Crimes Committed While
UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF MEDICAL MARIHUANA
PART I
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Crimes Committed While UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF MEDICAL MARIHUANA PART I |
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 What the Narc's were claiming A seventeen-year-old boy in a Southern state smoked a marijuana cigarette handed him in a poolroom. When he arrived home, he imagined that his family had been conspiring to dismember him. To forestall this, he hacked his father, mother, sister and two brothers to death with an ax while they slept -- Collier's (Magazine) - June 1949 Then we have the case of a young boy in Florida. The story runs as follows: "A young boy who had become addicted to smoking marihuana cigarettes, in a fit of frenzy because, as he stated while still under the marihuana influence, a number of people were trying to cut off his arms and legs, seized an axe and killed his father, mother, two brothers and a sister, wiping out the entire family except himself." -- Mr. Anslinger 1937 Congressional Testimony Relation to Crime. Homicides, suicides and assaults, particularly those upon sex, are among the more grave indictments of marihuana. Perhaps the most lurid and frequently repeated case is that of a Florida youth, who, while said to have been under the influence, imagined some people were going to cut off his arms and legs; whereupon, in a frenzy, he seized an ax, killed his father and mother, 2 brothers and a sister. -- American Journal of the Medical Sciences - 1938 pg 351 A teen-age lad awoke in a southern jail and called for his parents. "How do you feel?" an officer asked him. "Wonderful!" the lad exclaimed. "Like a champion! I could lick Joe Louis." After he told the officers about a high school party he attended the night before at which tea was smoked, he heard the story of what happened afterward: "Well, son, after the party, you went home, murdered your father, your mother and your sister with an axe. You set the house afire and when the firemen came you attacked them with an axe. Do you remember that?" No, he couldn't. All he remembered was a terrible dream, in which he had to protect himself from dreadful monsters. -- Fortnight Newsmagazine Aug 20, 1951 Florida. A young man who had become addicted to smoking Marihuana cigarettes, while under the effects of the drug, imagined that a number of people were trying to cut off his arms and legs, seized an axe and killed his father, mother, two brothers and a sister, wiping out the entire family. -- Finger Print & Identification Magazine March 1938 pp3 A 16 year old kills his entire family of five in Florida;---Chicago Tribune Jan 17, 1962 pg 5 -- "Reefers: A Fast Road Downhill" by Harry J. Anslinger; Will Oursler Murdered parents, sister, two brothers with an ax after smoking marijuana; unaware of actions until next day. -- The Truth about Marijuana -- Stepping Stone To Destruction - June 1967 A boy in Tampa, Florida, smoked two cigarettes one afternoon. That night he got an axe and crushed the skulls of his father, mother, sister, and two brothers, as they lay in their beds. When arrested, he explained to the police that his mother and father had been attempting to cut off his arms and legs and he was only defending himself. Incidentally, the father was a peddler and had been using his son to "push" the cigarettes at school. -- TRUE STORY (Magazine) - Dec. 1948 It happened in Florida. A young boy marijuana addict, while still under the influence of marijuana, believed that a number of persons were trying to cut off his arms and legs; so he seized an ax and killed his father, mother, two brothers, and a sister. -- Health Magazine - Oct. 1938 In Florida a young boy who had become addicted to smoking marihuana cigarets seized an ax and killed his father, mother, two brothers and a sister, wiping out his entire family. In a fit of frenzy from the effects of the dope he then ran to the porch of the house shrieking madly that a number of people were trying to cut off his arms and his legs. -- Denver Post - Feb 24, 1935 Sec 3 pg. 2 Murder While Drugged - In Florida, marijuana led a young man to kill his father, mother, sister and two brothers with in axe. --The Christian Century - June 29, 1938 In Florida another reefer-smoking youth murdered his entire family, including his parents and brothers, and then killed himself. --"Narcotics: America's Peril" by Will Oursler (1952) The one who sets forth with knife or ax---like the Florida boy of seventeen who hacked to death all the five other members of his own family---is of the maniacal type, who has often wished for the physical prowess that would permit mass mayhem, but who always before lacked the courage. -- American Weekly [Sunday supplement] - S.F Examiner - July 28, 1940 Some months ago a boy living in Florida murdered his parents, two brothers and a sister. He explained to the police that he had believed they were going to cut off his arms and his legs. -- The Daily Oklahoman Nov. 8, 1938 TAMPA, FLA. October 1933. Victor Licata, while under the influence of marihuana, murdered his mother, father, sister and two brothers with an axe. -- MARIHUANA: the New Dangerous Drug, by Frederick T. Merrill 1937 (1950 version) It is sad that we Americans often have to be shocked into taking legislative action. In Tampa, Florida a boy killed his father, mother, sister, and brother. When questioned afterward, all he could remember of the experience was that he had been smoking marijuana cigarettes all day. [Marijuana is the name in the western world for the drug derived from Indian hemp. It is identical with the oriental drug, hashish. It is deadly in its narcotic effect.] After the quadruple murder, a shocked Florida pushed the Uniform Narcotic Act through at once. -- Good Housekeeping - Feb. 1935 "A young boy who had become addicted to smoking marihuana cigarets killed his father, mother, two brothers and a sister, wiping out the entire family except himself*." -- Sierra Educational News - Nov. 1938 (California Teachers Association) …you may wake up sobbing, as did the young boy in Florida, who murdered his entire family. As the officers walked in this young addict was sobbing, "I have had a terrible dream. People tried to hack off my arms. It was my uncle, I believe. He slashed me with a knife." And there stood a youth, in his early teens, under the influence of Marijuana, in a human slaughter house with the ax in his hand. He had killed his father, mother, two brothers and a sister. -- Kiwanis Magazine - Oct. 1938 A Rochester pastor told me of a boy he knew about while pastor in Miami, Fla., who, after smoking two Marijuanas, slaughtered his father, mother, two brothers and a sister, with an axe! -- War With The Underworld 1946 (Book) One of the most atrocious examples of the effects of this age-old drug was the case, cited by Anslinger and others, of the youthful addict in Florida who murdered his entire family. When officers arrived at the home, they found the youth staggering about in a human slaughterhouse. With an axe he had killed his father, his mother, two brothers and a sister. He seemed to be in a daze. - He had no recollection of having committed the multiple crime. The officers knew him ordinarily as a sane, rather quiet young man; now he was pitifully crazed. They sought the reason. The boy said he had been in the habit of smoking something which youthful friends called "muggles," the childish name for marihuana. -- International Medical Digest - Sep. 1937 Another in Tampa, Florida (scene of the Wall-Zarate-Gullo case, subject of a chapter to come), murders his mother, father, sister, and two brothers with an ax. -- Narcotic Agent: by Maurice Helbrant (book) 1941 In Florida, a marijuana victim butchered with an ax his father, sister, and two brothers. -- Forum And Century - Jan. 1939 . and a Florida youngster put the ax to his mother and father. -- NEWSWEEK - Aug 14, 1937 FLORIDA---"'Victor Licata, while under the influence of marihuana, murdered his mother, father, sister and two brothers with an axe. -- Survey Graphic - April 1938 There was an axe murder by a Florida boy who, in butchering his family while crazed by marihuana, brought about the passage of a Uniform State Narcotic Drug Act. --"HERE'S TO CRIME" By Courtney Ryley Cooper 1937 NEWSPAPER ACCOUNTS: OAKLAND TRIBUNE [Oct. 17, 1933] - "4 of Family Slain In Mystery Attacks" HELENA (Daily) INDEPENDENT- Helena, Montana [S-Feb. 21, 1930 pg. 1] "Murder of Child Blamed on Drug" TAMPA DAILY TIMES - FL. [--Oct 17 or 18, 1933 pg. 1] "Crazy Youth Slays Family" [e Oct 18, 1933 pg. 1] "Dream Slayer talks in Cell" (Licata tells reporter how he killed five) [e Oct 18, 1933 pg. 1] "Joint Funeral For 5 Victims" [e Editorial - Oct. 18, 1933] "Stamp Out This Weed Of Flaming Murder" [wanted Oct 20, 1933 pg. 11] Editorial - against Medical Marihuana. "Stop This Murderous Smoke" [--Oct 20, 1933 pg. 11] "Final Rites For 5 Slain" [--Oct 31, 1933 pg. 1] "Report Shows Ax Slayer of Family Insane" [--Nov. 3, 1933 pg. 5] "Order Commits Slayer Licata" TAMPA MORNING TRIBUNE [--Oct. 18, 1933 pg. 1] "Crazed Youth Kills Five of Family With Ax in Tampa Home" [--Oct. 18, 1933 pg. 8] "Logan To War on Marijuana Traffic Here" ST. PETERSBURG EVENING INDEPENDENT [--Oct. 18, 1933 pg. 1] - "Son Held in Tampa Slayings" KEY WEST CITIZEN - Key West, Florida [S-Oct. 18, 1933 pg. 1] "Denies Slaying of Family; Says He Had Dream" Gore File [See Reefer Madness Newspaper Index pamphlet for more references]
WILLIAM GARDNER He was executed on Jan. 17, 1938 - white-Male age 38 --- crime commuted in Franklin County Ohio. What the Narc's were claiming COLUMBUS, 0hio. October 1936. A young man was sentenced to the electric chair for the robbing and unprovoked killing of a hotel clerk. He maintained that he was a marihuana addict and was under the influence of the drug when he committed the crimes. The judge of the Court in which he was tried refused to accept this plea as an extenuating circumstance and served notice on smokers' of marihuana cigarettes that they cannot escape punishment for crimes committed while under the influence of this narcotic -- MARIHUANA; The New Dangerous Drug (pamphlet) by Frederick T. Merrill 1950 version Mr. Anslinger We have several cases of that kind. There was one town in Ohio where a young man went into a hotel and held up the clerk and killed him, and his defense was that he had been affected by the use of marihuana. Mr. Fuller: The only question was whether or not he knew what he was doing, whether he was insane. That is always a defense, whether or not a man is in such a state of mind that he does not know good from evil. The question is whether or not his mind is right, whether he is responsible. -- Mr. Anslinger 1937 Congressional Testimony In another place in Ohio, a young man shot the hotel clerk while trying to hold him up. His defense was that he was under the influence of marihuana. -- 1937 Congressional Testimony In Columbus, Ohio, a man sentenced to the electric chair for robbing and murdering a hotel clerk, made the same plea of' insanity from marijuana. -- The CHRISTIAN CENTURY - June 29, 1938 In Columbus, Ohio, a 35-year-old man was sentenced to the electric chair for robbery and first-degree murder of a hotel clerk. His plea of not guilty was based on insanity due to smoking marihuana cigarettes and the fact that he was under the influence of marihuana when the crime was committed. -- The Traffic in Opium and Other Dangers Drugs (1936) In Columbus, Ohio, a thirty-five-year-old man was sentenced to the electric chair for robbery and first-degree murder of a hotel clerk. His plea of "not guilty" was based on insanity due to smoking marihuana cigarettes. He confessed to being under the influence of marihuana when the crime was committed. -- "Assassin of Youth" (Book) 1954 By Robert Devine In Columbus, Ohio, a thirty-five-year-old man was sentenced to the electric chair for robbery and first-degree murder of a hotel clerk. His plea of "not guilty" was based on insanity due to smoking marihuana cigarettes. He confessed to being under the influence of marihuana when the crime was committed. -- The Moloch of Marihuana (1945) By Robert Devine In Columbus, last October, the killer of a hotel clerk blamed his deed on insanity resulting from the use of the weed. - March 1, 1937 - 4:2 - Cincinnati Enquirer Last week the Ohio Supreme Court affirmed the death sentence imposed upon a man convicted of having committed murder while under the influence of marijuana. -- Oct. 18, 1937 - Cincinnati Enquirer Columbus, Ohio. October 1936. A young man was sentenced to the electric chair for the robbing and unprovoked killing of a hotel clerk. He maintained that he was a marihuana addict and was under the influence of the drug when he committed these crimes. -- National Parent-Teacher (PTA) - May, 1938 (by Harry Anslinger) NEWSPAPER ACCOUNTS: Akron Beacon Journal [ ]- 'Held at Jacksonville, Fla for slaying of Archie B. Coyner, Aug. 14, 1936 19:6 [ ]- Sentenced, 6 29, 1936 - 36:1 [ ]- "Granted stay of execution - F 2, 1937 24:8 [ ]- denied reprieve, Je 2, 1937 21:5 [ ]- death sentence appeal overruled O. 14 1937 29:1 OHIO STATE JOURNAL [ ]- Refused exec clemency on conviction for murder of Arch B. Coyner, Ja 17 1938 1:2 [ ]- Electrocuted Ja 18 1938 1:5 [ ]- Arrested as suspect in murder of Archie b Cyner Ag 14 1936 1:8 [ ]- Claims alibi aug 15 1936 1:2 [ ]- Confesses au 18 1936 1:1 [ ]- indicted S 5, 1936 1:1 [ ]- pleads not guilty S 12 1936 - 2:1 [ ]- Hearing set - S. 15, 1936 - 3:2 [ ]- Trial date announced O 20 1936 9:5 [ ]- pleads insanity photo O. 28, 1936 1:4 [ ]- convicted without recommedation of mercy O 29 1936 1:3 [ ]- files motion for new trial O 31, 1936 14:3 [ ]- motion denied N. 7 1936 3:4 [ ]- Only man in death row at Ohio Pen Ja 5, 1937 1:5 [ ]- awaits death photo F. 18, 1937 2:2 [ ]- granted indefinite stay of execution when appellate ct. consents to hear appeal Mr. 30, 1937 2:7 [ ]- Ct. of appeals ravs case, Ap 29 1937 1:7 [ ]- My 6, 1937 3:6 [ ]- awaits electrocution My 10, 1937 2:3 [ ]- re-sentenced to death Je 2, 1937 3:1 [ ]- awaits execution Je 10, 1937 13:3 [ ]- appeals to Ohio Sup Ct; wins automatic stay of execution, Je 29 1937 1:1 [ ]- ct considers appeal O 6, 1937 2:7 [ ]- rejects appeal, sets execution date Photo O. 14, 1937 1:8 [ ]- granted reprieve by Gov Davey O 29 1937 1:5 [ ]- slated fro clemency hearing before Parole Bd, N. 25, 1937 2:4 [ ]- plea for clemency taken under advisement D 4, 1937 3:5 [ ]- granted 2nd reprieve by Gov. Davey D. 17, 1937 5:3 TOLEDO BLADE [ ]- Electrocuted for slaying Arch B. Coyner Jan 18, 1938 1:7 [ ]- Electrocution postponed by Gov Dave, D. 16, 1937 1:1 YOUNGSTOWN VINDICATOR [ ]- Executed for murder of Arch B. Coyner, Cols, Jan 18, 1938 19:6 [ ]- Granted stay of execution by Gov. Davey Cols D 17, 1937 17:4 [See Reefer Madness Newspaper Index pamphlet for more references] Name - Perez -- Mrs. V. Lotito (victim) Date: March 31, 1948 Location: New York What the Narc's were claiming 1948 New York - Male 36 Puerto Rican choked and stabbed Mrs. V. Lotito, while under influence marihuana. A frequent user, he was married without his knowledge while under influence. He was violent, desperate criminal and habitual user. -- Article by James C. Munch; "UN Bulletin on Narcotics"-1966 Issue 2 1948 - J. Ramirez, - New York - 36 - Puerto Rican choked and stabbed Mrs. V. Lotito, while under influence marihuana. A frequent user, he was married without his knowledge while under influence. He was violent, desperate criminal and habitual user. - Arrested -- 6th conference report - INEOA 1965 NEWSPAPER ACCOUNTS: NEW YORK TIMES [Note, no mention of Marihuana is made in any of the articles] [**]- March 31, 1948 - pp 28 - "Woman Murdered In Home in 55th St." [**]- April 1, 1948 - pp 34 - "Woman's Murder is still unsolved" [**]- April 2, 1948 - pp 46 - "Mrs. Lotito's Books Searched for Clue" [**]- April 3, 1948 - pp 32 - "Suspect is Seized In Lotito Murder" [**]- April 4, 1948 - pp 34 - "Woman's Murder is Still Unsolved" [**]- April 5, 1948 - pp 16 - "Police Guard Wife of Slaying Suspect" [**]- April 7, 1948 - pp 52 - "Suspect in Slaying Tells Third Story" [**]- April 10, 1948 - pp 30 - "Perez Confesses In Lotito Slaying" [**]- April 13, 1948 - pp 17 - "Murder Solution By Police Praised" [**]- April 15, 1948 - pp 28 - ""Perez is Indicted" [**]- April 17, 1948 - pp 32 - "Perez Makes Not-Guilty Plea" [**]- Nov 5, 1948 - pp 56 - "Jury Picked in Murder Trial" Name: - William Alred Date: Nov. 23, 1935 Location: Chicago IL What the Narc's were claiming "Not long ago a high school janitor in Chicago was arrested charged with selling marihuana cigarettes to pupils. -- Oakland Tribune (Newspaper) Oct. 11, 1936 "Don't be a MuggleHead" A typical way of introducing this weed to a group of young people is generally brought about in the following manner: One of them may encounter one of these peddlers, or as discovered in one Midwestern city, a school janitor was the distributor of the cigarettes for a group of peddlers on the outside. The youngster is told of the indescribable thrill resulting from a few puffs of these homemade cigarettes. He is usually told that it is "something different and causes no harm," but is a "real kick." He whispers this around to his closer friends and he is delegated to procure one or more of the cigarettes. -- INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL DIGEST - Sep, 1937 And this is the stuff that is being sold "just around the corner" from high schools in almost every state of the union! Indeed, in one Chicago school the janitor was charged with peddling "reefers" within the school itself! -- "Assassin of Youth" (Book) 1954 By Robert Devine And this is the stuff that is being sold "just around the corner" from high schools in almost every state of the union! Indeed, in one Chicago school the janitor was charged with peddling "reefers" within the school itself! -- Moloch Of Marihuana (1945) Robert James Devine All Chicago truant officers, teachers, and other school employees were called on some weeks ago to cooperate with the city police in stamping out the marihuana smoking which recent disclosures had shown to be gaining among the school children of the city. The immediate reason for this action was the raid on an alleged marihuana flat, a luxurious apartment said to have been furnished with Oriental divans, where vicious literature was strewn about. It had been reported that boys and girls were visiting the place at all hours, and leaving there in a state of daze or hilarity. The raid resulted in the arrest, as a peddler of narcotics, of the owner of the apartment, the janitor of one of the city high schools. He was in the apartment at the time of the raid and had a number of marihuana cigarettes on him. -- The Union Signal (WCTU) Jan. 1936 NEWSPAPER ACCOUNTS: HAMMOND TIMES - Hammond, Indiana [--Nov. 23, 1935 pg. 3] "6 Drug Peddlers Under Arrest Name: D. M. Miditis Date: Sept. 29, 1929 Location: Tulsa OK. What the Narc's were claiming The Tulsa (Okla.) Tribune reports the home of a Mexican hot-tamale salesman, recently arrested, was a dope den for boys and girls of high-school age. -- The Literary Digest (Magazine) Oct 24, 1936 In still another instance the Tulsa Tribune on September 10, 1929,(sic) describing the arrest of D. N. Niditis, a Mexican hot-tamale salesman, said that his home at 1019 E. Archer street, in that city, was a veritable dope den for young boys and girls of high school age, as well as others who have been known to go there to obtain the drugged cigarette. -- Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology - vol. 23 pg1086 NEWSPAPER ACCOUNTS TULSA TRIBUNE [S-Sept. 29, 1929 pg. 3] "Mexican Arrested Here for Selling Marihuana Plants" [Museum Note, like the High School Janitor, the Hot Tamale salesman lurking around every high school, would soon become legion.]
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