Mob Kills Passenger After Car Strikes Child

Debts to the mob allegedly got designer killed

(NEWSER) - A new book alleges that Gianni Versace was murdered over Mafia debts—and that the Mafia even considered stealing his ashes from the cemetery in order to blackmail his family. The 50-year-old fashion designer was gunned down outside his Miami apartment in 1997 by Andrew Cunanan, but Metastasi, by former mafia member Giuseppe Di Bella, alleges that Versace's involvement with the mob is what actually got him killed, the Telegraph reports. More»

(NEWSER) - A mob hitman who used acid to melt his victims' bodies has been sentenced to life, reports the New York Daily News. Charles Carneglia smirked in a Brooklyn courtroom as he listened to statements from his four victims' relatives, including one who called him an "animal" with a "dark soul." Carneglia "led a profane life; his sole role in the Gambino family was to kill and dispose of bodies," said the prosecutor. "He relished the job." Carneglia claimed "liar after liar" testified against him. More»

Bruises show struggle; coroner had called death accidental

(NEWSER) - Drew Peterson’s third wife was killed, a new autopsy says, countering the original coroner’s report that concluded Kathleen Savio’s death was an accident, CNN reports. Bruises point to a struggle in the new autopsy by a top forensic pathologist. Peterson, a former Illinois cop, has been charged with murder in the case and is a suspect in his fourth wife’s disappearance. More»

Judge's ruling all but guarantees appeal

(NEWSER) - A judge sentenced former FBI agent John Connolly to 40 years for a 1982 murder today, and simultaneously blew a giant hole in the prosecution’s case, the Miami Herald reports. The facts seem to be clear: Connolly told mobsters with whom he was in cahoots that an associate, who was promptly shot, was going to snitch. But the second-degree murder charge carried a statute of limitations of 4 years, which ran out long ago, the judge noted. More»

Peterson bragged of getting away with murder

(NEWSER) - Before her disappearance, Stacy Peterson revealed to three people, including a clergyman, that her husband had bragged of killing his ex-wife and making it look like an accident, a source tells the Chicago Sun-Times. Drew Peterson, now a suspect in his fourth wife’s disappearance, was already living with a pregnant Stacy in 2004 when Kathleen Savio’s body was discovered in an empty bathtub. More»