Crime of the Century, The [Paperback]

Dennis L. Breo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1993

On July 14, 1966, Richard Franklin Speck murdered eight student nurses in their quiet Chicago town house. He broke in as his helpless victims slept, bound them one by one, and then stabbed, assaulted, and strangled all eight in a sadistic sexual frenzy. By morning only one young nurse had miraculously survived. The barbarity of the attack shocked a nation and opened a new chapter in the history of American crime: mass murder.

Here is the never-before-told story of Richard Speck by the prosecutor who put him in prison for life.In the Crime of the Century, William J. Martin has teamed up with Dennis L. Breo to re-create the blood-soaked night that made American criminal history, offerning fascinating behind-the-scenes descriptions of Speck, his innocent victims, the desperate manhunt and massive investigation, and the trial that led to Speck's successful conviction. In 1991 Richard Speck died of a heart attack in prison, but the horror of his crime still haunts the conscience of a nation.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"They are all dead! My friends are all dead! Oh, God, I'm the only one alive!" Chicago, 1966: a drifter from Texas named Richard Speck broke into a small townhouse one hot summer night. He tied up nine student nurses, then methodically raped and killed eight of them, one after another. One of the roommates, a tiny Filipino woman, hid under a bed for hours, and survived to crawl out a window the next morning and scream for help. The Cook County coroner, having surveyed the carnage, said to a gathering crowd, "It's the crime of the century." After Speck died in jail, 25 years later, the prosecuting attorney for the case (Bill Martin) and the journalist who won an award for his coverage of the crime (Dennis Breo) teamed up to write this brilliantly crafted book. A bizarre murderer, a spunky heroine, a stormy period in U.S. history, fascinating legal maneuvers, a dramatic trial, and sensitive treatment of human suffering--The Crime of the Century brings it all together for a classic of true crime reporting.

From Publishers Weekly

Former prosecutor Martin and Chicago journalist Breo present a fast-paced, solid reconstruction of Martin's biggest case: the fatal stabbing, strangling and sexual assault of eight young nurses by drifter Richard Speck in Chicago in 1966. Drawing on a wealth of research (including interviews with surviving nurse Corazon Amurao), the authors cannot resist certain cliches but eschew reconstructed quotes and excessive melodrama. They amply detail Speck's "bragging, drinking and lying" before his violent sexual rampage in the nurses' townhouse. Their account of the search for Speck ranges through Chicago; after police missed opportunities to capture him, a doctor identified the injured suspect, who had slashed himself in a suicide attempt. The authors render Martin's investigation in the third person; most important was his effort to keep Amurao in a safe place. Inquiring into Speck's background, Martin discovered an abusive stepfather and a history of violence but not of mental illness; Speck was found competent to stand trial. The jury took 49 minutes to decide his guilt. Though jurors called for the death penalty, Speck's execution was halted by the U.S. Supreme Court, and Speck, who never confessed his crimes, died in prison of a heart attack in 1991.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 462 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (March 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553560255
• ISBN-13: 978-0553560251
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #671,817 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A chilling read from Speck's prosecutor., April 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Crime of the Century, The (Paperback)

As an armchair criminologist and true crime fan, the story of Richard Speck has been the one story that has haunted me for years. I long waited for the gruesome story of Speck and his vicious murder spree to be told in detail. Now, with the release of this excellent book, Speck's prosecutor William Martin gives us an eyewitness view into the crimes and trial of Richard Speck. With the help of Dennis Breo, Martin weaves a page-turning, frightening tale that reads as well as anything by Stephen King. Except this horrifying story is true. Martin reveals many never-before-known facts about the case and pays a great deal of attention to accuracy and detail especially in his depiction of the murders through the eyes of the heroic witness, Corazon Amurao. This book is a must read account of the mass murders that introduced a shocked world to a new age of violence and mass murder. I only wish that they would revise this book to include the discovery of the Speck porno/confession videotape in 1996.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars RIVETING, SHOCKING AND IMPOSSIBLE TO PUT DOWN!, July 2, 2005

By 

a viewer "a viewer" (antioch, tn United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Crime of the Century, The (Paperback)

Richard Speck committed the most heinous of crimes in 1966. He savagely murdered eight innocent young women student nurses in the sprigtime of their lives and showed no remorse for what he did. This book, written by the man who prosecuted him and sent him to prison is a factual, precise account of the crime that began the "serial killing" and "mass murder" mode. What is so riveting, yet upsetting and shocking about this book is the fact that nothing is held back and one feels as if he is in the room with Speck waiting to be murdered by him or one of the witnesses at the trial, or one of the jurors or as part of the investigation team. Its all there and nothing is held back. I remember being a child of 6 in colorado in 1966 and my Aunt talking about the murders. The story made national headlines and even reached to a small country town where I was raised. I was scared then. About a month ago I was digging through some old magazines and found a people magazine article on Richard Speck from 1991, the year that he died of a heart attack in prison. (He was never executed though he received the death penalty but the Supreme Court ruled against the death penalty in Illinois so the man got off easy. But who knows about his eternal soul...only God can judge that). Anyhow, the article went into depth about what he had done and how one brave woman, Corazon Amurao, one of the nurses, survived. I looked here at Amazon to see if any books had been written on Speck and found this one! It is the best account of any Crime that I have ever read. My heart still reels with sadness at what those poor young women had to suffer and the terror that they must have gone through. How Corazon Amurao got through everything without going through Post Traumatic Stress is a testament to the way things were handled, her protection and shielding from police and reporters. Currently she is a nurse in Virginia. Speck was never punished sufficiently for his crime on this earth. The evil he perpetrated had far reaching repercussions as it ushered in the "terrorist" era that continues to this day. This book is not for the squeamish. It is excellent and well writing and cuts to the heart from first page to last. May God bless the young women who suffered at the hands of a madman and may God have mercy on the madman who didn't have mercy on those eight beautiful, decent, hardworking women he killed that hot July in 1966.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A real-life nightmare, April 20, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Crime of the Century, The (Paperback)

Oh, this is a true story, all right. I was a child in the Chicagoland area when the nurses were killed, and I understood (superficially, at least) what Speck had done and the impact it had on the adults around me. "Richard Speck" became like "The Bogeyman," or the other monsters that haunt children's nightmares. So as an adult, I was eager to confront the demon of my girlhood by reading this detailed and serious study. I was not prepared for how genuinely horrible the crimes were, especially against the backdrop of those more innocent times. I had not been aware of how close Speck came to getting away. I had real admiration for the lawyers, jurors and judge who worked to ensure that our system of justice worked -- even for this piece of human flotsam. Most of all, I rediscovered a real-life heroine, Corazon Amurao. No one should have had to endure what she lived through that summer night, and the way she stood up to Speck in court was awe-inspiring. Hers is a truly indomitable spirit. But I'm still as afraid Richard Speck today as I was more than 35 years ago. He was my introduction to evil, and it seems that the killers who have come after him, from Bundy to Gacy to the Washington snipers, have just gotten stronger and meaner and smarter.