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No one has asked so I will: What became of the Weinberger's?


La Marca Dies For Baby Killing-August 7, 1958

Ossining, New York (AP)-John Angelo LaMarca, 33, went to his death in the electric chair at Sing Sing prison Thursday night for the kidnap slaying of 33 day old Peter Weinberger.
LaMarca prayed on his final day with the Rev. George McKinney, of Wallkill, New York, recently appointed Roman Catholic chaplain of the prison. It was father McKinney's first occasion for administering spiritual solace to a condemned man.
As death hour neared, LaMarca was visited by his wife, Donna: his parents, Vincenzo and the Vitina LaMarca, and his brothers, Anthony and Joseph LaMarca.
LaMarca had 16 stays of execution in a battle to escape the chat. He carried the fight through the state courts and up to the US Supreme Court.
A final court move which turned down in New Haven Wednesday by the US circuit court of appeals. New York Gov. Harriman had made no comment on clemency appeals.
LaMarca a former mechanic of Plainview New York stole a baby from his carriage on a patio of the Weinberger home in Westbury New York on July 4, 1956. He later abandoned the infant in a thicket where the boy died of starvation and exposure.
The kidnaper had left a note demanding $2000 ransom from the parents, Mr. and Mrs. Morris Weinberger. Weinberger is a well-to-do wholesale drug executive.
The defense in the trial contended LaMarca had been driven insane by mounting debts and that the move was to get money to help support his own wife and two children.
LaMarca became frightened after leaving the note and abandoning the baby, and never collected the ransom.
The crime was traced to him through a comparison of the handwriting on the ransom note with that of LaMarca's on an old court record. More than 1 million court documents and motor vehicle records had been checked and searched.
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LaMarca Goes to Death in Whimper
Ossining New York-Angelo John LaMarca, kidnap-slayer of infant Peter Weinberger, went to his death whimpering Thursday in Sing Sing prison's electric chair.
LaMarca, 33 who once blamed the crime on his need to raise $2000 to pay for storm windows and other household goods, and hoped to the last minute he would be saved.
But radio appeals and a flood of telegrams to Gov. Averill Harriman's office in Albany proved unavailing. LaMarca last Wednesday lost a two-year court battle - including six appeals - to escape execution.
LaMarca, the father of two young children, began to whimper as he was strapped into the chair. Executed at 11 PM he was pronounced dead three minutes later.
His wife Donna remained with him in his cell until 9 PM. The doomed man was heard to call out occasionally, "Mabey they'll save me yet."
His attorney David M Markowitz had gone on the air in New York City, urging the public to intercede with Harriman. The broadcast was repeated in the Albany area. The governor's office reported receiving between 400 and 500 telegrams, but there was no other comment.
LaMarca snatched 33-day-old Peter from his carriage on the patio of the Westbury New York home of Mr. and Mrs. Morris Weinberger July 4, 1956.

The boy was left to die in a lonely Long Island thicket the day after the kidnapping.

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If you're going to make a "true story" film, and it doesn't center on a member of the glitteratti or a famous historical figure, then fogetta-boudit. I didn't even know this film was based on real life characters until after I watched it. Only reason I picked it up was because I wanted to see James Franko's acting versatility after watching him in The Interview (thumbs up) last week.

But whatever... to your original question: the Weinbergers weren't exactly "rich" folks like Howard Hughes rich... more like doctor-lawyer kind of upper-middle class rich. If you dig a little more, you can find a quote from Morris Weinberger in the Equire coverage of this case in the 90s: "Weinberger, then seventy-nine, told a Long Island newspaper, 'I don't think about the kidnapping, because there is no sense in crying over spilled milk. You have to live life the way it was presented.'" He and his wife moved to Florida. Their two surviving children apparently became dentists. You'd probably find the rest of that article also interesting:


MARK OF A MURDERER, By Mike McAlary
Esquire, September 1997

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