the legal community in San Diego at that time. He was president of the San Diego bar association and he won every case he fought and cultivated deep friendships with most of judges and court personnel. In short order he hired a 21-year-old failed flight attendant (she was fired from Delta Airlines for "conduct unbecoming") as his personal assistant (even though she didn't know how to type). Within weeks the married attorney with four children began a torrid affair with the future trophy wife Linda Kolkena. After a vicious legal battle lasting five years, Betty was only awarded roughly $28,000 lump sum, $16,000 a month in alimony (less than 5% of Dan's gross income) and she lost custody of all her children. Three months later, Dan married Linda and seven months they were both murdered in their bed by Betty Broderick.