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Wrongly Executed? - The Long-forgotten Context of Charles Sberna's 1939 Electrocution Paperback – November 11, 2016

by Thomas Hunt (Author)

3.7 5 ratings

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Was Charles Sberna wrongly convicted of the murder of Police Officer John H.A. Wilson? Was an innocent man sent to the electric chair in 1939? What reasons could the authorities have had for refusing to consider alternatives and rushing Sberna into Sing Sing Prison's death device? Wrongly Executed? provides the details and historical background of the Sberna case. The story is a complex and controversial one, involving celebrity attorneys, Mafia bosses, violent political radicals, media giants and ruthless establishment figures, all set in a period in which Americans sought stability and government-imposed order after years of political upheaval, economic depression and Prohibition Era lawlessness.

Reading age

1 year and up
Print length

260 pages
Language

English
Dimensions

5.98 x 0.65 x 9.02 inches
Publication date

November 11, 2016
ISBN-10

1365528723
ISBN-13

978-1365528729
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Lulu.com; First Edition (November 11, 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 260 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1365528723
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1365528729
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 1 year and up
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.98 x 0.65 x 9.02 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #8,240,072 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #259,090 in United States History (Books)

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3.7 5 ratings

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Thomas Hunt

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Tom Hunt edits and publishes the journal, "Informer: The History of American Crime and Law Enforcement," the Writers of Wrongs (writersofwrongs.com) blog of crime historians and the American Mafia history site (mafiahistory.us). He moderates several online forums and has written/co-written articles for various publications.

He authored 2016's "Wrongly Executed? The Long-forgotten Context of Charles Sberna's 1939 Electrocution." He partnered with Michael A. Tona in the two-volume 2013 historical biography, "DiCarlo: Buffalo's First Family of Crime." He partnered with Martha Macheca Sheldon for "Deep Water: Joseph P. Macheca and the Birth of the American Mafia," silver medalist in the 2008 Independent Publisher Book Awards. He contributed a history of the U.S. Mafia for "Mafia: The Necessary Reference to Organized Crime," published by Millennium House in 2010. He has contributed research and editing to many other historical works.

Born to an Italian-Irish family in the Bronx, NY, he attended Catholic schools in the Bronx and Danbury, CT. He earned his bachelor's degree in history and journalism from Charter Oak State College in CT. Longtime residents of New Milford, CT, he and his wife have lived in Whiting, VT, since 2012. They have three grown children.

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Patrick Downey

Another superb historical true-crime book from Thomas Hunt.

Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2017

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What happens when you are accused of murdering a cop and: 1) Your father was an anarchist and 2) Your in-laws are one of New York City’s most infamous Mafia families? You go to the chair of course. But in the case of Charles Sberna was justice served? That’s up for the reader to decide. With his customary thorough research, Tom Hunt takes us to the scene of the crime and weighs the evidence for and against Sberna. Along the way, we learn about the anarchist movement of the early 1900’s and get a lesson on the early days of the New York City Mafia. Anyone interested in historical true-crime or New York City history will dig this book.

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Ellen Poulsen

A Study in Criminal Injustice

Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2017

Before I begin my review, I wonder what would provoke a "spoiler alert" notice (in the previous consumer review) that would find fault with the title. This is not a mystery book, or a who-done-it and we can't know what happens at the end. The genre of this book is nonfiction true crime history. The fact that Charles Sberna was "wrongly executed" is the very premise of the thesis. It is ultimately a story which fits in well with the genre of film noir'. Charles Sberna, a family guy with ties to anarchy and organized crime, comes across as the ill-fated, doomed loser whose fate is established early in the story. Anarchists and mafia figures were treated equally in the criminal justice system and Sberna, who had blood and marriage ties to both elements, was executed for the crime of murdering a police officer during the course of a felony robbery.

I highly recommend this book. It is for anyone who has ever wondered about the assembly line to the electric chair that was a normal outcome of a first or second degree murder trial in this country in the 1930s. While this story takes place in New York, this was happening throughout the United States. Therefore, if you are a reader of Midwestern or Southwestern 1930s true crime, you will find something in this book to give you that "ah ha" moment -- "So this is why they executed Raymond Hamilton/Harry Pierpont/Adam Richetti...." The list goes on and on, and the reader can insert a name of his or her special topic of interest and find a notorious person who was executed for first or second degree murder in the 1930s.

As a reader of New York 1930s true crime, I was riveted by the analysis of the liberties that Thomas E. Dewey took with due process in the company of his assistant district attorneys, many of whom have otherwise good historical reputations. Many times I have stared in dismay while browsing through old microfilm of the NY Daily News and the NY Mirror, at photos of young men being sent in large groups to Sing Sing to die in its notorious electric chair. In those days, appeals were quick, rubber stamp technicalities that rarely resulted in clemency for anyone. These were injustices, deserving of examination.

Not only is Mr. Hunt a brilliant and dedicated historian, he has great patience with the kind of details that have gone out of style in this era of shortened attention spans. He doesn't take shortcuts as a way to keep a less academic reader interested. His writing style is hard-hitting and filled with information that isn't found anywhere else -- unless one is willing to dig into the voluminous sources that Mr. Hunt has so carefully cited in the notes and bibliography section.

The photos are graphic, black and white renditions and they go right to the point. Closeups of evidence and photos of the crime scene give this book a feeling of an old True Detective magazine.

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Wrongly Executed? - The Long-forgotten Context of Charles Sberna's 1939 Electrocution Paperback – November 11, 2016

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