True Crime On This Day June 16th

June 16th

On June 16th in true crime, Mafia attack, mob hit squad kill Pappa Bear, school massacre, serial killer Carroll Cole, and missing persons.

1978

Cannibal and serial killer Carroll Edward Cole was released from jail after a six-month jail sentence for car theft.

Cole was known to the authorities for petty crimes but not yet for the 15 murders he committed before and after his jail time.

His first victim was in 1971 and his last was in 1980 when he strangled to death three more women in November of that year.

He reportedly took some bodies home to sleep with, but it was never proven, nor were his claims of cannibalism.

Cole was caught red-handed with his final victim, and he confessed all of his murders to the police at the time.

By the end of multiple trials in different states, Cole was executed by lethal injection at Nevada State Prison on December 6^th 1985.

1979

In Aleppo, Syria, The Aleppo Artillery School Massacre took place. An on-duty officer and members of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood who called themselves the Fighting Vanguard, called the cadets into an urgent morning meeting in the mess hall.

The Vanguard then opened fire on the cadets with automatic weapons and grenades. Between 50 and 83 cadets were killed. The attack was part of the 1976–1982 Islamist uprising in Syria.

1980

In Brooklyn, New York, former Colombo crime family member and Genovese crime family foot soldier, Gerard ‘Pappa Bear’ Pappa, was murdered by a Colombo hit squad.

Pappa was a known hitman who was feared in the mob world for his violent tendencies. He was killed out of revenge for killing Colombo family member, Thomas ‘Shorty’ Spero.

The hit squad were hiding in the kitchen of the Villa Sixty-Six Restaurant when Pappa entered the building. They ambushed him and shot him in the head at point-blank range with a sawn-off shotgun.

According to witnesses, Pappa’s head was virtually destroyed in the attack. Genovese mob boss Vincent Gigante was accused of organising the hit but was later acquitted.

1981

In Dover, Ohio, 26-year-old Warren Wise disappeared while canoeing with a friend. They were on the Tuscarawas River near the Wooster Avenue Bridge when both Wise and his friend disappeared from sight.

The friend’s body, and the canoe, were found a couple of days later but there was no sign of Wise. The river is gentle with not many areas where canoes can capsize, both Wise and his friend were also accomplished canoeists.

No trace of Wise’s body has ever been found. He is presumed drowned, but some investigators suspected foul play.

There has even been a theory thrown around that Wise drowned his friend and eloped. Despite the theories, no trace of Wise has ever been found.

1982

In Italy, the Circonvallazione massacre took place with an aim to kill Catanese boss Alfio Ferlito.

He was being transferred from Enna to the Trap Trapani Jail along with three escorts when the gun attack took place.

The attack was carried out by Nitto Santapaola, who was in a war with Ferlito for control of the Catania territory. Five people, including Ferlito, were killed in the attack.

1983

In Broward County, Florida, 45-year-old Barry University teacher Adella Marie Simmons, and co-worker Jean Trach were returning home from a vacation when their car broke down.

They were soon approached by John Marek and Raymond Dewayne Wigley. They convinced Simmons to get into the car so they could get help for her. Instead they drove to a remote beach, raped her, then strangled her to death before setting her body on fire.

Both men were arrested shortly after. Wigley was sentenced to life in prison but was killed by fellow inmate John Richard Blackwelder in 2000.

Marek was sentenced to death and executed by lethal injection in Florida on August 19^th 2009. Blackwelder was subsequently sentenced to death and executed on May 26^th 2004.

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