“Con Edison crooks --
​This is for you”

By R. Marc Kantrowitz
Lawyers Weekly, August 15, 2024   ​

The first bomb was planted in mid-November 1940. Placed on the windowsill in a Consolidated Edison plant in Manhattan, the crudely made device was discovered before it detonated. Indeed, it appeared that it was never intended to explode, as a note accompanying it would have been destroyed.

In distinctive block letters, the missive read: “CON EDISON CROOKS — THIS IS FOR YOU — THERE IS NO SHORTAGE OF POWDER BOYS.” It was signed F.P.
​
A second dud, this one without a note, came the following September, five blocks from Con Ed headquarters. Little attention was paid to the non-explosions despite the bomber’s best efforts to publicize his actions through an onslaught of letters to Con Ed, the police, newspapers, department stores, hotels and clothing stores, all of which were ignored, probably due to more pressing matters in Europe. Read more.

Cold as Ice - Unsolved Boston Murders

Discussion at Lynnfield Historical Society 

Read: "A New Chapter"  

“Who’s the No. 1 comedian working today?” Appeals Court Judge R. Marc Kantrowitz asks more than a dozen wide-eyed, mostly young law clerks seated around a long conference-room table. A few moments of tense silence follow. This, after all, is a bit less serious of a query than a judge might typically pose to a student clerk, so it takes a few seconds to warm to the task. Read more.

About the author

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R. Marc Kantrowitz is the most highly published lawyer on state law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  He has written numerous books on criminal law, motor vehicle tort law, juvenile law, evidence, and mental health, as well as numerous law-related articles.  He also writes a column entitled Law  'n History.
Read more.

Podcasts

To listen to the latest podcast from R. Marc Kantrowitz, "Ponzi Scheme: The Notorious Namesake," click here.

For previous podcasts, click here.

Old Whiskey and Young Women

“Murder and mystery, society, sex and suspense were combined in this case in such a manner as to intrigue and captivate the public fancy to a degree perhaps unparalleled in recent annals.”  Ohio vs. Sheppard, 165 Ohio St. 293, 294 (1956).

While this should no longer occur in a criminal trial, it can in a book.  And this is the book in which it does.

Here, some of the most notorious legal cases in American history are explored.  What they have in common is that they titillated, if not repulsed, the entire nation when they first occurred.  What they still have in common is that, for the most part, they are today nearly totally forgotten.

From the unfair framing for murder of America’s most famous comedian, to America’s first capital case involving an older woman and her much younger lover murdering her husband, to Mad Harry Thaw, the wealthy and mad son of a steel magnate, killing America’s foremost architect over a beautiful woman, all come to life in gripping detail and drama.  And meet the real Norman Bates of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, whose mother fixation and real life gruesome crimes far outmatched those of any fictional character.  

This book brings to life these notorious characters and many more from the rich pages of history.  

Law 'n History

R. Marc Kantrowitz writes a column entitled "Law 'n History" for Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, the Patriot Ledger, and the sister publications of both. His goal for these articles is to have the reader look at history through a different view. He likes to pick topics about past events that people know little about, himself included. Through his writing he likes to show readers that people are generally the same today as they were hundreds of years ago;  the smart, wise and generous vying against the petty, vengeful and stupid. Read more.