Silas Jayne

popular name: Allan Pinkerton

date_of_death: July 1, 1884

age: 64

cause_of_death: Gangrene (disputed)

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Allan Pinkerton was a Scottish cooper, abolitionist, detective, and spy, best known for creating the Pinkerton National Detective Agency during his time in the United States. When the Civil War began, Pinkerton served as head of the Union Intelligence Service during the first two years, heading off an alleged assassination plot in Baltimore, Maryland while guarding Abraham Lincoln on his way to Washington, D.C. as well as identifying troop numbers in military campaigns. His agents often worked undercover as Confederate soldiers and sympathizers to gather military intelligence. Pinkerton himself served on several undercover missions as a Confederate soldier using the alias Major E.J. Allen. Following Pinkerton's service with the Union Army, he continued his pursuit of train robbers, including the Reno Gang. He was hired by the railroad express companies to track outlaw Jesse James, but after Pinkerton failed to capture him, the railroad withdrew their financial support and Pinkerton continued to track James at his own expense.

popular name: José Menéndez

date_of_death: August 20, 1989

age: 45

cause_of_death: Homicide - gunshot wounds

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: José Menéndez was an entertainment executive and was married to Kitty Menendez, a former beauty queen, school teacher and mid-level Beverly Hills socialite. Sadly Kitty and Jose will always be remembered as the murder victims of their two sons - Erik and Lyle. In August of 1989 the couple’s two sons, Lyle and Erik, drove a small white hatchback up to the house, got their weapons from the trunk and entered the house via the French doors. The first shot from a .12 gauge shotgun hit José in the back of the head and killed him instantly. They continued with two more shots, tearing open both arms. Kitty was not so lucky as they pumped 10 shots as she tried to crawl away with the final shotgun blast to the face. Lyle dialed the fake 911 call and told police they had arrived home after a movie to the grisly discovery as smoke from the gunshots still loomed in the air. But as the months passed after the execution-style deaths, police were struck by the sons’ lavish spending sprees: buying Rolex watches, private tennis lessons, expensive clothing, jewelry, a Porsche, and even a chicken wings restaurant. After two hung juries, a third trial found them guilty of murder and sentenced the two sons to life without parole.

popular name: Dutch Schultz

date_of_death: October 24, 1935

age: 34

cause_of_death: Mob hit - gunshot wounds

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Dutch Schultz was a New York based mobster who made his fortune bootlegging rum during Prohibition, followed by gambling, the numbers racket and the restaurant racket afterwards. Schultz was known for his extreme brutality and the accumulation of a frightening body count of those opposed to him including Legs Diamond, Arnold Rothstein and Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll. By 1935 he was in open conflict with US attorney Thomas Dewey. Schultz was arrested, then freed (to the utter surprise of everyone) when he bribed the venue of his trial, but as Dewey continued to pursue he started hemorrhaging money and power. Afterwards, Schultz called an emergency meeting of the Mafia Commission for permission to kill Dewey. Worried that there would be immense law enforcement pressure on the Commission if such a popular public official was murdered, the members refused. Schultz was furious, blaming the commission for "feeding him to the law", and vowed to kill Dewey himself. After Schultz stormed off, after six hours of deliberations the Commission ordered Louis Buchalter of Murder Inc. to eliminate "The Dutchman. A few days later, Schultz along with 3 of his henchmen were shot at The Palace Chophouse Restaurant (his headquarters at the time) by two hit men (Charles "The Bug" Workman and Emanuel "Mendy" Weiss) from Murder Inc. All 4 of the shooting victims died within a day of the ambush. He was laid to at Gate of Heaven Cemetery Hawthorne, New York.