Forensic Colleges

What is it about true crime that makes it so popular? Even with the abundance of TV procedurals, books about real-life murders and other crimes remain popular, and many of them have in turn been adapted for the screen. Chalk it up to our fascination with the worst among us, and the chill of learning how easily people can go from being productive members of society to killers sent over the edge by circumstance or insanity. Here are 25 standouts in the field that take a detailed look at some of the most notorious crimes in history:

1. In Cold Blood, Truman Capote (1966)
The 1959 murders of the Clutter family in small-town Kansas were gruesome, but they took on epic proportions when Truman Capote recorded the events for his “nonfiction novel” that used journalistic techniques and authorial flair to tell a true crime story like never before. The finished product was a landmark in the development of the true crime genre and cemented Capote’s status as one of the most important writers of his day. The book was turned into a film in 1967, and Capote’s investigation and writing were further dramatized in the biographical Capote in 2005.

2. Helter Skelter, Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry (1974)
The Tate-LaBianca murders, committed in 1969 by Charles Manson and his unstable followers, garnered national attention and turned Manson’s name into a synonym for evil. Vincent Bugliosi was the attorney who prosecuted Manson, and the book’s title comes from the Beatles song “Helter Skelter,” which was one of the tracks from the group that Manson claimed contained messages and instructions impending race wars. Co-authored by Curt Gentry, Helter Skelter is one of the best-selling true crime books of all time, and it inspired a pair of TV-movies (one in 1976, the second in 2004) as well as the 2008 horror film The Strangers.

3. Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, David Simon (1991)
David Simon, a reporter with the Baltimore Sun, spent a year with local homicide detectives to write this engrossing account of murder, drugs, and society that wound up winning an Edgar Award. Simon weaves together four main cases and a host of other facts to present a nuanced view of the world from the street. The book was the basis of the NBC series “Homicide: Life on the Streets,” and would also serve as inspiration for HBO’s “The Wire.”

4. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, Erik Larson (2003)
Erik Larson’s sweeping historical crime volume details the events of the World’s Columbian Exposition, an 1893 event in Chicago held to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the New World. The book follows the exploits of Daniel Burnham, the chief architect of the fair, and H.H. Holmes, a hotelier who used the fair as a hunting ground for victims and became one of America’s first serial killers.

5. Crime and Science: The New Frontier in Criminology, Jurgen Thorwald (1967)
German author Jurgen Thorwald is known for his body of work devoted to forensic science as a crimefighting method, and his Crime and Science remains one of the most informative accounts of the field, though technology has since come to supplement or adjust many of the mid-century techniques.

6. Doctor Dealer: The Rise and Fall of an All-American Boy and His Multimillion-Dollar Cocaine Empire, Mark Bowden (2000)
Although he might be better known for his 1999 war narrative Black Hawk Down, Mark Bowden has turned his journalistic eye more than once toward true crime. Doctor Dealer

7. Wiseguy, Nicholas Pileggi (1986)
Crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi worked with former mobster Henry Hill to construct this riveting insider’s account of life in the Luchese crime family. Hill’s criminal exploits included involvement in 1978’s Lufthansa heist at JFK International Airport, the biggest cash robbery at the time in the country. Hill eventually turned on his fellow gangsters and entered the Witness Protection Program. The book was famously adapted to film as Martin Scorsese’s 1990 classic, GoodFellas.

8. Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia, Joseph D. Pistone (1987)
Joseph Pistone was an FBI agent who spent six years undercover in order to get close to members of the Bonanno crime family in New York City. His fake identity was that of Donnie Brasco, a jeweler and thief. The book he wrote about his time details his close calls and intricate field work required to rise through the ranks of the family. Johnny Depp portrayed Pistone in the 1997 film based on the book.

9. Bestial: The Savage Trail of a True American Monster, Harold Schechter (1998)
Harold Schechter’s Bestial tells the tale of Earle Leonard Nelson, one of the nation’s earlier serial killers. Beginning in the winter of 1926, Nelson went on a killing spree in the U.S. and Canada in which he murdered a variety of woman across far-flung locations with no apparent motive other than pure destruction.

10. Blind Eye: The Terrifying Story of a Doctor Who Got Away With Murder, James B. Stewart (2000)
A former lawyer turned reporter who won a Pulitzer for his coverage of the 1987 stock market scandals, James B. Stewart has used his journalistic edge to cover a dazzling array of topics. In 2000, he released Blind Eye, which won an Edgar Award. The book follows the horrible killings committed by Michael Swango, a chilling figure who allegedly poisoned and killed up to 60 patients without being caught.

11. Finders Keepers: The True Story of a Man Who Found $1 Million, Mark Bowden (2002)
It was too good to be true. Joey Coyle, an unemployed man in his late 20s, was driving with a couple of friends when they happened upon a pair of sacks with a total of $1.2 million in cash. The weird, sad, slightly comic story of true crime follows Joey’s attempts to hide the cash and launder it, all while police are looking for the loot, which went missing from an armored car.

12. A Rip in Heaven: A Memoir of Murder and Its Aftermath, Jeanine Cummins (2004)
Jeanine Cummins has a unique perspective on the crimes detailed in A Rip in Heaven: they happened to her family. On a Spring Break vacation with her family as a teen, Cummins’ 19-year-old brother, Tom, and their two female cousins were attacked on a bridge by a group of assailants. The girls were raped, and they were all pushed off the bridge. Only Tom survived. Cummins recreates the details of the case, including the fact that Tom was initially considered a suspect, with skill and surprising balance given her closeness to the events

13. The Stranger Beside Me, Ann Rule (1980)
Ann Rule career as a true crime writer exploded with her first book, The Stranger Beside Me, in which she describes the shocking true story of knowing and working with Ted Bundy before his arrest for a string of brutal murders. They worked together in the 1970s at a Seattle suicide hotline, and she slowly came to realize that the man she’d known was the one who committed these crimes. The book is a gripping account of her unusual proximity to one of the worst American killers in history.

14. Lethal Intent, Sue Russell (2002)
Female serial killers are far less common than male ones, which is why the story of killer Aileen Wuornos is so riveting. Sue Russell’s biography lays out Wuornos’ sordid history, from her early prostitution to her series of murders and finally execution via lethal injection. Wuornos’ autobiography, Monster, is also worth seeking out, and her life story was turned into a film in 2003.

15. Killer Clown: The John Wayne Gacy Murders, Terry Sullivan and Peter T. Maiken (2000)
Terry Sullivan was the lawyer who prosecuted John Wayne Gacy, nicknamed the “Killer Clown” because of his practice of dressing as a clown for local parties. Gacy murdered many young men and stuffed their bodies into his crawlspace. Sullivan’s account of Gacy’s cold-blooded acts remains one of the best looks at the man’s disturbed mind.

16. The Lives and Times of Bonnie & Clyde, E.R. Milner (1996)
Long romanticized, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow robbed banks and stayed ahead of authorities from 1932-1934, becoming legends after their death. E.R. Milner’s finely detailed book, which took a decade of research and writing, is one of the best portraits available of the couple and their impact.

17. Dead Man Walking, Helen Prejean (1993)
Sister Helen Prejean’s moving story of working with death-row inmates became an acclaimed film in 1995. Her book offers a compelling argument against the death penalty, detailing her work as a spiritual advisor to men sentenced to die.

18. Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34, Bryan Burrough (2004)
The inspiration for Michael Mann’s 2009 film Public Enemies, Bryan Burrough’s exhaustively researched tome offers a fascinating look at a pivotal era in criminal justice in America. Burrough discusses Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and more in his tale of one of the biggest crime sprees in the nation’s history, and he does it all with grace and skill.

19. Angel Face: The True Story of Student Killer Amanda Knox, Barbie Latza Nadeau (2010)
Meredith Kircher was 21 years old when she was murdered in Italy, and the case shocked the nation as well as her family and viewers here in the states. Fellow American student Amanda Knox was eventually convicted of the crime, but there are dozens of twists and turns along the way, not to mention more suspects. Nadeau’s new book sheds light on the killing like never before, including the controversial convictions.

20. The Killing Season: A Summer Inside an LAPD Homicide Division, Miles Corwin (1997)
Similar to David Simon’s Homicide, Miles Corwin’s The Killing Season examines crime in Los Angeles and the way that most murders tend to be ignored by society. In the summer of 1994, everyone else in the country was fascinated by O.J. Simpson, but Corwin rode along with homicide cops in south-central Los Angeles to chronicle the hundreds of murders they dealt with.

21. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, Kate Summerscale (2008)
Kate Summerscale’s nonfiction period drama tells the unusual tale of one of England’s first modern detectives and the case that nearly undid him. Scotland Yard’s Jonathan Whicher was tasked with discovering who killed a 3-year-old child in 1860, and his dogged investigation of the victim’s family turned up solid theories but no evidence. Whicher’s career suffers even as justice is pursued in this fascinating story.

22. And the Dead Shall Rise: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank, Steve Oney (2003)
Steve Oney’s And the Dead Shall Rise profiles a dark moment in American anti-Semitic activity. Mary Phagan, age 13, was murdered in 1913, and her boss, Frank, was arrested for the murder and eventually convicted. His Judaism brought plenty of hatred and discrimination, as Oney details, and when Frank’s death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, angry locals stormed the jail, made off with Frank, and hung him themselves. The shocking turn of events gave birth to the Anti-Defamation League.

23. Confessions of Son of Sam, David Abrahamsen (1985)
David Berkowitz, better known as the Son of Sam, killed multiple people in a spree that gripped New York City and the nation in the summer of 1977. David Abrahamsen’s book is culled from 50 hours of interviews with Berkowitz, as well as research and interviews with family and friends. It’s a truly indispensable book for anyone looking to learn more about the notorious serial killer.

24. Cries Unheard: Why Children Kill — The Story of Mary Bell, Gitta Sereny (1999)
Gitta Sereny’s true crime book focuses on an often neglected area of criminal justice: children who kill. The titular Mary Bell was 11 when she and a friend killed two little bots, and Sereny’s book examines Bell’s tortured youth to find out what might drive a young mind to the breaking point.

25. Blood and Money, Thomas Thompson (2001)
Using a novel-like approach to describe real events, Thomas Thompson’s Blood and Money is a compelling tale of death, murder, and corruption in Texas. The riveting cast of characters, combined with Thompson’s skill at untangling the crimes’ many webs, make it one of the most engaging true-crime books out there.

Miscarriages of justice are sad reminders that the criminal justice system is a good one but far from perfect. Sometimes bad guys go free, and sometimes innocent men and women do time or die for crimes they didn’t commit. When you look at a list like this, some patterns emerge: some confessions are coerced by police, while other convictions are overturned because of advances in DNA technology. But everyone on this list paid a price for something they didn’t do, and that’s a reminder that in the legal system, there’s always room for improvement:

1. Randall Dale Adams
In 1976, Robert Wood of the Dallas Police Department was shot and killed when he pulled a car over. Police first suspected a man named David Ray Harris, but Harris blamed Randall Dale Adams for the killing, and multiple surprise witness in the trial led to Adams’ conviction. He was sentenced to death. However, in May 1979, with just three days to go before his execution, the Supreme Court stayed his execution because of procedural issues with the trial, so Adams’ sentence was commuted to life. In 1985, documentary filmmaker Errol Morris began making The Thin Blue Line, which would come to investigate Adams and reveal further evidence that he was innocent. Adams was set free in 1989, in part because of what the court called malfeasance on the part of the original prosecutor and perjury issues with one of the witnesses. At a later legislative hearing, Adams summed up his journey: “The man you see before you is here by the grace of God. The fact that it took 12 and a half years and a movie to prove my innocence should scare the hell out of everyone in this room, and if it doesn’t, then that scares the hell out of me.”

2. Darryl Hunt
Darryl Hunt was convicted of the 1984 rape and murder of Deborah Sykes in North Carolina, though from the start, racial tensions were present: Hunt is black, Sykes was white, and Hunt faced an all-white jury. Further, there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime, merely testimony from witnesses later proven to be inaccurate. In 1994, DNA technology had advanced to the point where Hunt’s name was cleared in the sexual assault charge, which in turn raised doubts about his involvement in the killing. In December 2003, another man confessed to Sykes’ rape and murder, and the DNA backed up the confession. As a result, Hunt was set free after serving 18 years of his original life sentence. He had always maintained his innocence, and has since become involved with The Innocence Project, a non-profit group that uses DNA testing to help overturn wrongful convictions. The story was retold in the documentary The Trials of Darryl Hunt:

3-6. The Roscetti Four
Lori Roscetti, a medical student was raped and murdered in Chicago in 1986. The young men convicted of the crime came to be known as the Roscetti Four: Omar Saunders, 18, Marcellius Bradford, 17, Calvin Ollins, 14, and Larry Ollins, 16. Bradford agreed to plead guilty and testify against Ollins, and as a result received a 12-year sentence while the other three got life. However, Bradford eventually recanted, saying that his confession and subsequent plea bargain had been forced on him by police. Although forensics at the original trial said that semen found on Sykes’ body could have come from the Ollins brothers, further digging revealed that none of their blood types matched the evidence. In 2001, DNA tech cleared all four men of the crime, and they were released from prison. They all received settlements from the State of Illinois, and Calvin Ollins earned another $1.5 million from the City of Chicago. The proceedings were recounted in a 2002 episode of the radio program “This American Life” entitled “Perfect Evidence.”

7. Kirk Bloodsworth
Kirk Bloodsworth holds an interesting record: He’s the first American sentenced to death whose conviction was overturned through DNA testing. Bloodsworth was convicted of the rape and murder of a 9-year-old Maryland girl, and he maintained his innocence even as several witnesses placed him at the scene. In 1992, while in prison, Bloodsworth read about the emerging practice of DNA testing and how it could be used to help convict or exonerate criminals. When tested against the crime scene evidence, including semen in the victim’s underwear, Bloodsworth name was cleared, and he was set free in 1993. The real killer was located in 2003. Bloodsworth now works with The Justice Project and other groups on behalf of those who have been wrongfully convicted.

8. Martin Tankleff
When he was 17, Martin Tankleff’s parents were murdered and he was arrested for the crime. His conviction was largely aided by a confession written out by a detective that Tankleff rejected and refused to sign. In 1990, he began serving serving his two consecutive life sentences. However, in the following years, he worked hard to protest his treatment and spread word of his innocence. In November 2007, the Suffolk County district attorney was convinced that there had been prosecutorial misconduct in the original trial, and in December of that year, Tankleff’s convictions were overturned. The state later announced it would not seek to retry him, effectively ending his nightmare of wrongful imprisonment after 17 years behind bars. More info here.

9. Darryl Burton
Convicted of a murder he didn’t commit, Darryl Burton served 24 years of his erroneous life sentence before earning his freedom. When a drug dealer was killed in St. Louis in the summer of 1984, Burton was named for the crime by a pair of witnesses angling for lighter sentences on other charges. There was no evidence linking him to the murder, but the testimony was enough to put him away. With help from Centurion Ministries, Burton’s case was eventually brought back up and he was allowed to go free after 24 years.

10. Bill Dillon
Bill Dillon was convicted of murder in 1981, thanks largely to the testimony of a man named John Preston, who used his scent-tracking German Shepherd to link the victim’s bloody T-shirt with Dillon. However, Preston and his dog turned out to be frauds, and were discredited in 1987. Unfortunately, no one started a review process of the cases in which Preston had testified, so it wasn’t until Dillon learned about Preston’s phoniness in 2006 that he started acting on it. He secured a DNA test that exonerated him of the crime, and he was set free after spending 26 years in prison for a crime he always maintainted was committed by someone else.

11. Clarence Brandley
A high school janitor in Texas, Clarence Bradley was convicted of the rape and murder of 16-year-old student Cheryl Dee Ferguson. Brandley, a black man, was sentenced to death for the crime after facing two all-white juries. (The first was declared a mistrial.) Once in prison, his lawyers discovered more evidence that supported his innocence, and civil rights groups raised money to promote his cause and further investigate the killing. Brandley was eventually freed, though prosecutors refused to admit they pursued the wrong man.

12. Glen Edward Chapman
Glen Edward Chapman was convicted of the 1992 killings of Betty Jean Ramseur and Tenene Yvette Conley in North Carolina. However, he was granted a new trial in 2007 when a Superior Court judge learned that detectives had covered up evidence affirming Chapman’s innocence and that one of the detectives had committed perjury in the original trial. Even his original defense attorneys were no good: one was disciplined by the state bar association, and other was taken off another death penalty case to enter alcohol abuse treatment. After 15 years and multiple errors, Chapman was finally sent home a free man. “I’m tired, but not angry,” he said. “I see no need for it.”

13. Thomas Clifford McGowan
When Thomas Clifford McGowan was sent to prison for committing rape and burglary, he maintained his innoncence. The main evidence used to put him away was identification by the victim that turned out to be inaccurate. Thanks to DNA tech, his innocence was proven in 2008, and he was set free after spending 23 years behind bars. “Words cannot express how sorry I am for the last 23 years,” state district judge Susan Hawk told him when he was released.

14-15. Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz
Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz were wrongly convicted in 1988 of the rape and murder of Oklahoma woman Debbie Carter. Williamson, a former minor league baseball player, was suffering from increased mental illness in the 1980s, and though Carter was murdered in 1982, he and Fritz were arrested in 1987 on sketchy premises, including a dream of Williamson’s that was cited as a confession. The evidence against the men also included hair analysis, and the spotty procedure (now known to be unreliable) was used to convict them when it could just as easily have exonerated them. Williamson received a death sentence, despite his mental state, while Fritz received life imprisonment. It wasn’t until April 1999 that the men were freed because of DNA testing. Williamson died five years after in a nursing home, suffering from cirrhosis of the liver. John Grisham wrote about the men in his nonfiction book The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town.

It’s tough to say what will start a riot. From the entries on this list, it looks like all you need is the right combination of unhappy people, unfortunate circumstances, and an anger at society or the system at large that has been allowed to simmer to the boiling point. American history is dotted with these explosions of violence, whether motivated by politics, racism, or just plain discontent. Here are ten of the worst:

1. New York draft riots (July 13-16, 1863)
The backdrop: New York stood with the Union when the Civil War broke out in 1861, but the high body count meant the North’s soldiers were dwindling. In 1863, Congress passed the United States’ first conscription act, though men drafted for service could pay a commutation fee of $300 to get out of service. That financial inequity led to unrest among the lower classes who couldn’t afford to avoid the war the way rich men could.
The final straw: When the draft lottery began, riots broke out and ran for three days. Historians dispute the casualties, estimating that between 120 and 2,000 civilians were killed. The brawls were featured in part in Martin Scorsese’s 2002 film, Gangs of New York.

2. Newark riots (July 12-17, 1967)
The backdrop: Running almost a week in 1967, these New Jersey riots wound up killing 26 people and injuring hundreds more. Black residents of the city had grown tired and angry at repeated incidences of police brutality, as well as a growing feeling of being disenfranchised.
The final straw: A pair of white cops arrested a black cab driver for improperly passing them and took him to their precinct building, across the street from public housing. Residents of the project saw an “incapacitated” black man being dragged inside, and though the driver was taken to a hospital, rumor spread that he’d died in police custody. With that, the civil unrest tipped over and erupted into a week of riots. The 2007 documentary Revolution ‘67 examined the events:

3. Riots after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. (April 1968)
The backdrop: The killing of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the heat of the civil rights movement of the 1960s was a dark moment among the many from that era. King was a leader for a generation, and his death angered and saddened millions.
The final straw: King’s assassination instantly gripped the nation and sparked riots in more than 60 cities. Washington, D.C., rioted for four days, with mass looting and injuries, and the swelling crowds at one point spread to within two blocks of the White House. Baltimore exploded into a riot, as well, and 5,000 soldiers from Fort Bragg deployed to the city to maintain order. Citizens in Chicago rioted and spread out over almost 30 blocks along West Madison Street, and the Illinois National Guard came in to assist police. Nationwide damages were well into the millions.

4. The Rodney King riots (April 29-May 4, 1992)
The backdrop: Rodney King, a black man on parole, led officers on a high-speed chase through Los Angeles before being caught and beaten. The beating was captured on the officers’ car cameras, and all four were charged with using excessive force. After a week’s deliberation, all four were acquitted of assault and three of the four acquitted of the excessive force charge.
The final straw: The verdict sent local black and Hispanic communities into a frenzy at the perceived injustice, and riots started to break out the evening of the verdict’s reading and lasted for days. There were many retaliatory attacks, including Reginald Denny, a white truck driver whose vicious beating was captured by a live news camera from above. All told, the riots killed 53 people, injured 2,000, and cost close to $1 billion in damages.

5. Stonewall riots (June 28, 1969)
The backdrop: Gays and lesbians were routinely shut out from mainstream society in the middle of the 20th century, from the denial of employment to being diagnosed by the American Psychiatric Association as having a “sociopathic personality disturbance.” New York’s Greenwich Village became one of the nation’s foremost gay-friendly areas, including the Stonewall Inn, a bar on Christopher Street.
The final straw: Police raids on gay bars to harass patrons and arrest drag queens were regular, but the one in the early hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall didn’t go as planned. Customers refused to cooperate or disperse, and eventually the confrontation turned violent as the sides attacked each other. The fracas led to greater protests and a higher profile for the gay rights movement.

6. The Chicago riots at the Democratic National Convention (August 28, 1968)
The backdrop: Following a year of assassinations and political disappointments, protestors from various groups had grown tired of the Johnson administration’s handling of the Vietnam War and the growing divide in society. Many promised to show up in Chicago at the Democratic National Convention to show their displeasure.
The final straw: Tens of thousands of protestors descended on the city, and the biggest conflict occurred on August 28 as protestors and police began fighting. Law enforcement officers used tear gas and Mace to subdue countless civilians. When it was all over, seven people were charged with conspiracy to incite the riot, and they became known as the Chicago Seven. Some were acquitted while others were fined, but all convictions were overturned in 1972.

7. The Battle in Seattle (November 30, 1999)
The backdrop: The World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1999 was held in Seattle for three days in November that year. Leading up to the conference, delegates couldn’t agree on an agenda and admitted that the attempt to launch new trade negotiations was being hampered by constant disagreements. The meeting was a target for participants in the anti-globalization movement, which stands in opposition to global capitalism because of its perceived abuse of the worker.
The final straw: On November 30, the Direct Action Network, an anarchist group, led activists to take control of major intersections and converge on the city to effectively shut it down. The move prevented delegates from reaching the convention center, but some began looting and smashing windows, which invited blowback from police. More than 600 people were arrested, some beaten in the process, and the WTO ended the meeting and reconvened it in 2001.

8. The Attica Prison riot (September 9-13, 1971)
The backdrop: Prisoners in New York’s Attica Prison were made to enjoy low standards of living in 1971, including one shower a week and one roll of toilet paper every month. Their unrest continued to grow.
The final straw: In August 1971, a prisoner at California’s San Quentin Prison was killed attempting to escape. In response to that and other turns, almost 1,000 Atttica prisoners rioted in September in an attempt to demand better living conditions. They took 33 guards hostage and began negotiating for their demands. Eventually, state police hit the building with tear gas and fired into the smoke, killing some hostages and inmates who weren’t resisting. In the end, nine hostages and 48 inmates were killed, either by state police or inmates.

9. Cincinnati riots (April 2001)
The backdrop: Racial tensions in Cincinnati had been growing for years, exacerbated by the regular deaths of young black men killed by police or in their custody. Of the 15 men who died this way between 1995 and 2001, three were unarmed. A 19-year-old black man named Timothy Thomas was killed running from police on April 7, 2001, and it was revealed that the officers acted improperly in the situation, including failure to give Thomas time to respond to the cops’ commands.
The final straw: The night Thomas was killed, almost 200 residents showed up to protest at a city council meeting, and protestors assembled outside city hall. After being dispersed, they began rioting, which triggered more outbreaks of violence and vandalism across the city. The riots lasted for days, becoming the largest disorders of their kind since the Rodney King riots nine years before. The officer who shot Thomas was eventually tried and acquitted in a criminal trial.

10. Watts Riots (August 11-15, 1965)
The backdrop: Race relations were strained all over in the 1960s, and Los Angeles was no exception. Growing tension between blacks and whites and between police and civilians added fuel to the fire.
The final straw: A white California Highway Patrol officer pulled over and arrested a black man for driving drunk, but the growing crowd of witnesses soon turned antagonistic. The mob grew angry, and when the CHP officer wound up arresting the man’s brother (also in the car) and mother, full-flegded riots broke out in the Watts section of town. Fires, violence, and looting were rampant for days, and the riots would be the biggest in L.A. history until those in 1992. The National Guard eventually came in to help. At the end of the spree, 34 people were dead, more than 2,000 injured, and almost 4,000 arrested.