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GameChanger [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
00:01:43
for listening I'm your host Nick and with me is always is a man that knows n Chomsky is a soft Revolution he is the
00:01:51
captain thank you thank you thank you it's good to be seen and it's good to see you thanks for listening thanks for
00:01:56
telling a friend [Music] tonight we are drinking psychokinesis by Grim Artisan ALS this is a tar wild ale
00:02:08
dry hopped and conditioned in American White Oak with notes of guava and pineapple and you know who likes
00:02:14
American Wild ales the great people that filled up the fridge for this week's show and they are first up we have Ryan
00:02:21
and Glendale New York and a big shout out to Stacy in Castro Valley California next up a big cheers to Zach and Lauren
00:02:28
from milville you and a big we like your jib to Tony Lynn and Morganfield Kentucky next up we have Ryan who is a
00:02:35
police officer up in Canada and last but not least Lynn in Portsmith New Hampshire so thank you to everybody for
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filling up the fridge for this week's show we're going to go on a big beer run this weekend for next week's show if you
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want to contribute go to True Crim garage.com click on the Donate button all right let's gather around let's grab
00:02:53
a chair let's grab a beer let's talk some true crime [Music] welcome back and the bombing continues
00:03:20
yeah I know it sounds crazy as we have already covered so many instances of bombs exploding or being found and
00:03:27
threatening letters indicating targets but the bombing would continue and by the start of 1952 the threat level or
00:03:35
the terror level in New York City is at its highest and 1952 would have its share of bombs as well as with the years
00:03:44
to follow and we will go through these quickly as we have a lot to get to today so March 19th 1952 there is a bomb at
00:03:54
the Port Authority Bus Terminal no one is injured in June J the Lowe's theater is bombed again no one is injured
00:04:04
December a bomb exploded in the seats at the Lexington Avenue Lowe's theater this
00:04:10
injured one person police have asked the newspapers not to print any of the bombers letters and to play down earlier
00:04:18
bombings because they were worried about public panic in 1953 an explosion at Radio City Music Hall this is when a row
00:04:28
of seats had been rigged with explosives planted inside of the upholstery now this goes off this blows
00:04:35
up there are no injuries then a bomb is found at the First Capitol Theater later
00:04:42
a bomb again exploded near the oyster bar in Grand Central Terminal so this is where we see the bomber targeting the
00:04:51
basically the exact same location that he had a long time ago but this time he's not going to put it into an ashtray
00:04:58
he's going to put it into to a coin operated locker and luckily there were no injuries when this bomb went off
00:05:05
police described this bomb as a homemade product of a public seeking jerk put that on your T-shirt list there Captain
00:05:13
say it again so the shirt would just read on the front homemade product of public wait homemade product of
00:05:20
publicity seeking jerk yeah look at what look what you did you little jerk uh after that an unexploded bomb was found
00:05:29
found in a rental Locker at Pennsylvania station in 1954 a bomb exploded at the Grand Central Terminal this time in the
00:05:38
men's restroom injuring three men well I think what we're seeing here is he was looking for attention that's pretty
00:05:45
clear the bombs weren't going off so we don't know if he wants to hurt somebody or just get attention but to me my gut
00:05:52
feeling is I'm trying to get attention I'm trying to get attention to my cause that's not happening so now we're going
00:06:00
to start seeing you know placements of bombs where more people are going to get injured right so either way I see what
00:06:09
you're saying there because either way if the purpose is to injure or kill or just seek publicity
00:06:17
mhm in in fact now he's achieving he's achieving both of those he's he's injuring people which is giving him
00:06:25
publicity it's almost giving him forgive me for saying this credibility because before we have bombs going off but these
00:06:32
things are being reported on page 28 of the newspaper right which is fine and I think he was fine with that but once
00:06:38
please start saying hey stop reporting this stuff and now let's take the attention that he's getting and let's
00:06:44
minimize it that's when I think the the bomber is going okay well if you want to
00:06:48
minimize now it's not even on page 22 it's on page 40 MH you know or it's not even printed at all it's like okay well
00:06:55
I guess I got to step things up a little bit mhm well after the bomb in the restroom that injured three men someone
00:07:03
had planted a bomb in the phone booth in a phone booth I'm sorry there's probably
00:07:07
more than one at the Port Authority Bus Terminal this bomb exploded but thankfully no one was nearby when it
00:07:14
went off now police are having no luck finding what they've dubbed the mad bomber there were hundreds of of leads
00:07:25
there were hundreds of tips and crank letters uh they were following up on the detectives ranged far and wide checking
00:07:34
lawsuit records Mental Hospital admissions vocational schools where bomb Parts might be made right citizens
00:07:42
turned in Neighbors who behaved oddly and co-workers who seem to know too much about bombs were getting turned in as
00:07:49
well now a new group I know a guy the a new group the bomb investigation unit was formed to work on
00:07:58
nothing but but bomber leads M on November 7th 1954 a capacity Radio City Music Hall audience of 6,200 people
00:08:09
watched Bing Crosby's White Christmas when a bomb that had been stuffed into the bottom cushion of a seat in the 15th
00:08:18
row exploded injuring four people yeah this uh story or part of the story is very confusing because they're going to
00:08:28
take these people that got injured and they removed them take them to first aid and but they're basically going to just
00:08:35
move everybody back and start the show up again yeah The Show Must Go On so apparently there's a bomb that went off
00:08:43
yeah it's it sounds very strange um and you and I were talking about this earlier and we wondered if there's a
00:08:51
chance that they didn't really have an understanding of what had happened you know that it was in fact the bomb you
00:08:56
know and we also wondered the the injuries couldn't have been great to these people but basically it was a show
00:09:03
must go on mentality where this this bomb goes off and the way that the newspaper reads is that most of the
00:09:10
people in the audience didn't hear the explosion so they removed the injured people and then they just kind of they
00:09:18
kind of clear out just that little section of the theater and then start the show back up again now in 1955 bombs
00:09:26
were either located or had exploded at the following locations the Sutter the Sutter Avenue subway station Macy's
00:09:35
department store the Pennsylvania station twice in 1955 making it four times that bombs were found or had
00:09:42
exploded at Penn Station Radio City Music Hall making this the third time the Roxy Theater bomb and again the
00:09:51
Paramount Theater so we're seeing places being targeted for the first time and other locations being par targeted
00:09:57
multiple times in December a bomb exploded in a men's room stall at the Grand Central Terminal all of the
00:10:06
incidents from 1955 luckily left no one killed or even injured well it's more like sad bomber than the mad bomber
00:10:16
regardless chaos and panic had more than just set in it had taken over now crazies were sending Anonymous
00:10:23
threatening letters to the police to newspapers and then newspaper accounts inspired copycat bombers this really is
00:10:34
one of the most sustained levels of domestic terrorism to hit an americ an American city in the 20th century in
00:10:43
1956 at Penn Station a young man had reported an obstruction in one of the toilets in the men's room now the men's
00:10:52
room attendant tried to clear it using a plunger the 74-year-old man was seriously injured when a bomb in the
00:10:59
toilet bowl exploded among the debris and the porcelain fragments investigators found a watch frame and a
00:11:07
wool sock mhm that old damn wool sock in April of 1956 the department issued a multi-state alert for a person described
00:11:18
as a skilled mechanic with access to a drill press who posted mail from White Plaines was over 40 years old and had a
00:11:27
deep seated hatred for the Consolidated Edison Company a warning circular picturing a homemade pipe bomb like the
00:11:37
bombers was distributed police distributed samples of the bombers distinctive Printing and asked anyone
00:11:44
who might recognize it to notify them a review of driver's license applications and white planes the city favored by the
00:11:52
bomber for posting his mail found similarities in 500 of them to the bombers printing
00:11:59
the names were forwarded to the NYPD for investigation on the morning of August 5th
00:12:08
1956 police rushed to a residential neighborhood in New Jersey where a small explosion had damaged the kitchen of a
00:12:16
three-story home the house belonged to a man named Thomas Dorney he's a security
00:12:22
guard who worked at the RCA building in Manhattan bomb squad investigators found
00:12:28
fragments of a pipe bomb that exactly matched the Mad bombers devices a bomb exploding in someone's small home in New
00:12:36
Jersey this is nothing like the other attacks right detectives were thinking this must be our guy so often Captain
00:12:45
you will see when people are looking when the FBI or NYPD any of these agencies when they are seeking a quote
00:12:55
unquote serial bomber usually when they offer up a profile of this person or one
00:13:02
thing that they will do in their investigations at least is check local hospitals for people that might have
00:13:08
injured themselves possibly blowing off a finger or a hand because you know bomb
00:13:13
making is not it's not an easy business it's dangerous it's very dangerous you could have something explode so this
00:13:21
looks very strange where you have we have a small home in New Jersey out well outside of the city mhm where this bomb
00:13:29
goes off in the kitchen and they're now thinking this is our bomb maker right well and he also worked at one of the
00:13:37
buildings that there was a bomb in right well that that's that is correct but it's a confusing story because what's
00:13:44
interesting here is he was a guard security guard at the RCA building in Rockefeller Center mhm another guard
00:13:52
that he worked with discovered a piece of pipe about 5 in Long inside of a telephone booth now he comes up and he's
00:14:02
talking with the guy about what he found the he sees this pipe and says look I might find this useful later in a
00:14:10
plumbing project so he decided to take this item home he said that he actually fidgeted with this item while he worked
00:14:20
out the remainder of his shift and on the train ride home when he got home he put it on his kitchen table and he went
00:14:28
to bed well at some point this bomb explodes on his kitchen table and it actually
00:14:35
injured no one in the home even though it blew up most of the kitchen well he could have lost a hand or arm or
00:14:42
something yeah he was fidgeting with it but his his wife and children were in the home and they were all sleeping in
00:14:48
their rooms well away from the kitchen I mean if you play with it too long you might go
00:14:54
blind on December 2nd a bombing at the paramont theater in Brooklyn left six of the theater's
00:15:02
1,500 occupants injured one of them was seriously injured now this Drew tremendous news coverage and editorial
00:15:11
attention and the following day Police Commissioner Steven Kennedy met with commanders of every NYPD Division and
00:15:20
ordered what he called the greatest Manhunt in the history of the police department calling the bombers
00:15:26
activities quote an outrage that cannot be tolerated he promised quote an immediate good promotion to whoever
00:15:36
arrested the bomber and directed commanders to alert every member of the force to the absolute necessity of a
00:15:45
capture Christmas Eve 1956 a clerk using a phone booth at the New York Public Library dropped a coin
00:15:54
on the floor when he knelt down to retrieve the coin looking up he saw a maroon colored sock held to the
00:16:03
underside of a shelf by a magnet wool sock yes this sock contained an iron pipe with threaded caps on each end
00:16:14
after Consulting with other employees this is I I hate to laugh at some of these things but when you I hate when
00:16:23
you laugh too but when you look back and you're you're talking about things from
00:16:27
the 50s mhm like you talked about the we found it strange that the theater you know the bomb goes off and then they
00:16:34
just kind of clear out that little spot and let the show go on I almost like picture like a little black and white
00:16:41
movie in my mind when I'm when I'm telling these things because listen to this they they they
00:16:52
see this thing and it's found in a sock they're pretty convinced that it's a bomb mhm so what happens is this person
00:17:00
consults with the employees at the the library and they come up with a plan let's throw this device out the window
00:17:07
into the park they go what do you say I think we should take this uh sock and uh
00:17:13
with a bomb in it and we'll throw it out into the into the Park yeah you see so the man that found this bomb in the sock
00:17:20
he threw it out the window into Bryant Park and then they called The Bomb Squad bringing more than 60 NYPD police
00:17:28
officers and detectives to the scene wait one second we we have a word from our sponsor sock Club a letter to the
00:17:36
New York Journal was received the next month that said that the public library bomb as well as one discovered later the
00:17:45
same week inside a seat at the Times Square Paramount Theater had been planted months before they were found on
00:17:53
December 27th the New York City Board of estimate and the patrolman's benevolent
00:17:59
Association posted $26,000 in rewards for the bombers apprehension 2 days later on December
00:18:07
29th this is at the height of false bomb reports from theaters department stores
00:18:12
schools and offices a note was left in a phone booth at Grand Central Terminal that reported that a bomb had been
00:18:21
placed at the Empire State Building this required a search of all 102 floors of the landmark building also on this day a
00:18:32
63-year-old railroad worker was picked up at Grand Central and I could not find the exact reasoning here but police had
00:18:41
probable cause to detain this man for they believed he was the mad bomber mhm now this man died of a heart attack
00:18:51
while being questioned at the East 35th Street Station house after his death policemen continued to investigate this
00:18:59
man but later the investigation eliminated him as a suspect okay so you're saying that law enforcement now
00:19:06
to this point of the story have killed more people than the mad bomber has killed I don't know about that I would I
00:19:12
would put I would pin this one on the mad bomber and not the NYPD during the month of December because traditional
00:19:18
means of Investigation were leading nowhere Police Captain John Cronin contacted Dr James Brussel he's a
00:19:27
criminal ologist and a psychiatrist and he had asked him for advice on how to catch the mad bomber so who is Dr James
00:19:36
Brussel uh he is a criminologist but more importantly a psychiatrist who had performed Counter Intelligence work
00:19:44
during World War II and the Korean War he was also the assistant commissioner of the New York State commission for
00:19:53
mental health he has also been labeled as a Freudian Rel related to the ideas or methods of Sigman Freud about the way
00:20:03
in which people's hidden thoughts and feelings influence their behavior according to Michael canel's book
00:20:11
incendiary psychiatrists normally evaluate patients and consider how they might react to the difficulties life
00:20:18
throws their way conflict with a boss or another authority figures sexual frustrations a humiliation at work the
00:20:28
loss of a parent as Dr Brussel read the bomber stories he began to wonder if he could reverse the terms of the prophecy
00:20:39
instead of starting with a known personality and then anticipating his behavior maybe Dr brussell could start
00:20:47
with the bombers behavior and then deduce what sort of person he might be in other words Dr Dr brussell would work
00:20:57
backward yeah reverse engineer this by letting fp's conduct Define his identity his sexuality race appearance work
00:21:07
history and his personality type and most important the inner conflicts that led him to this violent Pastime quote it
00:21:17
was simply my own way of applying what I had learned about people in the years of
00:21:23
studying and wondering he said and my way of taking a step on the road toward unraveling the great mystery of human
00:21:31
behavior Dr brussell called it Reverse Psychology today Captain you know we call it profiling whatever term you want
00:21:39
to use it was still an untested concept back in the [Music] 1950s this show is sponsored by better
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Angie [Music] that all right we are back Cheers Cheers hey uh so this is the way this
00:23:59
thing goes down here Captain Dr brussell and the NYPD they're going to invite several members of law enforcement to
00:24:09
basically they're going to have an evening with Dr brussell where he is going to tell them what he thinks about
00:24:16
this mad bomber that they are seeking Dr brussle explains that he has examine the
00:24:22
crime scene photo photos and letters and he discusses the bombers metal working and electrical
00:24:30
skills Dr bressel then explains that he developed what he called a kind of portrait of the bomber and explained
00:24:38
that he basically was leaning on his expertise as a psychiatrist and using Sherlock Holmes style hunches Dr
00:24:47
brussel's portrait of the bomber is as follows he says FP must be a narcissistic paranoid he deduced this
00:24:55
from the man's manner of communication planting random bombss writing rambling letters demanding Justice for an unnamed
00:25:04
wrongdoing and general attention seeking Mayhem Brussels would later write instead of admitting failings or
00:25:12
weaknesses in himself he attributes all of his troubles to the mechan of some powerful agency that is out to destroy
00:25:23
him he believed that the bomber was suffering from paranoia a condition he described as a chronic disorder of
00:25:31
Insidious development characterized by persistent unalterable systematized logically constructed delusions based on
00:25:41
the evidence and his own experience dealing with psychotic criminals Brussel put forth a number of theories beyond
00:25:48
the obvious grudge against Consolidated Edison he believed that the bomber would
00:25:53
have had a good education but probably not college that the bomber was foreign born or living in a community of foreign
00:26:00
born the formal tone in old-fashioned phrasing of his letters sounded to Brussel as if they had been written or
00:26:09
thought out in a foreign language and then translated into English these conclusions based on fp's odd
00:26:16
handwriting in the vocabulary his use of words such as dly and ghoulish LED Brussel to suspect that the mad bomber
00:26:25
was probably German now based on the rounded letters of W's in the handwriting he believed these two
00:26:33
represent breast and the slashing and stuffing of theater seats Brussel thought something about sex was
00:26:40
troubling the bomber he believed the mad bomber to be a loner no friends with little interest in women possibly a
00:26:48
virgin unmarried perhaps living with an older female relative probably lives in Connecticut now he based this off off of
00:26:58
Connecticut at the time had high concentrations of foreign born people and many of the bombers letters were
00:27:05
posted in Westchester County midway between Connecticut and New York City Brussel also told detectives that a
00:27:13
broad study of mental patients suggested that 85% probability that the paranoid perpetrator was athletic neither
00:27:22
overweight nor underweight and that he would be clean shaven tidy and pol light regarding the physical sufferings the
00:27:31
bomber had described in his letters Dr Brussel considered cancer but ruled it out based on the length of the bomber's
00:27:38
career and the mortality rate of cancer at the time M he considered tuberculosis
00:27:44
but also dismissed this based on how easil easily treatable it had become he settled on heart disease as being the
00:27:52
most likely uh physical suffering of the bomber Russell additionally predicted that when the bomber was caught he would
00:28:00
be wearing a double breasted suit and it would be buttoned police did use this portrait to
00:28:07
help them in their search for the bomber in fact they made several arrest and question many based off of this
00:28:13
information but nothing stuck then the news media began reaching out directly to the mad bomber radio and newspaper
00:28:22
reports urged the perpetrator to call in to negotiate a surrender Seymour burkson
00:28:28
of the newspaper this is the New York Journal American decided to publish an open letter to the mad bomber in the
00:28:36
newspaper and it read an open letter to the mad bomber prepared in cooperation with the police
00:28:44
department give yourself up for your own welfare and for that of the community the time has come for you to reveal your
00:28:53
identity the New York Journal American guarant anes that you will be protected from any illegal action and that you
00:29:01
will get a fair trial this newspaper also is willing to help you in two other ways it will publish all of the
00:29:10
essential parts of your story as you may choose to make it public it will give you the full chance to air whatever
00:29:18
grievances you may have as the motive for your acts we urge you to accept this offer now not only only for your own
00:29:28
sake but for the sake of the community time is running out on your prospects of remaining
00:29:35
unapprehended you can telephone the city editor of this newspaper or you can go to any police station or even the
00:29:44
policeman on the street and tell him who you are in all cases you will be given the benefits of our American system of
00:29:52
justice give yourself up now one to the surprise of everybody the bomber actually replies 2 days later yeah he
00:30:00
wrote two Journal American I read your paper where were you people when I was asking for help my days on Earth are
00:30:09
numbered most of my adult life has been spent in bed my one consolation is that I can Strike Back even from my grave for
00:30:19
the dastardly acts against me calling me names is just frustrated stupidity and action signed FP now we should note
00:30:30
captain that this is an edited version of the bombers letter right he did also write that he would not be giving
00:30:37
himself up and he revealed uh that he wished to bring the conedison to Justice he listed all the locations where he had
00:30:47
placed bombs that year and seemed concerned that perhaps not all of them had been discovered at this time after
00:30:55
some editing by the police the news newspaper did publish the the letter as we read it right um they published this
00:31:03
on January 10th along with another open letter asking the bomber for more information about his grievances now
00:31:13
there they did receive a second letter from the bomber in in response to their second open letter and this one reads as
00:31:20
follows I was injured on job at Consolidated Edison plant as a result I am a judge totally and permanently
00:31:31
disabled going on to say that he had he had to pay his own medical bills and it Consolidated Edison had blocked his
00:31:39
workers compensation case he stated go ahead I was just going to say he's giving away too much
00:31:45
information here well he he also stated that when a motorist injures a dog he must report it not so when an injured
00:31:54
Workman he rates he rates less than a dog I tried to get my story to the Press I tried hundreds of others I typed tens
00:32:04
of thousands of words about 800,000 words nobody cared I determined to make these dastardly acts known I have had
00:32:13
plenty of time to think I decided on bombs were some of the things that he wrote in that second letter he did
00:32:19
provide details about materials that he used in the bomb stating that he favored
00:32:25
pistol powder he promised a bombing truce meaning he would leave no more bombs at least until March 1st of that
00:32:33
year and again after some police editing the newspaper published his letter this
00:32:38
time on January 15th and asked the bomber for further details and dates about his compensation case so that a
00:32:46
new and fair hearing could be held well the bomber responded a third time and this was received on Saturday January
00:32:56
19th in this letter the bomber complained of lying unnoticed for hours on cold concrete after his injury
00:33:04
without any first aid being rendered MH then developing pneumonia and later tuberculosis the letter added details
00:33:12
about his lost compensation case and that the perjury of his co-workers and gave the date of this injury as
00:33:21
September 5th 1931 the letter suggested that if he did not have have a family that would be
00:33:29
branded by his giving himself up he might consider doing so to get his compensation case reopened he thanked
00:33:38
the journal American for publicize for for the publication of his case and said that the bombings will never be resumed
00:33:48
so we see he almost feels relief I guess or that he's received some of the justice that he thinks that he deserved
00:33:56
just by by them hearing him yeah yeah them listening to his complaint and then publicizing his grievance against
00:34:04
Consolidated Edison yeah but this letter is not going to be published until a day
00:34:08
after New York police make an arrest yes and okay so to get into that story we have to introduce a wonderful uh dutiful
00:34:18
woman God bless her this is Alice Kelly now Alice Kelly is a clerk for Consolidated Edison who for days had
00:34:27
been scouring company workers compensation files for employees with a serious health problem so the final clue
00:34:36
came when police received a letter revealing that the date that had begone began sorry the Mad bombers misery right
00:34:44
was September 5th 1931 almost 10 years before the first bomb was found now Brussel immediately
00:34:52
ordered a search of KH Ed's personal files from that era searching the final batch of troublesome workers
00:35:01
compensation Case Files those these had threats that were made or implied this Alice Kelly she found a file marked in
00:35:11
red with the words Injustice and permanent disability words that have both been used in some of the Mad
00:35:19
bombers letters and printed in the journal American right the file indicated that a one George mateski
00:35:27
an employee from 1929 to 1931 had been injured in a plant accident on September 5th
00:35:34
1931 several letters from mateski in the file used wording like the letters including the phrase dastardly Deeds the
00:35:44
police were notified shortly before 5:00 p.m. that evening they initially treated
00:35:49
the notification well first they got a call on the bat phone for the dast Deeds well they initially treated this
00:35:57
notification as just quote one of a number of leads that they were working on but they did ask the Waterberry
00:36:06
Connecticut police to do a discreet check on this George mateski and the house that he lived in at
00:36:14
174th Street well after Waterberry police went there they eventually were accompanied
00:36:21
by four NYPD detectives and when they arrived at matest 's home with a search warrant shortly before midnight on
00:36:30
Monday January 21st they asked him for a handwriting sample and to make the letter G he made
00:36:39
the G looked up and said I know why you fellas are here you think I'm the mad bomber the detectives asked what FP
00:36:48
stood for and then the man responded FP stands for fair play he then LED them to
00:36:56
a garage Workshop where they found his I was waiting for something way better than that they found pipes and
00:37:02
connectors suitable for bombs these were hidden throughout as well as three cheap
00:37:08
pocket watches Flashlight batteries brass terminal knobs and unmatched wool socks of the type used to transport some
00:37:18
of the bombs mateski had answered the door in pajamas and after he was ordered to get dressed for a trip to the the
00:37:26
Waterberry Police Headquarters he reappeared wearing a double breasted suit and of course it was button up in
00:37:35
the interrogation mateski eagerly explained everything his motive uh to receive compensation for his
00:37:42
debilitating tuberculosis where the bomb making supplies were uh they were in a hidden
00:37:48
compartment inside his home why did he resort to bombs he said that there was no other choice when asked weren aren't
00:37:56
you worried that innocent people would be harmed he said that I used to pray no one would be hurt by my bombs especially
00:38:04
on Sunday when he was in front of reporters George grinned earto ear smiling for the cameras in in enjoying
00:38:13
the U attention is a dastardly smile uh he's he's got some crazy eyes I think uh he he looks a little a little
00:38:23
gone to me in some of those pictures but it's weird because in those pictures as
00:38:28
well with the reporters he's he's almost proud to be standing in front of them in
00:38:34
handcuffs in his Sunday Best he's smiling he he's he's kept himself up nice on his appearance for these
00:38:43
photographs now although the NYPD did officially credit Alice Kelly with turning up the clue that led to maty's
00:38:53
arrest she later declined to claim claim the $26,000 in rewards saying that she had
00:39:01
merely been doing her job what and isn't it possible too that her work could claim the reward because she was working
00:39:10
on company time but I I believe they declin the reward as well MH and mateski admitted to placing 32 bombs now after a
00:39:21
grand jury heard testimony from 35 Witnesses this including police experts and some people that were injured by the
00:39:28
bombs he was indicted on 47 charges of attempted murder damaging a building by explosion maliciously endangering life
00:39:38
and carrying concealed weapons this would be the bombs seven counts of attempted murder were charged based on
00:39:46
the Seven Persons injured in the preceding 5 years due to the statute of limitations in the case mateski was held
00:39:56
at Manhattan's Belleview hospital where he had been undergoing psychiatric examination after hearing from
00:40:03
Psychiatric experts judge Samuel libowitz declared mateski a paranoid schizophrenic and stated that quote he
00:40:12
was hopeless and incurable both mentally and physically and found him legally insane and incompetent to stand trial
00:40:21
the judge committed mateski to the I'm probably not going to get this right right here Captain I'll give it a shot
00:40:29
go for it Matan mataan there we go we'll go with mataan hospital for the criminally
00:40:35
insane this was in Beacon New York mhm I guess mateski was only expected to live
00:40:43
a few weeks due to his Advanced tuberculosis but mateski had to I mean it was so bad he had to be carried into
00:40:51
the hospital at this time then after a year and a half keep in mind he's he's actually receiving treatment for this
00:40:59
now that he is locked up right so he's receiving treatment for his illness but he's also receiving treatment for his
00:41:07
mental health as well uh a newspaper article this was written 14 years later remember he was only expected to live a
00:41:15
few weeks an article written 14 years later describe the then 68-year-old mateski as quote vigorous and healthy
00:41:25
looking they stated that mateski was a model inmate and he had caused no trouble he
00:41:32
was visited regularly by his sisters he was living with his two sisters when he was arrested which is crazy that that
00:41:40
was in the profile possibly living with an older female relative I mean I find that fascinating well you know who else
00:41:48
he was occasionally uh visited by while he was there was Dr Brussel himself mhm uh to whom he would point out out that
00:41:56
he had deliberately built his bombs not to kill anyone in 1973 the United States
00:42:02
Supreme Court ruled that a mentally ill defendant could not be committed to a hospital operated by the New York State
00:42:10
Department of Correction Correctional Services unless a jury finds him dangerous now since mateski had been
00:42:18
committed to to this hospital without a jury trial he was then transferred to the creedmore psy Patric Center there
00:42:27
doctors determined that he was harmless and because he had already served 2/3 of
00:42:33
the 25-year maximum sentence right he would have received had he had a jury trial mateski was released on December
00:42:43
13th 1973 with the single condition that he make regular visits to a Connecticut
00:42:49
Department of Mental hygiene clinic now interviewed by a reporter upon his release mateski said that he had sworn
00:42:57
off violence but reaffirmed his anger and resentment toward Consolidated Edison mateski returned to his home in
00:43:06
Waterberry where he died 20 years later on May 23rd 1994 at the age of 90 now although mat's
00:43:16
bombs never killed anyone and he states that he built them so that they would not kill
00:43:21
anyone it it was more than the police call it a miracle that none of the bombs ever killed anyone and they stated that
00:43:29
it was more because of strange luck that they hadn't killed anyone rather than fair play or all that praying he was
00:43:35
doing you know yeah who who makes a bomb sets it up well they actually make the bomb so it doesn't really hurt people
00:43:42
but it might hurt people then you put the bomb into play and then you sit around praying the whole time that it
00:43:48
doesn't hurt anybody well I think a lot of these actions are going to reaffirm the fact that he was probably the
00:43:56
diagnosis was correct of him being a paranoid schizophrenic um According to some
00:44:01
investigators both the Zodiac Killer and Ted kazinski aka the unibomber uh were both somewhat inspired by George mateski
00:44:11
the who would be known as New York City's mad bomber before we leave you today here's
00:44:18
a quote from George mateski mhm one thing I can't understand is why the newspaper labeled me the Mad bomb
00:44:26
that was [Music] unkind well at least they're not sending bombs to your house you know mhm so uh
00:44:42
we have any recommended reading going with a little recommended listening this week I want to recommend everybody a
00:44:48
band called tubit tubit is a great rock band out of Cincinnati Ohio and their album titled acoustic is now now
00:44:56
available on iTunes Spotify Google Play and Amazon if you love rock music as I do check out one of my favorite songs of
00:45:04
theirs I love simple life and there's also another great song called MJ Fox so check that out great band called two bit
00:45:11
and we'll post a link on our Instagram and if you haven't checked out our other show off the record on Stitcher premium
00:45:18
you should do so Stitcher premium.com truecrimegarage and we talk about one of the band members from TU bit on this
00:45:26
week's episode but we basically do a recap of crime conon and for everything true crime go to True Crime garage.com
00:45:34
and until next week everybody take care of yourselves be good be kind and don't let
00:45:40
[Music] it [Music] you can start your day off right when you find a professional on Angie to get
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your plumbing right first connect with skilled professionals to get all your home projects done well
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